Reports on monitoring the performance of the governments and parliaments in BiH published by CCI. The analysis of performance of executive and legislative authorities at the state, entities' and cantonal levels for the first quarter 2015 is available for review below. These activities are a part of CSSP project which is supported by USAID. More...
The reports on monitoring the performance of the parliaments and governments at state, entities' and cantonal levels for the period 01 January to 31 March 2015 were published in May 2015. On 22 May 2015, the Report on Monitoring the Performance of BiH Parliamentary Assembly and Council of Ministers was publicly presented, while on 05 May 2015, a press conference was held in Sarajevo, in which the findings of the report on monitoring the performance of the BH Federation Government and Parliaments were presented. The report on performance of RS National Assembly and Government was presented on the press conference in Banja Luka on 11 May 2015. The reports ended with a number of initiatives that resulted from the recommendations made during a number of years of monitoring the institutions of legislative and executive authorities, the goal of which was to improve the so-called 'two-way communication' between the government and non-governmental sector, and help create, through partner cooperation, a positive ambiance for more efficient solving of citizens' key problems and quicker progress of BiH toward the European Union. As it has been the case so far, CCI's press conference attracted a great deal of attention of the public and the renowned media outlets, which broadcast the key messages of the reports in the most viewed information programs as well as in printed media.
The summary reports in English are available for download from the following links:
'BRANA' (the Dam) is a new CCI's project which aims at contributing toward the transparency of the process of recovery in the areas affected by the flood. The project is supported by USAID. More..
Together with partner organizations:
Civic Advocacy Center – CPI, Center for Media Development and Analyses CRMA and
INFOHOUSE, CCI has formed a network of local organizations under the name „BRANA“ – aimed at monitoring and analyzing the processes of recovery of the damage caused by the floods in a total of 78 local communities that were affected by floods, collecting the data on the funds allocated for the recovery, their spending and keeping the public informed about it.
In addition to these 4 partner organizations, the network consists of 18 more local organizations, namely: Helsinki Board for Human Rights in RS, ToPeer, The Association for Protection of the Guarantors in BiH, Vermont, Independent Bureau for Development NBR, Forum of Citizens of Zenica, Youth Communication Center OKC, ABC Bihac, DON Prijedor, Center for Youth Education CEM, Center for Local and Regional Development CELOR, Justicia Srebrenik, Center for Civil Society Development CRCD, Forum of Citizens of Tuzla Canton, Center for Development and Support CRP, Priroda Bratunac, Institute for the Development of Youth KULT, Center for Information and Legal Aid CIPP.
On 29 May 2015, the training entitled „Public Relations and Effective Communications“ was held for all the members of BRANA in Doboj.
After training, the representatives of network members – local coordinators, started the work on the ground, in order to verify the implementation of donated funds in target municipalities. They visited the areas affected by the flood documenting the degree of implementation of projects. In that sense, the local coordinators collected the data on the ground in the discussions with the responsible bodies, citizens, aid beneficiaries and documented them via audio-video records.
A website www.brana.ba was designed for the needs of the project, offering all the current information about the identification of the recovery projects, the extent of their implementation, photo and video material, headlines/pictures from the media, as well as the space for online communication between the individuals, organizations, decision-makers (online forum) and an interactive map with an overview of recovery projects and their status in target municipalities.
This should contribute toward the inclusion of both the citizens who suffered the damage, decision-makers, civil society, media, donors, authorities, and business sector representatives, to increase the transparency of the recovery process to the highest possible degree, primarily by keeping the public informed and included.
The so-called 'hotline' – a free toll number 080 05 05 06 was introduced which the citizens may call to report the problems or candidate successful stories. Hotline is available to citizens for 24 hours, 7 days a week. Besides the above phone line, online tools are also available to citizens.
A kick off event at which the network BRANA and the website will be presented in July.
Street stands have been organized throughout BiH by CCI to inform the citizens about the results of surveys on policies, procedures and practice of appointment and employment in BiH public administration bodies. These activities are part of the project ‘Public Administration De-politicization’ supported by the Balkan Trust for Democracy. More..
5 street stands were organized in April by CCI: in Bijeljina, Tuzla, Banja Luka, Sarajevo and Mostar. During these activities 10.000 pieces of affiches and 4.000 policy briefs were distributed. In this way, i.e. by way of printed material, citizens could learn in more detail about the results of the conducted survey on policies, procedures and practice of appointment and employment in public administration bodies. On this occasion the citizens were invited to report, via the online platform www.drzava.ba, the observed irregularities or discrimination during conducting the public announcements for vacancies in public administration.
