Mr. Dmitri Romanovski is the head of the TransparenCEE project at TechSoup Europe, which aims to empower the civic tech community through international events, cross-regional projects, civic tools sharing, and research and educational activities. Mr. Romanovski has a background in journalism and civic activism, where he worked as a reporter for BBC Russia, Transitions Online, and the Russian International News Agency, among others. He has also coordinated activities of the European Youth Press network and collaborated with Front Line Defenders and OSCE RFoM. Mr. Romanovski holds a double Master’s Degree in Russian and Central and Eastern European Studies from the University of Glasgow and Jagiellonian University in Krakow.

2. - CSO activist interested in tech
- IT developers interested in social change
- Watchdogs and investigative journalists working with tech
- Researchers in the related fields
- Social entrepreneurs and IT start-upers with a social agenda
- Local government representatives supporting open data, transparency, and innovation

5. - Connecting people through international conferences
- Training and educational materials for CSO activists in tech subjects
- Tackling thematic challenges via international expert working groups
- IT tools development for CSOs
- Practical research and how-tos on the subject of civic tech

37. So what should we do about it?

38. • You can’t make something good
and cheap;
• There should be more flexibility in
time and details of delivery
requirements;
• The focus needs to be on the impact
rather than performance or KPIs;
• Development is a cycle, there
should be space for mistakes,
improvement, and experimenting;
• Maintenance of successful tools is
more important than innovation;
Donors community needs to recognize issues with current model of
support

39. • Better assess the needs of communities and
don’t create unnecessary / repetitive tools;
• Invest more in communication, promotion,
and community-building around products;
• Better asses organizational capacities;
• Face reality: be more critical, admit failures,
abandon "success culture”.
Civic tech community needs to focus on social impact instead of
technological perfection