Demonstrating Democracy: Improving Transparency and Freedom of Information in Local Governments in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia, funded by the US State Department (July 2002 - July 2003)
REDA was the primary partner for this program to IRIS, Inc. (Iowa Resource for International Service) and coordinated activities in Europe. REDA assistеd in developing contacts with the other four cities, conducting the selection of candidates for a six-week internship in Iowa. Three participants from each city (Stara Zagora, Bulgaria; Veszprem, Hungary; Tarnow, Poland; Humene, Slovakia and Maribor, Slovenia) went to Iowa in February and March 2003, where they worked in city and county administrations. A project conference was organized in June, in Hungary, which gathered again all participants from Europe and Iowa. After the conference two local government officials from Iowa went for four days in each of the CEE countries to help establish long-term partnerships.
On June 27th, 2003 all the representatives from Iowa State met in Stara Zagora for the last working meeting of the project. The Iowa guests and the Bulgarian participants shared the accumulated experience and its possible application in Bulgaria.