During this period CCI organized 3 round tables on the subject De-politicization of public administration. These events gathered the representatives of legislative and executive authorities, representatives of the relevant state institutions and the civil sector – the goal was to find the best possible solutions the application of which would ensure full de-politicization of the public sector, adequate level of accountability, efficiency and integrity. The conclusion from all three round tables was that the existing Public Service Acts should be amended at all three administrative levels. In the meantime, the procedures were started for amending these legal acts.
The goal of the project “Public Sector De-Politicization” supported by the Balkan Trust for Democracy, and implemented by CCI since May 2014, is to analyze the level of influence of political parties on the selection of leading and management bodies within the overall public sector. The analysis and recommendations will be used to launch the advocacy campaign of public sector de-politicization and clear separation of political from professional duties.
Two debates on improving the website contents of local communities in BiH were held as part of the Project „Strengthening the Transparency of Local Authorities in BiH“. These activities are supported by SDC -Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of Switzerland in BiH. More…
In March and April 2015, CCI completed the Introductory Analysis for the work of the Work Group and held one joint meeting of all work group members, 3 individual meetings and more than 10 phone, skype or email consultations. This work resulted in drafting the working material Recommendation for Improvement of Website Contents of Local Self-Governance Units in BiH.
In addition to this, a Facebook profile was formed in which the campaign-related activities are periodically posted, and the discussion tries to be undertaken with the citizens on the possibilities and the needs of improvement of websites of local self-governances. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009679984271
Two public debates were held In May and June on improvement of website contents – the debates were attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Administration and Local Self-Governance of the Republic of Srpska, the Agency for Information Society, Association of Municipalities and Cities, Public Administration Reform Coordinator Office (PARCO), BH journalists, local self-governance units, NGO sector, etc. The result of these debates include the comments on the working material i.e. the above-mentioned recommendations and their finalization.
Changes started by the non-governmental organizations. Partners on CSSP project, gathered around 12 sectorial networks, started the implementation of acctivities. More...
As part of the project “Civil Society Sustainability” CSSP, supported by USAID and aimed at strengthening the capacities of civil society organizations in BiH in order to influence the processes of making and implementation of public policies of interest for BH citizens, 12 sector networks were formed that are active in solving the citizens’ priority problems.
EFEKT network (Protection of the Environment and Energy Efficiency) sent to the BH Federation Government and the House of Representatives of BH Federation Parliament, in May 2015, a request for urgent adoption of the Energy Efficiency Act of BH Federation. In addition to that, the Request was also sent to 600 more contacts, decision-makers and interest parties. Of EFEKT network’s activities, we single out the first Motivation-Educational Workshop for the representatives of RS municipalities entitled “Energy Efficiency in Local Self-Governance Units in the Republic of Srpska, Challenges and Opportunities”, held on 20 May 2015 in “Balkana” Hotel in Mrkonjic Grad.
The representatives of LED net network hosted a press conference and a round table entitled “Register of Parafiscal taxes for Better Business Environment”, which were held on 28 April 2015 in Hotel “Mepas” in Mostar. This event, the attendance of which was considerable and which received a lot of media attention, was held as part of the project “With Better Business Environment to More Job”, implemented by NBR in cooperation with the key partner LiNK from Mostar. The main conclusion of the round table was that over 300 parafiscal taxes in BiH make the work of businesses in BiH significantly more difficult and negatively affect the business environment. It is necessary to establish cooperation with the institutions and work together on establishing the register of parafiscal taxes.
The Conference “Improvement of the Public Procurement Act” was held on 12 May 2015, in which Transparency International analysis of the Public Procurement Act was presented, as well as the initiative for amending the Law that will be advocated in the forthcoming period, and a survey of the Center for Investigation Journalism on contracts on public procurements. The representatives of USAID, of the Agency for Public Procurements, Office for Dealing with Complaints, civil society organizations implementing joint initiatives in the field of public procurements, media, international organizations and institutions, etc., took part in the Conference. There were more than 50 participants who attended the Conference.
In organization of BH Network for Rural Development, the first BH Rural Parliament was held on 15 May 2015 in the House of Peoples of BH Parliamentary Assembly. The Parliament gathered around 150 representatives of local, entities’ and state authorities, representatives of rural communities, agricultural cooperatives, private sector, civil society organizations dealing with the relevant subject, as well as the representatives of the academic community. At the end of the Rural Parliament, a Declaration with the conclusions and recommendations in the field of agriculture, rural development and civil society role in rural development was adopted, which relates to the representatives of all the relevant sectors.
