The process is designed to ensure both the transparency and efficiency of implementation and the most appropriate use of the input of the stake- holders. Being based on the partnership of public and private institutions, it will allow the most effective implementation of the two main objectives Ñ to develop a comprehensive strategy and plan for combating corruption and to enhance the awareness of key target groups. In a nutshell, Coalition 2000 will be implemented under the following institutional structure:
¥ a Policy Forum of leading public and private institutions and prominent personalities;
¥ a Steering Committee as the means for coordination;
¥ a Secretariat to provide operational management to the process.
The Policy Forum convenes once a year to review the results of the preced- ing period, and to provide guidelines for the work over the next year. The Forum consists of forty to fifty Members invited to participate by the Steering Committee. Members are prominent public personalities with established integrity and reputation as well as representatives of public and private in- stitutions. The following groups of institutions are represented at the Forum:
¥ institutions of the state: executive government agencies, ministries, committees, the National Assembly, the judiciary, including courts of all lev- els, local government representatives, as well as the National Audit Office and the Commission for the Protection of Competition;
¥ NGOs:Bulgarian foundations and associations, policy institutes, business associations, regional development agencies, civic group representatives and European and US foundations (local offices);
¥ international organizations: the Council of Europe, USAID/Bulgaria, World Bank, the European Commission of the European Union, United Nations Development Program, International Monetary Fund, etc.
The mandate of the Forum is based primarily on its role as a representative public body overseeing the process, reviewing the progress and adopting the agenda for future work. The effort receives increased public credibility and legitimacy through the endorsement of a forum of leading personalities and institutions.
Its meetings ensure that the work carried out under the Coalition 2000 process by various institutions reflects a consensus of the concerned public and private institutions.
1. Policy Forum
The main purpose of the first meeting of the Policy Forum is to discuss and adopt an Anti-Corruption Action Plan for Bulgaria. In order to ensure that the Action Plan is both comprehensive and based on advanced profession- al expertise, the following activities have been carried out in the run-up phase to the Forum:
Step One: Task Force
The expert task force was set up immediately following the official launch of the Coalition to draft the outline document as a basis for the Anti- Corruption Strategy and Action Plan.
Step Two: Policy Workshop
Following the completion of the work by the task force, the outline docu- ment was circulated among all concerned institutions Ñ governmental, non-governmental and international Ð in over 2000 copies in order to soli- cit their comments and additions. Next, a policy workshop was convened at the level of deputy ministers and experts in order to finalize the suggestions and comments to the outline document. As a result of the consultations and workshop discussions, the task force of experts finalized an Anti-Corruption Action Plan for Bulgaria to be considered by the members of the Policy Forum during its first meeting.
While the Policy Forum is intended to foster a general political and social consensus on the implementation of the initiative, the Steering Committee (SC) provides the coordination of the activities and outputs of the Coalition.
The group of NGOs which took the initiative Ð Access Association, Applied Research and Communications Fund (ARC Fund), Association of Judges in Bulgaria, the Center for the Study of Democracy, the Center for Economic Development, the Center for Social Practices, the Economic Policy Institute and the Information Centre on the Council of Europe, Sofia Ð invested a particular effort into ensuring the representative nature of the SC. Thus the set-up of the SC reflects both the history of the initiative as well as the con- sultations and the publicity effort:
Mr. Asen Dulgerov Secretary, Sofia Municipality and Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Privatization Agency Mr. Boyko Todorov Director, Information Centre on the Council
of Europe, Sofia (ICCES)
Mr. Dimitar Batchvarov Head, Structural Reform Department, Council of Ministers
Ms. Dinka Dinkova Program Director, Applied Research and Communications Fund (ARC Fund)
Ms. Ekaterina Michailova President of the Parliamentary Group of UDF, Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Committee to Counter Crime and Corruption
2. Steering
Committee
Dr. Evgenii Dainov Director, Center for Social Practices (CSP), and Chairman of the Board, Open Society Foundation, Sofia
Dr. George Prohasky Director, Center for Economic Development (CED) and Senior Advisor at the Council of Ministers
Dr. Ivanka Petkova Director, Economic Policy Institute (EPI) Ms. Kapka Kostova Chair of the Board, Association of Judges in
Bulgaria (AJB) and Chair, Sofia Regional Court Ms. Nelly Koutzkova Chair, Sofia District Court
Ms. Nadezhda Sandolova National Audit Office, Head of Department ÒCentral Bank and Internal DebtÓ
Dr. Ognian Shentov President, Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD)
Dr. Stefan Hadjitodorov Secretary, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Mr. Stanislav Daskalov President, European Movement Bulgaria Mr. Valentin Dobrev Ambassador of Bulgaria to the United King-
dom
Dr. Valeri Roussanov President, Access Association
The Steering Committee meets regularly, approximately every four-to-six weeks. The SC has a major role in the run-up to the Policy Forum meetings.
The Steering Committee prepares the meeting agenda through advance consultations with the Forum members and reports to the Forum on the ac- tivities and outputs during the preceding year. The structure of the Steering Committee is intended to ensure two main objectives:
¥ efficient management covering all aspects: political/institutional, eco- nomic, legal, information and interface with international institutions;
¥ publicÐprivate dialogue and partnership as a key prerequisite for a sub- stantial impact.
For the purpose of providing permanent support to the work of the Steering Committee, a Secretariat was set up at the Center for the Study of Democracy. The Secretariat provides the day-to-day operational manage- ment, logistical support and reporting for the activities.
In coordination with the Applied Research and Communications (ARC) Fund the Secretariat maintains a public information deskhosting both on- line and print materials. These include survey data, original research devel- oped by the Coalition, major publications and studies in the field of anti- corruption, reference links to relevant information, etc. Another task of the Secretariat is to carry out monitoring visits/meetings in order to assist the co-