Call for a research assignment on political party transparency Bosnia and Herzegovina - TERMS OF REFERENCE

Call for a research assignment on political
             party transparency
          Bosnia and Herzegovina

            TERMS OF REFERENCE
                AUGUST 2021

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Introduction and context
Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) is a non-departmental public body
sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). With over 25 years’
experience of supporting democracy around the world, WFD’s has extensive
expertise in supporting political parties, parliaments, civil society and electoral
processes.
WFD is currently implementing a four-year CSSF funded programme in the Western
Balkans titled Western Balkans Democracy Initiative www.wfd.org/wbdi. WFD field
offices in the Western Balkans are implementing a regional programme aimed to :
       -   Encourage political parties to be more policy-focused and orientated
           towards voters’ needs and desires;
       -   Develop more effective parliamentary practice which leads to better quality
           legislation, closer scrutiny of the executive and a greater focus on service
           delivery in line with voters’ interests;
       -   Enhance democratic culture with greater interaction between state and non-
           state actors on challenges effecting citizen’s lives.
Western Balkans countries Serbia, BiH, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and
Kosovo share a very similar recent political history between them. Following a period
of communist rule after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the former Socialist Federative
Republic of Yugoslavia collapsed followed by a bloody civil war. The legacy of the
conflict still obstructs progress and regional cooperation between most countries.
Albania although it has not experienced a conflict, had a difficult transition from an
isolated communist regime to democratic system of governance often marred by
periods of civil unrest, corruption and lawlessness particularly evident in the 90ties.
Most countries have completed their statehood in the beginning and the mid 90eis,
while the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) continued with its disintegration in the
2000s. In 2003, the FRY was replaced by the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.
After the Montenegrin Independence referendum in 2006, two new independent
countries were formed – Republic of Serbia and Republic of Montenegro. Kosovo and
Metohija a former autonomous province in Yugoslavia and Serbia declared unilateral
independence in 2008.
After civil wars, civil unrests and unstable governance in the 90ties and early 2000s
the larger part of Western Balkans countries, entered processes of relative
democratisation, increased civic participation and improvement of some of the main
governance issues in the mid 2000ns and early 2010s. The promise and prospect of
European integration have pushed some of these processes forward.
Although progress has been evident in several governance areas such as improving
electoral frameworks, decentralization and local governance, dealing with corruption,
government transparency, media freedoms and accountability remain major problem
areas in all countries. Demands from parliaments, political parties and elected officials
for accountability on issues related to corruption have often fell on deaf ears. Although

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all countries have introduced Freedom of Information Acts executive institutions and
political parties in situations remain rather closed and non-transparent for citizens.
However, the level of democracy, openness and civic participation are still
considerably low and there is a tendency for further disengagement of citizens and
voters and there has been and levels of trust in political parties have been at a historic
low. The reports of Freedom House1 on the Western Balkans mark all countries as
partly free. A specific trait for all countries of the Western Balkans is a distinct
domination of the executive branch over others with a strong political party influence
over state institutions and social processes. The process of democratisation has not
gone further than reaching elementary conditions for elective democracy, while often
having reversible tendencies towards illiberal democracies or even further towards
authoritarianism.
Part of this problem lies in the multiple-decade-old subject political culture and isolation
of the citizens from decision-making from one party systems. In addition, all countries
in the Western Balkans have shifted its electoral systems from first past the post,
majoritarian models to fully proportional closed party lists which have provided party
leaders and influential business groups and elites in political parties with the exclusivity
in placing MPs and elected representatives on electoral lists.
Links between constituents and elected representatives have been severed and
political party leaders have been disproportionally empowered to represent citizen
interests, often to citizens disadvantage. Transparency of political parties especially
with regards to party financing and party decision making has been low and has
contributed decrease of trust in political parties. Political parties have been
experiencing low levels of trust and there has been an increasing perception that
political parties are less open for the citizens. Viewed as distinctively undemocratic
and patronage – clientelist, political parties are often seen as occupying the public
sector once they win elections and using the state resources for party/personal
interests.
Levels of trust in political parties across the Western Balkans countries have been
decreasing. Political parties are the least trusted institutions by citizens. In comparison
to voter turnouts in the 90ties when the democratic transition has accrued, voter
turnouts have been consistently decreasing, mainly being between 50 and 60%
turnouts but based on voter lists which have not been fully updated.
The nondemocratic practices and partocratic systems which have been built along
with corruption represent a major problem in all Western Balkan countries. More
transparency and accountability from political parties could positively influence citizen
engagement and increase in trust political institutions and actors in the Western
Balkans.
For improved representation to take place political parties should improve
responsiveness, accountability, communications and transparency practices.
Operating in a non-transparent and unaccountable manner has created a negative

1   https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018

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perception of political parties and contributed to higher levels of distrust in political
parties. As a result, engagement and membership in political parties has continuously
been decreasing and citizens have become sceptical and distrustful toward political
parties. Political parties as institutions of representative democracy have not been able
to represent citizens interests and demands in a responsive and accountable manner.
There is a serious gap in communications from political parties towards citizens on the
manner parties operate. This contributes to the problem of representation and in turn
leads to poor accountability towards citizens and constituents.
Most political parties in the Western Balkans rarely provide organisational, financial or
operational information on their work to citizens. They are not easily accessible and
open through their party websites and in their communications. Most party websites
have very little information on party finances, they are not regularly updated with
information on decision making and party representatives, they are not interactive, in
many cases fail to communicate in all local languages, they are not accessible for
disabled citizens (blind or deaf persons) and communicate only in one direction – party
to public.
The non-transparent behaviour of political parties is driven by a culture of non-
accountability in many political parties, an inadequate or inadequately enforced legal
framework, and lack of pressure from society to improve transparency.
WFDs research on political party transparency will use a new and innovative
measurement methodology that will look to provide answers on improving
transparency standards and will aim to create more incentives for political parties to
address these transparency and accountability issues.

