Transparency International – Georgia and Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC) have been awarded the maximum possible five starts rating in International Think Tank Transparency Index.
A press-conference shall be held on the topic Today May 8th at 13:00, at Transparency International – Georgia office – #26 Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi, Georgia.
The report by a non-governmental organization Transparify provided financial transparency rating of 169 Think Tanks in 47 countries. Transparify rated the extent to which think tanks publicly disclose their funding information, awarding up to five starts depending on the level of disclosure (where “5” means the most transparent).
8 NGOs from Georgia were chosen for the survey, Transparency International Georgia and Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC) were among them. An average transparency level for the global sample of 169 think tanks is 2.2 stars, in case of Georgia the average is higher 2.6 stars.
Out of 169 think tanks rated worldwide, only 21 are currently highly transparent, five start institutions. This rating means that these organizations are highly transparent about who funds them, and disclose their financial information publicly. The report states that these 21 organizations set the golden standard in the field of transparency.
Think tanks become key players in democratic politics. They have a role and a mandate to provide recommendations to the policy-makers and to participate in the policy-making process. That is why they have a responsibility to be transparent about their operations and sources of funding.
According to Eka Gigauri, maintenance of financial transparency is essential for Transparency International – Georgia, since “quite often questions arise regarding the sources of financing of the non-governmental organizations. We are proud to declare that the comprehensive answer to this question can be found on our web-site.”
EPRC’s executive director Nino Evgenidze believes that “financial transparency of think tanks is important because of the following two reasons: firstly, the society has to have information regarding the sources of financing of our activities, secondly – in order to ask the government to be more transparent and accountable, we ourselves have to set an example for this.”
Transparify index is based on the information provided publicly by the think tanks. It is noteworthy that out of 169 institutions only 35 provide information thoroughly, 134 are not transparent enough.
The Transparify project is implemented with the financial support of Open Society Foundations (OSF). Transparify will publish new ratings next year.
