Vouliwatch (“Vouli" means Parliament in Greek) is an independent, non-profit initiative aiming to promote public dialogue, knowledge, political participation and accountability between citizens and politicians. [1]
Mission and Purpose
Vouliwatch "is a non-partisan parliamentary monitoring/transparency promoting organisation that was set up and legally registered in Athens in March 2014 in response to the rising disillusionment of a large segment of the Greek population towards parliamentary democracy and the broader Greek political system.
The organisation’s main goal is to bridge the gap between citizens and their political representatives whilst promoting a culture of transparency, accountability and active citizenship. In doing so, Vouliwatch makes use of innovative digital technology applications whose purpose is to facilitate the monitoring of parliamentarian’s activities (including their financial interests), the transparent communication between MPs/MEPs and their constituents as well as the recording of all parliamentary activity (legislative process)." [2]
Origins and Development
Successful initiatives in countries like Ireland ("Dail Watch"), Luxembourg ("politikercheck"), Tunisia, Germany, France, and Austria have been sources of inspiration for the organization. The idea to create a "Parliament watch" (Vouli in Greek means "parliament") digital platform in Greece was conceived by Antonis Schwarz, a young entrepreneur in 2013, after the success of such a platform in Germany [3].
Organizational Structure, Membership, and Funding
The team has been managed by Stefanos Loukopoulos, the current managing director who returned to Greece after a considerable career in non-profit entities in Brussels to run the project on a day to day basis. As of September 2015, Maria Alexiou, a senior in Law from the University of Athens, joined the group as VouliWatch's first trainee, responsible for daily operations and content management. Maria Nathanail (lawyer, current Chief of Communications) was responsible for promotional and communications affairs and drafted a detailed social media plan for VouliWatch.
Vouliwatch "is financially independent, it does not accept financial support from political parties, politicians nor corporations and does not wish to generate income through advertising on its website. It values its independence as it believes it to be one of its greatest assets."[2] Six months after its launch, VouliWatch attracted the attention of international foundations and begun receiving project-based grants by the Open Society Foundation. In November 2015, VouliWatch ran a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo and raised more than 12,000 euros [4]. The team members continue to apply for grants from organizations associated with open government, transparency, political accountability, and civic participation.
Specializations, Methods and Tools
Major Projects and Events
Through its digital platform, Vouliwatch engages Greek citizens with legislative politics and grants them with the opportunity to communicate, evaluate and hold elected representatives in the Greek and the European Parliament (MPs & MEPs) accountable.[1]
Analysis and Lessons Learned
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Publications
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See Also
References
[1] Vouliwatch. http://www.vouliwatch.gr/vouliwatch-in-english/#.VrQmp9IrKUk
[2] Vouliwatch. (n.d.) About. https://vouliwatch.gr/about/en
[3] Schwarz, A. and Vlachos, P. (2014). "VouliWatch: Crowd-sourcing the Greek Parliament", Challenges to Democracy blog,Harvard Ash Center. https://medium.com/challenges-to-democracy/vouliwatch-crowd-sourcing-the-greek-parliament-512816dc5812
[4] Barnets, N. (2014). Vouliwatch website helps make the birthplace of democracy more democratic", Ekathimerini.com. https://www.ekathimerini.com/society/163829/vouliwatch-website-helps-make-the-birthplace-of-democracy-more-democratic/
External Links
"Vouliwatch: Empowering Democracy in Greece", Indie Gogo Crowfunding Campaign material & video
VouliWatch.gr (Greek)
Vouliwatch YouTube Channel (Greek)
ParliamentWatch (English)