Zuzana Wienk

Zuzana Wienk is a founder and a program director of a leading Slovak political watchdog NGO – Fair-Play Alliance. Wienk graduated from Commenius University in Bratislava with a major in journalism. Before founding Fair-Play Alliance in 2002 she worked as a reporter and columnist in number of opinion-making media. She was a member of a self-regulatory body for ethics in print media – the Press Board, member of variety of juries and belongs to most quoted Slovak political analysts. Wienk is an author of number of innovative concepts aimed to fight corruption, e.g. a voluntary asset disclosure web based project hosting detailed declarations of the Slovak Prime Minister, former Speaker of Parliament, members of government and parliament. She also developed philosophy of a respected Award for courages fighters for public interest (the White Crow) which not only celebrates such individuals but offers them help and support and creates a community of reformists. Wienk is often a member of governmental working groups concerned with anti-corruption and transparency legislation and her expertise on party finance, electoral campaigns, conflict of interest, access to public information and judiciary is often used by universities, media, foriegn delegations and international institutions during their visits to Slovakia. Fair-Play Alliance is a leading and widely respected Slovak political watchdog NGO established in 2002. The organisation uses techniques of investigative analytical journalism to disclose cases of illicit / unethical practices in politics and state administration, develops innovative tech tools to promote transparency and ethics in government. Their investigative website has for example recently won the biggest European open-data competitions under auspicies of Commisioner Neelie Kroes in the category- applications. Fair-Play Alliance belongs to the most quoted NGOs in Slovakia. It has an impressive track record of published investigative cases (e.g. it was fundamental in disclosure of couple of cases of illegal party financing parties or in stopping EU funding of a tender worth hundred million euro, it inniated first criminal investigation of party finance in history of Slovakia). The organisation is often asked to sit on commitees developing transparency of anti-corruption legislation or to evaluate Slovak political environment for OSCE, EU, OECD and other foreign governmental delegations. Its representatives train students, other NGOs and often share their unique know-how and tools with other NGOs around the world.