TIRANA, SKOPJE — Two civil society organizations from the Western Balkans joined the POINTPULSE network: Analytica from Skopje and Institute for Democracy and Mediation from Tirana.

Reveal their reasons for joining the Network and what do they expect from this engagement in following short interview with Andreja Bogdanovski from Analytica and Besjana Kuci from Institute for Democracy and Mediation.

What led your organization to join POINTPULSE?

Besjana Kuci: Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) has a substantive research experience in dealing with the issues of police integrity and fight against corruption. Joining this network means that IDM will be able to provide valuable inputs and contribution to the research in the frame of POINTPULSE. Moreover, IDM has a long-term history of cooperation between the other network members in implementing joint regional projects.

Andreja Bogdanovski: For us at Analytica it was a natural to join POINTPULSE being the only network in the Balkans dealing with questions of police integrity, taking into account that we have been working non-stop on security sector reform questions in Macedonia for the past eight years. Moreover being the only specialised think tank in Macedonia dealing with good governance of the security sector adds an extra pressure for us to respond to the need for greater police integrity especially after series of events in 2015 when the biggest opposition party in Macedonia presented wiretapped material allegedly involving (among others) members of the police involved in criminal behaviour.

What are your expectations from engagement to this regional network?

Besjana Kuci: The POINTPULSE network will provide the opportunity for concerted efforts in strengthening the integrity and promoting the fight against corruption within law enforcement agencies at large. The recommendations provided by the network will contribute to the policy change and promote police integrity.

Andreja Bogdanovski: We will definitely learn a lot from our colleagues from the region, learn about the state of each of the countries when it comes to police integrity, best practices, learn about what went wrong etc. I think most important is the fact that by being regionally empowered we will be providing additional layer of pressure for police to perform better while at the same time recognising us as a credible partner where they can ask for support in order to address some of the police integrity questions.

How do you think POINTPULSE can contribute to citizens’ trust throughout whole region?

Besjana Kuci: As the research shows, police is one of the least trusted institutions among the citizens in the WB. In this regard, establishing an effective dialogue with national law enforcement agencies and other relevant stakeholders is essential for the network to have more impact when it comes to implementing sound anti-corruption policies and improving police integrity and, eventually, trust of the citizens in police. The POINTPULSE network through its activities should invest further efforts in police reform so as to facilitate its transformation into the service of the citizens.

Andreja Bogdanovski: This is something that cannot be done overnight and this is a reason why we at POINTPULSE think strategically, think long-term about the future of the network. In fact that is one of the reasons why are we all together here in Belgrade. For us in the network this is also a commitment and is a values based approach. Considering that every single one of the think tanks involved in the POINTPULSE network have credibility back home is making easier for us to reach out to the general public while at the same time reach out with policy solutions to national authorities on issues we have identified as burning. We also plan to work on Android Application which would allow real-time information about questions related to police integrity, I believe this may bring the issue as such closer to the general public.