The public campaigns on key issues for further development of civil society in BiH have been intensified in the past period. The Campaign “Sustainable and Public” aims at strengthening the civil society sustainability in BiH through advocating formation of 3 public funds (at state and entities’ levels) for promotion of civil society, which would be financed from part of the proceeds from games of chance, and would partly be a potential applicant for foreign projects and grants, at the same time. In order to use positive experiences and practices, the cooperation with the Croatian institutions was established, and especially with the National Trust for Civil Society Development in Croatia. We would also like to mention the Round Table held in Sarajevo on 03 June 2015 which gathered the most important representatives of BH NGOs active in the field of advocating encouraging environment for BH civil society. The implementation of the Campaign “Sustainable and Public” received full support as well as useful suggestions for the implementation of the camapign. Other campaigns included: advocating for establishing functional mechanisms of cooperation of the Government and CSOs in BiH, advocating a transparent system of public financing of CSOs in BiH, promotion and introduction of Ethical Code and Good Governance in OCD BiH, advocating an encouraging fiscal framework for strengthening individual and corporate philanthropy.
Round Table “Adult Education in BiH: Obstacles and Opportunities” held and the second monitoring report on the implementation of public policies in the field of adult education presented. These activities are implemented within the project “Edu & Job” which is financially supported by EU Delegation in BiH. More…
The Round table, entitled “Adult Education in BiH: Obstacles and Opportunities”, during which the above mentioned report was presented, was held on 21 April 2015 in Sarajevo. More than 40 representatives of education ministries and pedagogical institutes, representatives of public employment services, educational institutions implementing adult education, representatives of non-governmental organizations, academic institutions and media took part in the Round Table. The current situation with the adult education in BiH was discussed, and the importance of all forms of education, both formal and informal, in the process of creation of the so-called knowledge society, was highlighted. The main conclusion was that the adjustment of the education policy with the labour market needs should be approached more actively and energetically.
The second monitoring report on the implementation of public polices in the field of adult education deals with the implementation of the laws in the parts of BiH where the laws on adult education exist, on the one hand, and the plans and the difficulties in the process of adopting such laws in parts of BiH where they do not, on the other.
The promotional-informative stand ‘Learn and Work” was held in Gorazde on 11 May 2015, with a goal to advocate passing of the Adult Education Act in BPC and the promotion of life-long learning. On 12 May 2015 the Adult Education Act was unanimously adopted in BPC Gorazde Assembly. A contribution to designing and public advocacy for passing of the Act was made by the Centres for Civic Initiatives (CCI) and the Agency for Local and Development Initiatives (ALDI) through organizing a working group for making the draft Law and through continued pressure on decision-makers in BPK. Final passing of the adult education laws are expected to happen soon in Tuzla, Sarajevo and West Herzegovina Cantons, too.
In cooperation with the Agency for Local Development Initiatives (ALDI) and with the support of the European Union, CCI started in 2014 the implementation of a two-year project “Education and Job” which aims at improvement of the workers’ rights and the workforce mobility, by establishing a legal framework for adult education, more precisely, by designing, advocating and monitoring adult education legislative at the level of cantons, entities and District Brcko. The project will focus on passing a coherent and harmonized legal framework throughout the country that will deal with education, requalification and additional qualification of adults in order to improve their situation in the labour market, i.e. reduce unemployment and improve the position of socially marginalized groups. More information about the project on www.uciradi.ba
The document „Analysis of the way of forming and composition of Election Boards in OSCE member countries' presented by the Coalition ‘Pod lupom’. More...
A working group composed of eight researchers/associates was formed in April by the Coalition „Pod lupom“ (Under a Magnifying Glass). The working group was formed with a task to analyze, in the next three months, the election legislative in more than 35 OSCE member countries, in order to find potential solutions for improvement of election legislative in Bosnia and Herzegovina Four comparative analyses on different segments of the election process will be created as part of this survey.
The first analysis under the name „Analysis of the Way of Forming and Composition of Election Boards in OSCE Member Countries“ was presented during an expert round table held on 27 May in BH Parliamentary Assembly (BHPA), with an attendance of Parliament members, members of BH Election Committee, representatives of international and domestic organizations and the media.
The remaining three planned analyses will include the topic of election deadlines, protection of election law and technical aspects of the implementation of elections. In relation to that, another round table was planned to take place by the end of June, while the cumulative results of the survey will be presented at the end of August 2015.
Apart from this, during May and at the beginning of June the Coalition had a dozen of meetings with the representatives of BH government institutions, mostly the Parliament members during which the Final Report on Monitoring 2014 General Elections was presented, as well as the results of the first comparative analysis, the plans for future work were discussed, and the institutional cooperation offered to BH PA through the work of Constitutional-Legal Committee and Inter-Sector Working Group for amendments to BH Election Law.
The Coalition „Pod lupom“ continued the activities on monitoring the meetings of BH Central Election Committee (BH CEC) and worked on improving its own internal procedures while continuing its activities on additional fund raising for its work in the forthcoming period.
These activities are supported by Embassy of Norway in BiH and USAID
Kontakti
cci@ccibh.org