Project Details
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Programme:
Europe for Citizens
Identifier:
617190-CITIZ-1-2020-1-HR-CITIZ-OGCIV
Summary
Gong's activities in 2020 were influenced by external consequences and adaptation to them. In addition to the pandemic conditions and epidemiological measures which were in force since March, Gong’s office was affected by the devastating earthquake in Zagreb. The flexibility and support of the EACEA Operating Grant enabled us a continuity of activities throughout the year, which was also very politically salient, with two election cycles, the imposition of public health measures, and challenges posed by the pandemic in terms of civic rights and freedoms and the integrity of the media space.Therefore, we would like to point out certain successes specifically. Gong monitored and published the first independent analysis of the successes of Croatia's presidency of the EU Council, focusing on fulfilled priorities set by the Government and advocated by CSOs.Gong has also conducted ambitious research of the structural factors of political corruption in Croatia, linking them to the risks recognized by the inputs to the EU Rule of Law report, to which Gong was a contributor. An extensive analysis produced and pointed to a key obstacle to meaningful electoral participation due to unconstitutionally uneven electoral districts for national-level parliamentary elections.In mid-2020, Gong filed a complaint of Commission President and Vice-President being featured in a pre-election video of the Croatian Democratic Union with the EU Ombudsman. Gong’s complaint resulted in an announcement of improvements in Commission guidelines for the participation of Commissioners in national election campaigns. Gong's analysis of the various ways in which financial and administrative mechanisms related to EU funds are used to disproportionately burden civil organisations in Croatia has had substantial public visibility. The analysis has demonstrated that the difficulty of use and excessive administration of EU funding by the national authorities is a pervasive practice that runs contrary to the funding’s intent of contributing to a vibrant, empowered, and sustainable civil society. Gong was instrumental in networking nationally and transnationally in attempts to preserve the civic space, being among the leading organisations of the nationwide Survivor coalition for a sustainable civil society sphere. Transnationally, Gong continued and deepened its membership in Europe-wide networks of civil society organisations, including the governing structure of the European Civic Forum.The grant enabled Gong’s non-formal education programmes to continue unimpeded by the pandemic, enabling regular education modules to be adapted for implementation via an online learning platform. Gong’s media, political, and EU literacy programmes were updated, adapted, and implemented online as well as live, enabling a further reach toward interested teachers and trainers. The online programs were Gong’s first e-learning activities and were met with acclaim from users, who especially praised them for their relevance and ease of use, encouraging the further development of teaching materials and hands-on exercises. An entirely novel digital literacy module was developed and implemented, also to positive feedback from users.Gong continued to be the publisher of Faktograf.hr, the first and still only Croatian language fact-checking platform, which is accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network. Following the “infodemic” of misinformation that followed the pandemic outbreak, Faktograf’s key work focused on debunking harmful Covid-19 misinformation and disinformation. In 2020, the readership grew to 2 million unique readers. Faktograf continued networking transnationally through the SeeCheck regional network and has started branching into multimedia product.
Start Date:
01-01-2020
End Date:
31-12-2020
Duration in months:
12
Details
Year (Call):
2020
Country:
20000911
Activity:
Operating grants: Structural support for European public policy research organisations (thinktanks) and civil society organisations at European level.
Sub-Activity:
Democratic engagement and civic participation
No partners available for this project
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