As of June 1, 2019, Ms. Inese Tauriņa has taken on the duties of Manager of the project Alliance Against Corruption in Latvia implemented by Transparency International Latvia (DELNA). I. Taurina was the Council Member of DELNA for more than two years (from March 30, 2017 till May 31, 2019), and member of DELNA since 2011.
I. Taurina has more than 16 years of experience in communications field. For the last four years she had taken part in organising such events as Digital Freedom Festival and conference ReputationTime. She has given lectures to public relations students at Latvian College of Culture. I. Taurina has been a Head of Public Relations department at Rīga Stradiņš University for more than 6 years; being responsible of internal communication and public relations. Inese holds a MA degree in European Union Studies from Leiden University, the Netherlands and MSc degree in Communications and Information Sciences from Rīga Stradiņš University. I. Taurina has studied security of small states at University of Iceland, the history and principles of democracy and parliamentary systems at The Montesquieu Institute, the Hague, the Netherlands.
Since January 2016 I. Taurina is executive secretary of LASAP / Latvian Association of Public Relations Professionals. She is an active member of sorority Dzintra since February 2000, manages its Scholarship Fund since 2007, and is a member of the Riga Stradiņš University Alumni Association.
The main objective of the Alliance Against Corruption in Latvia, under the leadership of I. Taurina, is to reduce the public’s tolerance against corruption and to encourage whistleblowing. This can be achieved by following actions:
- active involvement of the society in the implementation of the whistleblowing mechanism, as defined in the newly adopted Law on Whistleblowing;
- enhancing legislative changes to strengthen openness and fight against corruption;
- education of the society, engagement in corruption recognition and reporting – changing public values and habits.
The Alliance Against Corruption in Latvia (Alliance) is a voluntary and informal co-operation between Latvia’s law enforcement agencies, government, business, and civil society that wish to see Latvia as an honest and thriving state. The Alliance is organizing different activities, conferences, seminars, public debates, and special events to raise the awareness of the negative effects of corruption on societal development and to encourage individuals to report instances of corruption.
The Alliance was launched in the second half of 2018. Several important activities have been organised so far:
- The Anti-corruption Data Hackathon took place on March 2, 2019, and was organised in cooperation with the Data School and the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Latvia. In the hackathon data analysts, corruption experts, programmers and journalists developed three open data solutions that will help to identify corruption risks and suspicious cash flows. The wining idea was a tool that helps identify suspicious public procurement, a prototype of this idea is currently being developed.
- The Conference on the implementation of the Whistleblowers Law was held on March 28, 2019. It was co-hosted by Transparency International Latvia, American, British, Irish-Latvian, Norwegian and Swedish Chambers of Commerce in Latvia in cooperation with Vilgerts Law office. It was supported by the U.S. Embassy in Latvia, airBaltic, Bite Latvija and Riga Business School. International and local experts discussed the impact of the new Whistleblowers Law on organizations in Latvia, with a focus on the private sector. More information ->.
- An active work has taken place on promoting the openness of the Saeima, details of the initial proposals can be found here (in Latvian) – >.
The Alliance is already supported by various business organisations: the American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia, the British Chamber of Commerce in Latvia, the Norwegian Chamber of Commerce in Latvia, and the Irish Latvian Chamber of Commerce; law enforcement agencies and other public authorities: the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau, the Competition Council, the State Revenue Service, the State Audit Office, and the State Police, and the State Chancellery; as well as representatives of the civil society: Dainis Īvāns, Valters Nollendorfs, Anders Paalzow, Inna Šteinbuka, Tālavs Jundzis, Andris Sprūds, Andris Vilks, Uģis Gruntmanis, Valts Kalniņš, Normunds Bergs, Ieva Morica, Ernests Jenavs, Jānis Kreilis, Kristaps Grasis Guntis Bērziņš and others.
Contacts:
Inese Tauriņa
Manager of the Alliance Against Corruption in Latvia
inese.taurina@delna.lv
+371 67285585
