Perceptions of social injustice, ethical concerns and lack of good governance have damaged citizens’ trust towards the government and public officials worldwide. This has created an unhealthy disconnect between the two groups.

The Freedom of Information Center of Armenia has suggested development of a web platform to counter this trend in a unique way: by monitoring the vehicles of the public officials, and identifying and publicizing incidences of abuse in which official vehicles are used for private needs.

Using a simple app – called padavat.am – users can take photos of public vehicles (using smart phones and other devices) and then send them with the geo-location to a website that will verify and publicize this information. The information is afterwards transferred to the Commission on Ethics of the High-level Officials for further investigations.

One of a series of Kolba incubated initiatives aimed at changing the relationship between citizens and local government, it is hoped that padavat.am will use active citizens as a key towards more transparent government actions.

The app is currently in testing phase. Check back soon for updates.