The Eight Meeting of the National Working Group (NWG) for Monitoring Public Administration Reform (PAR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina was held on the 22th of December 2023 at the Hotel Central in Sarajevo. The event was organised as the first NWG for PAR meeting within the Western Balkan Enablers for Reforming Public Administrations WeBER 3.0 project and the support of WeBER Plus by Smart Balkans. It was attended by 28 participants (hybrid) including representatives of civil society organisations included in and out of NWG. The aim of the meeting was to present and discuss Draft Guidelines for citizen centred local governance and PAR problem solving, Discussion on priority PAR issues at national level and prioritisation by the NWG members and Presentation of the results of the questionnaire on the additional education needs of NWG members, on the basis of which the training program should be developed.

Introduction

Director of FPI BH, Haris Ćutahija opened the meeting as researcher of WeBER 3.0 project, gave a short presentation of the WeBER 3.0 project, WeBER initiative and the purpose of WeBER National Group in BiH. He introduced the whole WeBER 3.0 project team in BiH and future plans.

Presentation of the Guidelines for solving management problems and public administration reform at the local level in accordance with a citizen oriented approach

Zvonimira Jakić, project officer of WeBER 3.0 and project manager of FPI BH presented the purposes of the guidelines, target audience, scope, key concepts, and steps for implementation of the guidelines. She emphasized that guidelines are subordinates to the prioritization of citizens needs and motivation for being active part of shaping the direction and outcomes of PAR in the direction of greater transparency, accountability and ect. The new call of SGF is focused on citizen participation, research and monitoring at the local level. She mentioned that The WeBER 3.0’s SGF will support 20 projects in 6 Western Balkans countries, out of which 3 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The thematic areas for applying are: Local Policy Formulation, Participatory Budgeting, Service Delivery Improvement, Local Spatial, Economic, and Social Development, Information provision and overall communication by local government towards the public, Inclusive society promotion. Desing method was presented by every step with details and examples.

Discussion and questions

After the presentation, the discussion was led by the researcher, Haris Ćutahija.

Q: “As in previous years, is a document of official cooperation with the local community or business required?”

A: A document of official cooperation with the local community or business is not necessary, but in that case, the project should include the advocacy component with the local authorities.

Q: “Do we have to include all 17 sustainable development goals through the application?”

A: No, you do not need to include all SDG goals through the application. We talked about examples and ways of including all goals through the design thinking method in order to arrive at the key problem and its solution as efficiently as possible.

Q: “How can we include certain goals of sustainable development through interviews with citizens, representatives of local communities?”

A: During the presentation we went over several examples. To simplify, for example, you want to build a park in the settlement, because it is the greatest need of the citizens of your local community. The sixth goal of sustainable development is “clean water and sanitary conditions”, you ask citizens if they think they need a fountain of clean, drinking water in the park. With that, you included the goal of sustainable development and examined the needs of citizens.

Q: “Do team members have to be presented in advance if we have enough experience in public administration reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina?”

A: In the application guidelines, it is stated that it is not necessary to show the members of the team if you have listed and properly demonstrated experience in the field of public administration reform in your CV, portfolio of your organization. This condition is stated, because many organizations do not have experience in the field of public education reform, but they can include experts in this field in the design and implementation of the project.

Q: “How long exactly should projects last?”

A: Projects should last from 6 to 15 months.

Discussion on the most important problems of public administration reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina and their prioritization

Researcher Haris Ćutahija gave a short presentation of the results of PAR 2021/2022 in Bosnia and Herzegovina and started the discussion. With the consent of all present, the researcher Ćutahija jointly summarized all the problems of public administration reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and they are: corruption in civil service commissions, acting management positions, citizens’ lack of information about consultations, citizens not friendly documents, discrimination of persons with disabilities in employment, digitalization of services, systematization, reform of public administration according to EU standards, employment contracts in the civil service. The members of the NWG group pointed out that they would like to highlight the mentioned problems through various official documents to raise the awareness of the local administrations about the mentioned problems.

Mrs. Božidar from Demos Brčko: “The problem in the Brčko District is the law on the budget, which is neither defined, transparent nor applicable in the administrative procedure, nor is it citizens-friendly to understand. Also, there is the question of objectifying the quality of work and the way of working in public administration when applying the aforementioned law.”

Ms. Sunita from Mozaik Visoko: “I want to point out the problem of the corruption of commissions for accepting workers into the civil service, the very efficiency of the agency for civil servants and their transparency.” How can we solve the problem of transparency of the final election of a civil servant.”

