CAL: Government must demonstrate actual savings before redistributing SIF programmes

The Civic Alliance - Latvia (CAL) calls on the government to assess the actual costs and administrative impact of redistributing programmes administered by the Society Integration Foundation (SIF) before making a decision, ensuring that the planned changes do not create additional bureaucracy or increase public expenditure. The Ministry of Culture’s proposal envisages transferring some of the programmes administered by SIF to other public administration institutions, while available estimates indicate that such changes could require additional administrative resources.

In practice, this could mean that each ministry would have to hire new staff, develop its own information systems and establish its own approach to managing funding competitions.

An audit estimate shows that the Ministry of Culture’s costs for directly administering several programmes could increase from EUR 369,000 to EUR 594,000 per year. This represents an increase of EUR 225,000, or approximately 61.1%. Furthermore, this estimate does not include all information technology costs. For example, the State Chancellery has identified a need for at least eight additional positions to take over the programmes. This raises questions about the overall financial impact of redistributing the programmes on the state budget.

“The government has identified reducing bureaucracy and administrative burdens as one of its priorities. It is therefore reasonable to ask how the proposed redistribution of SIF programmes will help achieve this goal when current estimates already point to potential additional costs and staffing needs. Before implementing such significant changes, it must be clear not only how the programmes will be redistributed, but also what benefits these changes will bring to the state and society,” says Elīna Grīnhofa, Director of CAL.

Independent media, a strong civil society

CAL also draws attention to potential risks to the independence of NGOs and the media. When transferring support programmes to ministries and the State Chancellery, it is essential to ensure that decisions on funding allocation remain independent of political influence. This is particularly important for organisations and media outlets that critically scrutinise the work of public administration and hold decision-makers accountable.

Distributing programmes among several institutions could also lead to different application and reporting requirements, increasing the administrative burden. This could particularly hinder the work of small and regional organisations, which often have limited administrative resources.

Changes must be based on data and evidence

To assess SIF, the government commissioned an independent audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which, together with the work of the inter-institutional working group, cost the state up to EUR 65,000. The audit and the inter-institutional working group concluded that SIF operates efficiently and that the centralised system should be maintained. CAL calls on the government to clearly explain how the proposed redistribution of programmes aligns with the audit's findings, what benefits it is expected to deliver, and what its full administrative and financial costs will be.

During the legislative coordination process, more than 100 opinions were submitted on the proposal by 81 unique organisations and public institutions. CAL calls on the government to consider these objections on their merits before deciding on the future administration of SIF programmes.

The Civic Alliance - Latvia calls on the Cabinet of Ministers to publish a comprehensive assessment of the financial and administrative impact of redistributing SIF programmes before approving the informative report, and to properly consider the objections received. We urge the government to uphold its own principles and manage public funds responsibly, avoiding the creation of additional bureaucracy and further fragmentation of the public administration system.

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