CURRENT PROJECT

Reducing corruption in politics starts with political party finance. International and local assessments show that the legal framework regulating party finance lacks precision in transparency, oversight, compliance, and enforcement. Redressing legal shortcomings requires sustained political commitment among Albania’s leading parties, as well as their readiness to engage and regularly consult all relevant stakeholders in the reform process.

This is a 24-month program, led by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), to assist parties to strengthen and sustain internal practices for accountability and transparency, and to advance debate on party finance through cross-party efforts for reform and public monitoring. Assistance will center on the Democratic Party (DP), Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI), and Socialist Party (SP), although it will also support smaller parties that express interest and/or are represented in parliament. The project will simultaneously target civil society and media activists to promote effective monitoring and public awareness, coupling grassroots demand for transparency with parties’ “supply-side” efforts at reform. The project will work with the Central Election Commission and other international actors to ensure transparency and accountability in party finance.

PROGRAM AREAS

POLITICAL PARTIES' INTERNAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND LEGAL COMPLIANCE

Following an assessment of internal party practices concerning financial management, coupled with analysis of the political party finance legal framework and party compliance, and an examination of how women and youth are duly impacted, the project will recommend changes on party structure, resources, and decision-making in financial management and reporting for all the parties participating in the project. Through guided self-assessment, comparative knowledge, and, later, capacity development, NDI will help parties create standards for financial management that strengthen transparency and accountability systems within the party towards its members but also toward the public.

CIVIL SOCIETY AND MEDIA ENGAGEMENT

NDI will offer technical and financial assistance to civic and media representatives to furnish expert input and monitor party reform efforts, regulatory compliance, and gaps in the legal framework that produce compliance problems. This will include training on accessing, aggregating, analyzing, and publicly presenting available data on party expenditures, such as parties’ annual financial reports submitted to the Central Election Commission. NDI will seek to partner with a media development organization to train journalists in investigative reporting on party finance, and provide small-grants for innovative approaches that promote party finance accountability and public awareness.

IMPROVED TRANSPARENCY OF PARTY FINANCE

Drawing on NDI assistance, political parties will take steps to implement internal statutory, resource, and procedural changes to improve transparency in finance of party operations – from revising fundraising procedures, setting clear budgetary allocations, voluntarily making public disclosures of financial data, and requiring asset disclosures, to empowering compliance officers. In doing so, parties will also change and improve practices that hinder women’s and youth’s meaningful involvement in party affairs. Utilizing NDI technical and financial assistance, civil society and media activists will design innovative monitoring and reporting projects that increase transparency of party finance and raise public knowledge accordingly. Together, these measures can contribute to building political commitment that is responsive to growing public interest for systematic party finance reform.

EXPECTED RESULTS

• Political parties strengthen and sustain internal practices for financial accountability and transparency.
• Advance party finance reform through cross-party dialogue and independent monitoring.
• Civil society and media develop capacities and strategies to monitor and raise public awareness about party finance.