IDIS “Viitorul” continues to increase its level of professionalism of its experts. Last week, economist Diana Enachi conducted a study visit to Estonia to study best practices in integrity policies to prevent corruption and promote transparency tools, especially using IT solutions and open data.

The program included the visit of the highest institutions such as the National Audit Office of Estonia, Ministry of Finance, E-Governance Academy, the Committee for monitoring political party funding, Transparency International - Estonia.

"Estonia's experience shows that IT solutions and use of open data can significantly reduce the risks of corruption in the public sector and not only. What our institutions should take from the Estonian practice it is to put the citizen at the center, whether the public service delivery, budgeting or public policy. In Estonia, anyone who wants to see how budgets are formed and the public money is used, can access an online platform developed by the Ministry of Finances. And if we're talking about how public money is spent - E-Procurement Portal is an open data resource through which about 90% of all public tenders are held. It is a tool of "accountability" extremely useful for the citizen who has access to data throughout the procurement process and can actually see what is the "cost" of a final purchase compared to the price of the contract", explained Diana Enachi.

Study visit to Estonia was organized by the Institute for European Policy and Reform in partnership with Transparency International - Estonia.