In the past months, experts from the Faculty of Law conducted multi-layered research on the normative and practical aspects of the work of the Municipality of Aerodrom, on the basis of which they prepared a study and a handbook containing concrete recommendations for further improvement of transparency and accountability of this unit of the local self-government.

The training was opened by the Official representative of KAS Daniel Braun.

Braun, thanked the Municipality of Aerodrom for the joint initiative to develop a handbook for integrity and anti-corruption at the local level. He said that it is important to implement this in dialogue with the employees at the municipal level and to provide appropriate training, as is done today.

Citizens and employees interact as taxpayers and service providers, and the nature of the relationship also reflects back on the state as a whole in terms of the reputation of and trust in the state and its institutions. These are the basis for an awareness of the rule of law and functioning institutions. Local governments, he said, are the first calling card of the state.

On behalf of the Municipality of Aerodrom, the Secretary of the Municipality Julijana Pavkovska Bocevska addressed the audience.

According to the Municipality of Aerodrom, the overall function of the municipality should be aimed at ensuring an efficient system of good administration and good governance. Therefore, this project represents a serious symbolic beginning of a new path and a new functional system of the municipalities, which the municipality wants to establish.

The experts of the Faculty of Law "Iustinianus Primus" Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Spasenovski, Prof. Dr. Ana Pavlovska-Daneva and MA Konstantin Bitrakov were involved in the implementation of the project. In the frame of the training the team of the experts referred to the integrity risks of the Municipality Aerodrom.

During the training, Aleksandar Spasenovski explained the concept of integrity itself, but also the need to establish an integrity system in the units of local self-government. In this regard, he presented several studies on public opinion as well as surveys showing that citizens are skeptical about the integrity of institutions and anti-corruption measures. For this very reason, he stressed, it is necessary for each institution to take independent measures to strengthen its own integrity. Moreover, Spasenovski clarified that in order to establish an integrity system, it is first necessary to perceive the risks related to integrity in an organization, and only then can activities and measures be planned or mechanisms established to improve the situation. In conclusion, he briefly reviewed the activities undertaken to create the Municipality of Aerodrom Integrity Handbook.

Konstantin Bitrakov referred to each of the identified risks related to the integrity of the Municipality of Aerodrom, which were described for this purpose in a special study, as well as to the planned measures to reduce this risks. The risks were presented and discussed with the present employees of the municipality, who expressed their opinions on them. In addition, each of the envisaged measures was explained and modified, if necessary, to meet the needs of the Municipality of Aerodrom. Risks were identified in relation to administrative procedures and the issuance of individual acts outside of administrative procedures, in relation to public procurement, budgeting and finance, and in the area of human resources.

As in the past, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation together with its partners will continue to implement a wide range of activities in the spirit of further democratization of the state.