Projects
We – as individuals, collectives, communities, and societies – have the agency, and responsibility to shape the future of a digitalised world. In 2024 and beyond, we call on you to pass laws that respect our vision articulated below, and reject the laws that steer us away from the future we want to build.
16. August 2024
On 1 August 2024, the long-awaited Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act enters into force, meaning that after years of negotiations, the AI Act is now an official EU law. As we move into this next phase of our work on artificial intelligence, we urge decision-makers to comply with five demands.
1. August 2024
In Slovenia, the lack of regulation for short-term rentals has led to a housing catastrophe. In Ljubljana, for example, there are almost three times as many apartments for short-term rentals as for long-term rentals. Airbnb and similar online platforms are driving locals out of the city as owners seek to maximise their profits and prefer not to rent to those who need a place to call home. With the "Airbnb, go home!" campaign, we are calling for strict regulation in this area from political decision-makers.
27. May 2024
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Each month, we curate a selection of our reflections, projects, public appearances, collaborations and recommendations for reading and action. Občasnik is concise yet substantial, effective yet unobtrusive — and always timely!
With the support of co-signing organisations, we called on the Ministry of Digital Transformation of the Republic of Slovenia, other relevant ministries, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia to take an active role in protecting the rights of marginalised people, foreigners, migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and other persons with irregular migrant status. We informed the officials that we expect them to ensure respect for and protection of human rights.
6. September 2023
This is a free handbook that was developed as part of the project "My Municipality: A Transparent and Open Local Government", supported by the ACF Program in Slovenia. The handbook is intended for local authorities and officials who aim to create better conditions for active public involvement in decision-making at the local level. It is divided into three chapters, namely Transparency, Accessibility, and Participation. Each chapter is further divided into subchapters that explore legal frameworks, potential solutions, guidelines, specific recommendations, and numerous examples of both domestic and international best practices. The handbook is freely available online and can serve as both an initial step and a practical tool for opening municipalities to their residents.
16. December 2022
At Danes je nov dan, we have been promoting the introduction of participatory budgeting and the local level for a long time, so we used the occasion of local elections to campaign for it. Before the elections, we contacted all the mayoral candidates, inquiring about their position regarding participatory budgeting. We organized all the acquired information on a website, where voters could check which candidates committed to introducing participatory budgeting in their municipality in case of victory.
15. November 2022
One possible solution to the current housing crisis comes in the form of housing cooperatives. They encourage democratic decision-making and are community-oriented. In Slovenia, there are several initiatives attempting to establish housing cooperatives, however, they are facing administrative and legal obstacles. The Institute for Studies of Housing and Space drafted a proposal of legislative changes, which would help establish a successful practice of housing cooperatives in Slovenia – as many other countries have already done. We are gathering support through an interactive petition, where each signature submitted represents a new brick in the construction of a symbolic virtual community.
24. February 2022
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We are one of many civil society and non-governmental organizations that are behind the Voice of the People initiative. The initiative aims to articulate 100 public demands for the political parties that intend to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections to take a stance on. The voice of the people comes as a response to the low trust that people have in politics, to its emptiness in terms of content and the vulgar assertion of particular rather than public interests by many politicians. Because we deserve better.
8. November 2021
Openness Index is a result of an international survey, coordinated by the regional network of non-governmental organizations Action SEE. Within the project we analyzed the transparency of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, which, through a comprehensive comparison of five different factors (transparency, accessibility, integrity of deputies, efficiency of the National Assembly, open data), came out as second most open in the region. Although this result looks encouraging, there is still a lot of room for improvement – as far as the integrity of MPs is concerned, for example, we are in a disastrous penultimate place in the region.
28. September 2021
In cooperation with the Organization for a Participatory Society and PIC - Legal-Informational Centre for NGOs, we prepared a survey on the transparency of Slovenian municipalities. We presented the results on a dedicated website, where people can easily check how their municipality fared and compare it with other municipalities with a similar population or budget. Generally speaking, the results are worrying and there is so much room for improvement that all mayors can immediately get their hands dirty.
22. September 2021