However, partnership between organizations and administration is possible only when there exists not only good will to cooperate, but also mechanisms of mutual control. That is a reason for existence of organizations that carry out monitoring - a planned, systematic, and performed according to a given scheme examination. Such monitoring is an examination of a specified fragment of public administration proceedings, which is performed in order to determine to what extent those proceeding are legal (compatible with both Polish Constitution and international law, as well as with lower order laws) and used for the ‘common good’.   

Basic principles:

Objectivity
Monitoring is a method of acquiring reliable and objective knowledge about rules and effects of public administration proceedings. It should not exclusively be dealt with in instrumental way, as a method for proving a conceived thesis. This means that in their proceedings an organization and its representatives should set truth over immediate effectiveness or organization’s interest.

Action for the common good    
Monitoring is something more than research means – it affects changes for better in local community functioning (including environmental protection). It is to say that it should not be, except extreme cases, just a form of criticism – it should initiate negotiation process and common activity for improvement of the status quo.

Transparency 
Watchdog organizations should especially care about transparency of their activities and avoid situations, in which their activities might be treated as unethical, and their objectivism questioned.