The purpose of this commission is to provide findings that may help set an optimum relationship between public administration and NGOs to implement the partnership principle, including support measures that may eliminate disproportions between the two cooperating parties.

The partnership between public administration and representatives of non-governmental non-profit organizations (NGOs) in programming and utilization of European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) is defined by the European Union (EU) for the programming period 2014-2020 as one of the primary elements in implementing the Europe 2020 strategy. The partnership principle is defined as close cooperation between public administration authorities and the private and non-profit sectors, throughout the programme cycle, i.e., planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

The Czech Republic accepts the principle and implements it in a way. The objective is to implement the partnership principle between the two partners, i.e., public administration and NGOs, efficiently and effectively. The public administration makes efforts, frequently unsuccessful, to search for legitimately chosen and responsible partners in NGOs. The NGOs try to perform their partner role in terms of professional and personnel capacities, and sometimes spread themselves too thin while promoting group interests. Certain shortcomings in drawing the EU funds in the programming period 2007–2013 show that there was some unused potential in the area of synergies that implementation of the partnership principle may bring. These claims are hypothesis, the verification of which is the objective of this commission.