Civil Society - Government Partnerships (SK0134)

In the current ESIF programming period 2014-2020, support for the development of civicnon-systematic, legal forms of non-governmental non-profit organizations are providedsupport from different operational programs defined in a non-uniform manner. In addition, cross-sectoralpartnerships are not adequately supported - for example, calls for NGOswithin the Operational Program Effective Public Administration (hereinafter referred to as “EVS OP”)beneficiaries have project partners from other sectors (local government, state administration).

At present no Operational Program in the investment strategy has the support of civic participationas a target or as a measure. In part, it is dedicated to supporting the development of civil societyOP EVS, which supports the creation of partnerships within the framework of calls for NGOsand networking subjects.

The commitment aims to create space for funding non-governmental non-profit projectsorganizations and projects forming partnerships between NGOs and othersentities (mainly municipalities, but also state institutions) and to unify the conditions of supportnon-governmental non-profit organizations from individual operational programs and their activities.Last but not least, the aim of the commitment is to create such conditions and requirements for beneficiariesin the implementation of projects appropriate to their capacities and, where appropriate, to build morecapacity of non-governmental non-profit organizations. Such a commitment develops all the principles of the Initiativefor open governance.

Effective partnership between individual subjects of public administration and civil societybased on cooperation and sharing of information, can lead not only to transparency, but also tothe citizen's view into the "domain" of public administration. This is also recognized and treated by the European Commissionthe principle of partnership and multi-level governance in the EU Regulation no. 1303/2013 as well as in Delegated Regulation no. 240/2014 (European Partnership Code). On the other hand, it canalso lead to a stronger citizen-centered approach (as a client of the public administration)A positive outcome is the improvement of the accountability of public administration towards its citizens.Creating space for the development of civil society and cross-sector partnerships is closely linkedwith the upcoming Partnership Agreement for the years 2021 - 2027 and the related relevant onesoperational programs. Promoting functional partnerships between public administration and civil societyThe Government of the Slovak Republic committed itself through the Concept through NGOs, NGOsdevelopment of civil society by 2020 and implementation of the Concept through ActionConcept plans for the development of civil society. Effective partnership and civic developmentCompanies are defined as one of the challenges under the national priorities for implementing the 2030 Agendain Slovakia, as well as in the forthcoming Vision and Strategy for the Development of the SR until 2030.

Specific milestones towards the goal:
19. Engage all partners under the European Partnership Code (DelegatedCommission Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 240/2014) into the process of programming EU cohesion policy fundsfor the period 2021 - 2027
Deadline: 31 December 2020
Responsible: Deputy Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic for investments and informatisation
Co-responsible: Government Plenipotentiary for Civil Society Development

20. To coordinate and support the preparation of supporting documents for the Partnership Agreement 2021-2027 by the Partynon - governmental non - profit organizations and promote their inclusion in relevantdocuments
Deadline: until 31 January 2020
Responsible: Government Plenipotentiary for Civil Society Development
Co-responsible: Deputy Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic for Investment and Information Technology

21. Promote awareness-raising on the added value of cross-sectoral partnerships on the sidepublic administration
Deadline: 30 June 2020
Responsible: Government Plenipotentiary for Civil Society Development

22. Promote under Objective 5 ("Europe closer to citizens") in the new programming periodEuropean Structural and Investment Funds building cross - sector partnerships withinvolving representatives of NGOs and civil society
Deadline: 31 December 2020
Responsible: Government Plenipotentiary for Civil Society Development

9. Support civil society and intersectoral collaboration through 2021- 2027 ESIF programming period   

Main Objective

“Create conditions enabling development of civil society and operational inter-sectoral partnerships enhancing open governance at all levels of public administration during the 2021- 2027 programming period of the European structural and investment funds.” [136]

Milestones

1. Involve all partners in the process of programming the EU cohesion policy funds 2021 - 2027 in accordance with the European Code of Conduct on Partnership (Commission Delegated Regulation No 240/2014).
2. Coordinate and promote drafting of the Partnership Agreement 2021 - 2027 by NGOs and enforce their proposals in relevant documents.
3. Promote awareness-raising of the inter-sectional partnerships in public administration.
4. Advocate for creation of inter-sectional partnerships engaging representatives of NGOs and civil society in accordance with commitment 5 (“Europe closer to citizens”) of the new programming period of the European Structural and Investment Funds.

Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, please see Slovakia’s action plan at https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/slovakia-action-plan-2019-2021/.

Commitment Analysis

This commitment focusing on intersectoral partnerships in the context of the programming of EU funding, is being addressed for the first time by a Slovak action plan. It aims to create favorable conditions for civil society to participate in the 2021- 2027 programming period of the European structural and investment funds (ESIF) [137] and support civil society-government collaboration at all stages of the programming period, starting with participatory drafting of the Partnership Agreement. Since joining the EU in 2004, Slovakia has been able to make use of the EU funding available through ESIF. Currently, Slovakia already benefits from the third 2014 – 2020 ESIF programming period during which it has received EUR 15.3 billion. The EU transfers accounted for 10.6 percent (EUR 1.7 billion) of the 2020 state budget income (EUR 15.8 billion). [138]

Although this commitment would have been implemented nevertheless (outside of OGP), as the representative of the Office of the Plenipotentiary [139] confirmed, given that the Partnership Agreement shares OGP values, the Office of the Plenipotentiary took the opportunity and included preparation of the next ESIF programming period in this new action plan.  

