Sub area 2.2 – State support | Standards

Legislation:

1. There is a law or national policy (document) that regulates state support for
institutional development for CSOs, project support and co-financing of EU
funded projects.

2. There is a national-level mechanism for distribution of public funds to CSOs.

3. Public funds for CSOs are clearly planned within the state budget.

4. There are clear procedures for CSO participation in all phases of the public
funding cycle.

Practice:

1. Available public funding responds to the needs of the CSO sector.

2. There are government bodies with a clear mandate for distribution and/or
monitoring of the distribution of state funding.

3. Funding is predictable, not cut drastically from one year to another; and the
amount in the budget for CSOs is easy to identify.

4. CSO participation in the public funding cycle is transparent and meaningful.

Legislation:

1. The procedure for distribution of public funds is transparent and legally
binding.

2. The criteria for selection are clear and published in advance.

3. There are clear procedures addressing issues of conflict of interest in
decision-making.

Practice:

1. Information relating to the procedures for funding and information on
funded projects is publicly available.

2. State bodies follow the procedure and apply it in a harmonized way.

3. The application requirements are not too burdensome for CSOs.

4. Decisions on tenders are considered fair and conflict of interest situations
are declared in advance.

Legislation:

1. The procedure for distribution of public funds prescribes clear measures for
accountability, monitoring and evaluation.

2. There are prescribed sanctions for CSOs that misuse funds which are
proportional to the violation of procedure.

Practice:

1. Monitoring is carried out continuously and in accordance with
predetermined and objective indicators.

2. Regular evaluation on effects/impact of public funds is carried out by state
bodies and is publicly available.

Legislation:

1. Legislation allows state authorities to allocate non-financial support, such
as state property, renting space without financial compensation (timebound), free training, consultations and other resources, to CSOs.

2. The non-financial support is provided under clearly prescribed processes,
based on objective criteria and does not privilege any group.

Practice:

1. CSOs use non-financial state support.

2. CSOs are treated in an equal or more supportive manner compared to other
actors when providing state non-financial resources.

3. There are no cases of state authorities granting non-financial support only
to CSOs which do not criticize its work; or of cases of depriving critical CSOs
of support or otherwise discriminating based on loyalty, political affiliation
or other unlawful terms.