Dragan Ćuzulan, public administration reform coordinator, and Mathias Mühle, manager of the Programme of Strengthening of Public Institutions, presented today at the press conference in Sarajevo the Budget for Citizens of the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office for 2018.

The Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office, the second year in a row, publishes the Budget for Citizens and it is the only institution at the state level which publishes, in such a proactive manner, the information on how and in which way it allocates the public money.

The Budget for Citizens is a special type of budget, written in a simple language, and the contents are presented in an illustrative form.

“The principle of budget transparency is accepted worldwide and it implies availability of data to all on how the public money is collected and used. This way we continue a proactive and transparent relationship to the citizens, with the objective of ensuring an informed, inclusive and transparent decision making in the best interest of the citizens”, said the public administration reform coordinator. He stressed that this way the PARCO wishes to contribute to improvement of democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and protect the public interest.

“Because in democracy, a transparent control of the manner in which the government is executed represents a basis of the system. A responsible government differs from the irresponsible one by a complete insight in the manner of functioning and spending of public finances gathered from the tax payers”, said Ćuzulan.

“The German GIZ on behalf of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, through a theme area of “Communication” of the Programme of Strengthening of Public Institutions in BiH, advises the partner institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to improve transparency, especially regarding a proactive publication of information. We also provide a technical support to the institutions in the process of improvement of cooperation with the civil society and participation of the citizens. In this context, we provided an expert assistance to the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office in development of the second issue of the Budget for Citizens, Muhle pointed out. He added that he believed that “this publication would help the citizens to be better informed on the work of the PARCO, the manner in which the PARCO spends the public money, and on the results and the effects of the work of the PARCO”.

In the Programme of Work for 2018, the PARCO planned the activities that would contribute to meeting its basic functions – coordination, direction and monitoring of the public administration reform. In accordance with the Reform Agenda, the most important activity in this year would be preparation of strategic documents for public administration reform and for this activity, BAM 200,000 would be spent. In addition for development of the new strategy for public administration reform and the accompanying action plan, the money from the budget would also be spent for monitoring of the results of the reform from the old strategy, management of the Public Administration Reform Fund, development of the quality management system. A significant part of the time the officers of the PARCO would spend on preparation of the reform projects, draft of the project documentation, implementation of the tender procedures, control and direction of the projects, promotion and other activities that would cost BAM 960,000. The PARCO has at its disposal a total of BAM 1.46 million, and the budget shows also the money of the Council of Ministers approved to the PARF – BAM 150,000. The PARCO cannot spend this money for its own needs, but exclusively for the projects from the PARF.

The Guide presents also the manner in which the money would be spent this year from the Public Administration Reform Fund, with descriptions of the projects that are being implemented or are planned to be implemented this year. The preparation of the guide was preceded by a poll among the internet users.

The Guide can be downloaded here.