The Stefan Batory Foundation

Anti-Corruption Program

contact: przeciw-korupcji@batory.org.pl

Grażyna Kopińska, Program Director,
phone: (48 22) 536 02 58
Grażyna Czubek, phone: (48 22) 536 02 71
Adam Sawicki, phone: (48 22) 536 02 57

Program carried out in collaboration with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights.

During the UE accession period Poland was perceived as the most corrupt of the accession countries. 2005 Transparency International Corruption Index situates Poland in the middle of the scale (positions between 39th and 70th) but with each year its rank gets lower. In the 2005 ranking of Central and Eastern European countries only Romania was evaluated as the country more corrupted than Poland. In Poland there is still a strong acceptance of corrupt behavior, especially in everyday matters. The study commissioned by the Foundation indicates that while 80 per cent of Polish citizens believe giving bribes is immoral, as many as 42 per cent claim it is justified under certain circumstances. Reports and studies leave no doubt whatsoever: Poland is not capable of combating corruption effectively.

The Anti-Corruption Program aims at reducing the scale of the corruption problem in Poland by fostering attitude shifts amongst citizens with respect to everyday corruption, advocating new legislation to ensure transparency of decision-making and organizing permanent community pressure on the government to enforce anti-corruption laws and regulations.

The work of the Anti-Corruption Program was initiated in 2000 by public awareness campaign run under the slogan Corruption. You don’t have to give, you don’t have to participate! with which we wanted to draw the attention of public opinion to the plague of corruption. Currently the Program’s activities concentrate on monitoring the authorities at national and local level, diagnosing the mechanism of corruption in concrete areas and professions and building social movement for transparency in public life.

In 2009 we run following projects:

Electoral campaign financing – activities aimed at amendment of electoral campaign financing law
Monitoring local election campaign finances – scrutiny of sources of funding and expenses of electoral committees of candidates running in local elections
Monitoring of selected public funds spending – analysis of possible interdependence between the worlds of business and politics
Monitoring of electoral promises – monitoring of the fulfillment of the pledges to fight corruption made by political parties during the parliamentary election campaign in 2001
Monitoring legislative procedure – activities aimed to ensure adoption of good laws that will eliminate corruption
Corruption barometer – annual conference and presentation of public opinion poll survey on the scale and perception of corruption
Medical Task Force – activity of a group of medical doctors committed to combating corruption in public health
Legal counseling – information and counsel for people who have encountered corruption

Projects completed:

Only Fish Don’t Take Bait?
Local Civic Groups