Since 1998 the Center for the Study of Democracy has pioneered the anti-corruption efforts of the Bulgarian civil society. CSD introduced an innovative public-private coalition format for co-operation among NGOs, governmental institutions and individuals for delivering anti-corruption awareness raising and policy advocacy. It consisted of three pillars:

• annual anti-corruption policy forums;
• annual Corruption Assessment Reports; and
• the Corruption Monitoring System (CMS).

CMS is based on regular victimization surveys among the population and the business community, which benchmarks corruption dynamics. The system has been included in the UN Anti-Corrution Toolkit as a best national practice and has served as an example in the development of similar efforts for monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption, and more recently in the run-up to the first EU Anti-Corruption Report. In 2010 on request from the European Commission CSD produced the first ever Study on the Links between Corruption and Organized Crime, which would serve to underpin EU's fledgling policy efforts in this domain. CSD will continue to contribute to the debate on EU's anti-corruption policy and to specific policy and practical measures to improve good governance in Bulgaria.