2. Objectives

In order to better understand political party transparency issues and potential
implications for WFDs work in the Western Balkans in 2019 and 2020 WFD tested
and developed a research methodology on political party transparency.

The research methodology measures political party transparency in three main pillars
Intra Party Democracy; Party Finances and Outreach and Communications. WFD
developed 67 indicators for measuring party practices and policies and these three
pillars which will be the basis for developing a political party transparency index for the
Western Balkans.

The objectives of the research assignment are:
   1. To conduct research on political party transparency with at least 5 political
      parties in BiH
   2. Present the main findings to WFD and the political parties which will
      participate in the research.
   3. In agreement with the political parties which have participated in the research
      engage in wider Western Balkans discussions and sharing or best practices

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with up to 25 political parties from Western Balkans (main political parties
       from Albania, BiH, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo)

3. Definitions

For the purpose of this research assignment a political party transparency index is an
index that can measure the level of transparency of a political party based on relevant
indicators. The methodology for measuring transparency is already developed by
WFD and includes questions and indicators on communications transparency,
financial transparency or transparency of operations and decision making.
Selected organisations / think tanks / consultants who will be selected to conduct the
research for WFD will be trained on how to use the research methodology.

4. Research questions to be covered in the study?

   •   All research questions have already been developed by WFD and will be
       provided to the selected consultants/organization’s for this research
       assignment.

5. Timelines
Deadlines listed in the table below assume contracting is completed by August 27th
2021. Work should commence on September 1st, 2021. If contracting with the
organisation/consultant(s) is concluded after this date, the deadlines will be adjusted
accordingly but the final research products still should be delivered and presented no
later than December 31st 2021.
 Deliverable         Description                           Deadline
 Draft               The draft research report with                 October 11th 2021
 research            answers all the relevant questions            (English version of
 reports             from the research questionnaire in     document to be provided
 for 5 selected      English language prepared by                                   to
 political parties             th
                     October 11 and delivered to WFD.      emil.atanasovski@wfd.org
 in BiH                                                     by COB on Oct 1, 2021)
 WFD responds        WFD will respond and provide                 October 21st 2021
 to comments         comments to the draft research within
 and provides        10 days.
 feedback       on
 draft research
 Final report        Final draft of the research report with        October 31st 2021
                     answers to all the relevant questions
                     addressing comments and feedback
                     from WFD and political parties
                     participating    in    the   research,

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prepared and delivered to WFD by
                     October 31st 2021

 Presentation of     Following the completion of the final         Mid November but no
 findings       to   report a presentation of key findings     later than November 30th
 political parties   will take place to each political party                     2021
 which      have     which has participated in the
 participated in     research by mid November but no
 the research        later than November 30th 2021

6. Key Deliverables
       -   The consultant/s / organisation is expected to complete the research
           assignment, using the agreed questionnaire and analyse the work of at least
           five political parties in BiH.
       -   The consultant / organisation is expected to prepare a report with key
           findings from the research for each political party and present the research
           findings to the political parties which were selected for the research for their
           feedback.
       -   The consultant/s organisation is expected to participate in a regional
           workshop organised by WFD to present findings on the indicators for future
           use.

7. Budget
       •   The budget for preparing the research assignment in BiH, is a maximum of
           1750 GBP per one research for one political party (inclusive of taxes).
       •   WFD is looking to conduct the research for 5 selected political parties in BiH.
           The maximum budget for conducting the research for all 5 political parties
           is 8750 GBP. The parties which will take part in the research will be agreed
           in consultation with WFD.
       •   The fee of 1750 GBP per one research includes all associated cost for
           presentation of findings and any meetings or consultations which are to be
           conducted during the research and for the presentation of each research
           report to the political party.
       •   The consultant(s)/organisation should propose an activity-based budget for
           conducting this assignment as part of its expression of interest.

8. Application details
Interested consultants/organisations should express their interest for this proposal by
providing a one-page proposal along with the CV of the consultant(s) which will are
proposed to conduct the research assignment. For organisations a one-page
document listing the experience of the organisation relevant for this work should be
prepared.

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Consultants/organisations which have relevant experience and have published work
on topics such as money in politics, political party transparency, political party
financing and transparency indexes will be considered. Track record of previous work
with WFD and quick turnaround in delivering the task will be an additional asset.
Consultants/Organisations background and previous experience in political party
work, party financing and political party operations are highly desirable from for this
assignment.
An email with your expression of interest and relevant documents should be sent to
the Western Balkans Regional office at emil.atanasovski@wfd.org by August 23rd
2021
Only consultants/organisations which will be able to complete the research and within
the proposed timelines will be considered for this assignment.
Only consultant(s-organisations which are willing to sign non-disclosure
agreement/confidentiality agreement with WFD will be considered for this assignment.

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