Mrs. Alija from Demos Vogošća: “I must point out that in the Canton of Sarajevo, the employment contract for civil servants has been abolished, it can only be concluded for specific services. I see the solution to Ms. Sunita’s stated problem in the already existing solution of introducing a supervisor in front of the Office for the Fight against Corruption at the suggestion of NGOs, of which there are currently around 300 in Sarajevo Canton, whose task is to monitor the entire competition procedure, which controls the very transparency and fair play selection of candidates.”

Ms. Jelena from CPCD: “The problem I see is citizens’ lack of information about the creation of new laws, so laws are passed in an urgent procedure without any criteria and consultations, citizens need to be activated to demand greater transparency and more open public administration.”

Mrs. Bećirović from Motivator Trebinje: “Public administration reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina received great financial support from the EU, but unfortunately, due to the irresponsibility of our politicians, the fund was blocked. I would like us as a group to propose the formation of a body of supervisory team members who will monitor the reform of public administration, offer solutions and give a positive response to the EU in order to open the aforementioned fund and speed up the reform of public administration in BiH.”

Ms. Dragana from PROI Mostar: “Unfortunately, the usefulness of the audit is questioned, because after the investigation, no one is responsible for their actions, there are no consequences, sanctions. It is necessary to initiate appropriate criminal proceedings that would be an example to all.”

Ms. Binasa from My Right: “Inclusion of CSO organizations is a matter of transparency of the entire process of civil administration reform.” I want to highlight the issue of discrimination against people with disabilities who have different levels of education, the ability to understand the law, and the process of public administration reform. It is necessary to emphasize the responsibility of members of civil society towards the inclusion of disabled persons and adapt them to them and their requirements, because unfortunately the current laws have not been adapted.”

Presentation of the results of the questionnaire on the additional educational needs of the members of the National Working Group in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Zvonimira Jakić, Project officer, presented the results of the questionnaire on the additional educational needs of the members of the National Working Group in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1. Evaluate your organization’s past experience in participating in the public administration reform process (PAR) – the projected rating of the majority of 44% was 3.

2. Evaluate your organization’s past experience in participating in the public administration reform process in individual areas – the average results by area are listed in the table below.

3. For which of the given topics in the field of strategic framework do you need additional training? – 40% – the need for the participation of relevant actors in the development of strategic documents for RJU and the monitoring of their implementation

4. For which of the given topics in the field of policy development and coordination do you need additional training? – 48% – making policies based on facts and analyses.

5. For which of the given topics in the field of the civil service system and human resources management do you need additional training? – 32% – professional development, talent and performance management in the state administration

6. For which of the given topics in the field of organization, responsibility and supervision do you need additional training? – 24% – supervision and practice of the Ombudsman + division of responsibilities between different levels of government

7. For which of the given topics in the field of service provision and digitization do you need additional training? – 40% – general administrative procedure and the “once only” principle

8. For which of the given topics in the field of public financial management do you need additional training? – 40% – grade 4 for the organization’s experience in participating in decision-making processes at the local government level

The training method and practical tasks in the conclusion are in group work through longer sessions without additional tasks after them.

Discussion

Ms. Salihspahić from Mozaik Visoko: “I believe that one of the most important skills for monitoring public administration reform, even at the local level, is the skill of advocacy. I am of the opinion that advocacy skills must be part of our training in order to make our activities more efficient.”

Mrs. Božidar from Demos Brčko: “In my opinion and experience, it is necessary to do more research and transfer knowledge about strategies and action plans by entities in order for monitoring to be more effective and of higher quality”

Ms. Dragana from PROI Mostar: “Greater knowledge is needed about public finances, budget transparency, budget determinations themselves, how to change budget acts. More knowledge is needed about the values of finances in the state and its transparency.”

Mrs. Božidar from Demos Brčko: “From my personal experience of leading and organizing training, it is necessary to organize training with longer sessions, but with interaction and tasks in order to apply the acquired information as best and efficiently as possible.”

Mrs. Bećirović from Motivator Trebinje: “As a conclusion and one of the results of the training, I would like to see that we as a group announce the state of public administration reform in BiH through an alternative report in which we will present WeBER 3.0 itself.”

Conclusion

Mr. Ćutahija concluded the meeting by expressing his gratitude to all participants for their invaluable contributions to the discussions and invited them to apply on SFG for this year circle.