Embassy Supports Lobbying Transparency Events

October 18, 2011

Embassy Supports Lobbying Transparency Events

“Transparency in Lobbying“ seminar was hosted by the American Center on October 14, 2011. The organiser of the event, the think tank Policy Association for an Open Society (PASOS) invited experts who compared the lobbying regulatory frameworks in three CEE countries (Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania) and Ukraine with legal environment for lobbying in the USA and Canada. The US Embassy Press Attaché Paul Oglesby, who opened the event remarked: “Unfortunately, both in the Czech Republic and United States  lobbying is often associated with unfair competition, corruption or subtler ways to “buy“ undue influence. However, lobbying has its role in democracy – for NGOs, for example,  lobbying is a way to extend the organisations’ mission, causes and issues. It is necessary, though, that lobbying and possible sources of influence are visible to the public. This seminar was undertaken as part of Transparency in Lobbying, a project of PASOS.


The US Embassy Cultural Attaché David Gainer opened a 3-day conference and a series of workshops “Days of Lobbying” focused on lobbying and advocacy in the non-profit sector, organized by Neziskovky.cz, a service organisation catering to the NGO community. The keynote speaker of the conference was Audrey Kintzi, a lobbying and advocacy specialist with experience from some of the US leading nonprofits such as the American Red Cross and the American Cancer Society, who now is the Senior Development Director for Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. The event was partly supported by a Small Grant of the US Embassy in Prague.