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Civio is an independent, non-profit organization based in Spain which develops impactful journalism projects in the public interest, focusing on public policies and their impact on citizens. We work to understand how public institutions make decisions; to access the information generated by them; to have evidence-based public policies; to hold the public sector accountable; and to help citizens understand decisions that affect them. The levers we use to achieve these changes are journalism, advocacy and strategic litigation.

Our work on electricity subsidies (¡°bono social¡±) is a particularly relevant and clear example of our combined approach (journalism, technology, litigation and advocacy). In 2018, we reported on the extremely low uptake of electricity subsidies for at-risk households in Spain, ¡°bono social¡±, with two million homes set to lose it unless they reapplied. We created an online assistant to guide citizens through the confusing requirements and generate the complex forms, and -in collaboration with the market regulator- made it available to town halls, consumer orgs and social entities, reaching hundreds of thousands. Alerted by users, we fought to get technical specs via FOI requests and proved BOSCO -the government software validating the requests- rejected applicants incorrectly. We then took the Government to court to open up BOSCO¡¯s source code and set a precedent for similar systems. More information: https://civio.es/novedades/2022/02/17/spanish-court-blocks-the-way-for-making-public-code-open-and-transparent/ Monitoring support programs in general to make sure they reach their intended target, and the application of AI and automated decision making in particular (¡°Digital Welfare State¡±), has now become an important line of work for us, as we regularly report on widespread lack of information, bureaucratic mistakes and hurdles for citizens in this and other programmes. See, for example, our report on the collapse of the Basic Income support line in Spain: https://civio.es/2023/05/18/18-days-spent-phoning-every-half-an-hour-in-the-hope-that-someone-would-answer-the-minimum-living-wage-helpline/