Today, CoST Strategic Advisor, Soren Kirk Jensen, takes part in a Transparency International Latvia event on Integrity Pact and Citizen Participation in Public Procurement Monitoring, where they will present their new practitioner’s handbook. 

Soren will deliver opening remarks alongside Agnija Birule, Deputy Director at Transparency International Latvia and Irina Lonean, Project Coordinator at Transparency International Romania. 

He will also take part in a discussion on the role of the NGO sector in monitoring European Commission-Funded projects, alongside Valts Kalniņš, Researcher and Lecturer at University of Latvia; Irina Lonean; a lawyer from Transparency International Latvia and moderated by Haralds Beitelis, Head of the Foreign Financial Instruments Department at Latvian State Chancellery. 

During this event, Soren will highlight how CoST’s tools, standards and expertise are valuable across Europe, and discuss CoST – Integrity Pact synergies. This includes how CoST uses the multi-stakeholder approach to work with the NGO sector. He will also showcase CoST’s recent OGP guidance note, which he wrote about for the CoST website.

This builds on CoST’s established work in Europe, including with European Institutions,  Lithuania, the Scottish Government, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. 

The event also strengthens the relationship between Transparency International chapters and CoST including recent work on the New Brazilian Infrastructure Policy with TI Brazil. 

Other participating organisations in this event include Latvia’s Public Procurement Monitoring Bureau, Think Tank PROVIDUS, Ogre District Civic Cooperation and Development Association and Foundation “Liepāja Region Fund”.