Mentorship in transparency, digitalization and public participation for local organizations

The Center for Policies and Reforms announces a call to select local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or public associations that will be trained and mentored in the development of a transparency report (access to information, public participation, digitalization) of local public authorities.

CPR is a non-profit organization that promotes access to information and public participation; defends human rights, especially the rights to assembly and expression; and promotes an environmentally responsible society. CPR vision: a society without corruption, with democratic, transparent governance and engaged citizens.

What is “Instigation to Democracy: Transparent and Digital Institutions”?

Since 2022, CPR has been training public officials in the areas of access to information, public participation and open data; and assessing the accountability of public institutions in ensuring these rights.

In 2024, CPR expanded the number of monitored city halls by mentoring two local organizations, which took over the CPR methodology to analyze the activity of local public authorities in their locality.

You can learn about the results of the previous edition in the article “How transparent are public institutions in Bălți and Cimișlia?”.

The selected organizations or associations will undergo a series of training sessions on:

• The new law on access to public information;
• Good practices of public participation;
• Standards of governance and open data at the local level.

Following the training sessions, a mentor will be assigned to the selected CSOs, who will train them, help them develop an action plan and establish partnerships with public authorities. By the end of the program, each CSO will prepare a monitoring report for the period November (2025) – February (2026), which will include the main trends and recommendations.

Benefits

– Mentoring with people specialized in working with city halls and other local public authorities in the areas of: access to information, public participation and open data;
– Access to the methodology developed by CPR and guidance in its application;
– Support for CPR in establishing cooperation with LPAs;
– Financial support for monitoring;
– Contribution to increasing institutional transparency standards at the local level.

Eligibility

This call is open to all local CSOs that meet the following criteria:

• operate in a locality with a population of at least 5,000 inhabitants;
• the organization and its members are not politically affiliated.

Evaluation criteria

The applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• the motivation presented in the application;
• experience in the field of transparency or public participation;
• experience working in the community;
• experience in project management will be an advantage.

Application package

Organizations must submit the following documents:

• Certificate of registration of the institution;
• A letter of motivation for participation in the program “Instigation to Democracy: Transparent and Digital Institutions” (up to 400 words);
• Description of the problems regarding access to information, transparency and public participation in the locality (up to 400 words);
• List of projects that have been implemented in the last three years: funding institution, budget and objectives;
• CVs of two key people in the organization.

Documents must be sent to the email address cprmoldova@gmail.com, with the subject “CPR// Local CSO Selection”, by 25.10.25. Only complete applications will be evaluated.

If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to call us at 079254698 or write us a message at the email address: cprmoldova@gmail.com.

The mentorship is organized by CPR Moldova within the project “Improving access to information and promoting institutional transparency”, with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and INSPIRED Moldova, funded by the European Union and implemented by a consortium coordinated by the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), in collaboration with the European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA), the National Center for Assistance and Information of Moldovan NGOs CONTACT (CC), the Center for Policies and Reforms (CPR), People in Need (PIN) and Democracy Reporting International (DRI).