It is relevant to the OGP value of civic participation because CSOs are invited to collaborate in the ESIF program development and implementation process.

The first three milestones for this commitment address issues relating to civil society participation and awareness raising of the process of programming funds and drafting the Partnership Agreement with public institutions. According to EU regulations, [140] governments need to establish close collaboration between public administration and civil society at the national and local levels throughout all stages of the ESIF programming period. Governments also need to ensure all stakeholders are selected in an open procedure. [141] Regulations also emphasize the importance of timely and accurate information sharing. Managing authorities in all member states are obliged to establish multi-stakeholder monitoring committees, which should primarily promote the ownership of programming and implementation and oversee how the funds are managed. The central managing authority of these funds in Slovakia is the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and E-government.

Scholarly research investigating the operation of ESIF monitoring committees in Slovakia [142] concluded that during the previous 2007 – 2013 ESIF programming period, there was a lack of intersectoral collaboration. Batory and Cartwright found [143] that the extent of CSOs’ participation in monitoring committees was contentious and did not live up to expectations. Many committees operated in an overly formalistic manner, and room for genuine deliberations was limited. Committees’ meetings were infrequent, discussions were confidential, and access to information to any outsiders was strictly limited. [144] Some organizations that were presented as representing civil society were, in fact, public or quasi-public bodies. [145] In the absence of transparent formal selection procedures, government control over the nomination of CSO representatives was strong.

Although some problems persisted, the representative of the Office of the Plenipotentiary [146] stated that intersectoral collaboration has improved since the 2007-13 ESIF programming period and the monitoring committees have proved to be useful platforms for knowledge exchange. [147] However, CSOs’ human resources are limited to benefit fully from this opportunity, [148] which is one of the issues that the present commitment aims to address by “creating enabling environment for funding CSOs’ projects” [149] and their collaborations with other partners. In 2014, the Government Council for CSOs organized the first formal selection procedures of CSO representatives in the ESIF monitoring committees. [150] Despite only five days for self-nomination, 41 CSO representatives [151] became members of different monitoring committees in the current 2014 – 2020 ESIF programming period. In addition to the committees, the central managing authority [152] uses other means to engage with civil society stakeholders, such as less formal communication with wider civil society (also organizations that are not represented on the committees).

The milestones on collaborative drafting of the Partnership Agreement and awareness raising of intersectoral partnerships could be helpful in tackling the lack of institutionalized support for civil society-government collaboration that occurred in the 2014 – 2020 programming period. For instance, some of the calls did not allow beneficiaries (such as local government) to use their budget for project partners from other sectors (such as civil society). [153] At the same time, in some projects but not others, the applicant was required to have a partner from other sectors to be able to participate in the call.

The commitment as it stands will potentially have a minor impact. Given the scope of the ESIF programming periods, if the commitment is fully implemented and the partnership agreement is developed in a genuinely participatory manner, it might have a moderate potential impact and strengthen civil society participation in programming, implementation, and monitoring of funds. It might also lead to the creation of new partnerships between CSOs and public administration at national and local levels. However, a civil society interviewee [154] argued that the main issue that needs to be addressed to support civil society is the administrative burden posed on both CSOs and public administration, which is currently significant and might have severe economic repercussions for CSOs.    

9. Support civil society and intersectoral collaboration through 2021- 2027 ESIF programming period

Complete

In 2020, the newly established Ministry for Investments, Regional Development and Informatization published the first draft of a partnership agreement for the 2021–2027 programming period of the European structural and investment fund [105] and organised five online consultations with 100 civil society representatives. [106] The sixth round of consultation focused on engaging the wider public. The ministry published information on the partnership agreement and CSO and public consultations on its website. [107]

Feedback from involved stakeholders, together with the Office of the Plenipotentiary’s recommendations (which advocated for inter-sectional partnerships with CSO representatives), [108] were documented for each proposed policy. [109] The documents show that the ministry responded to most of the comments, and provided justification for when comments were not accepted. Some comments raised objections about the heavy administrative burden for applying for European funds by CSOs and the public administration (as also highlighted in the IRM Design report). [110] However, the ministry concluded that evaluating the comments should concern only the substantive part of the partnership agreement and so did not comment on the implementation method and management of activities. It is unclear how the bureaucratic component of the European funds might be resolved.

The Office of the Plenipotentiary published a report summarizing the consultation processes, concluding that they could have been more participatory and could have applied the partnership principle more thoroughly. [111] The report stated that the implementation period was too short for having a meaningful feedback exchange.

In addition, the Office of the Plenipotentiary has been working on making information about European funds accessible to the wider public. [112] It created a training programme for public servants who prepare calls for European funds, [113] and published brief guidelines on how to write clearly. [114]