Source: Blic
All ministries that are large budget beneficiaries recently received an interesting initiative. It was submitted by 10 civil society associations from nine cities and towns in Serbia and its title - “Line 481” - was rather unusual, at first glace at least. This title was derived from a classification item in the Budget of the Republic of Serbia: “481 - Grants to Non-governmental Organizations”. What is interesting about this initiative is that it concerns a budget item which in 2007 “covered” more than five billion Serbian dinars, or about 65 million euros. Another interesting aspect of it is that significantly alters the usual views of many because it shows that a large portion of “grants to NGOs” is actually allocated to entities that are commonly “recognized” as NGOs. About 40 per cent of these donations were for political parties, religious communities and institutions.
An even more interesting part of the initiative is the proposal to make all future allocations of these funds subject to public bidding and to conclude agreements with the beneficiaries which would provide for their responsibility for the (non-)attainment of objectives, to ensure transparency of bidding criteria and to ensure public availability of information on the amount of funds given as grants and information about the objectives achieved. And yet, the most important aspect of this story is that the beneficiaries of these funds are actually suggesting to those responsible for ensuring the legality of allocations how to implement the principles of clear accounts, accountability and transparency. The opposite situation would make much more sense, of course. As it is, the only logical move now is for the authorities to accept this initiative without delay and without reserves.
