Between 10 and 12 November 2010, the Cidi project – Capacity building of civil society to take part in policy dialogue in Bosnia and Herzegovina – held its third seminar for issue-based civil society networks, entitled Monitoring Policy Dialogue.
The overall objective of the project is to engage BiH civil society in policy dialogue at different levels of government, in line with the recommendations of the European Union and the Enlargement Strategy, which states that “A culture of acceptance and appreciation of the role played by civil society need to be in place to allow civil society organisations to engage in effective policy dialogue” (Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2010-2011).
During the seminar, Mr. Slaviša Šućur, Member of Parliament, Federation of BiH and Mr. Marko Aćić, Deputy to the Chief Secretary of the National Assembly, Republic of Srpska discussed the parliamentary procedures for enacting laws with representatives of six issue-based civil society networks. Representatives of those networks also had the opportunity to learn about Monitoring of public policies and monitoring policy dialogue.
The seminar and workshops were attended by 37 representatives of the following issue-based civil society networks: Savez slijepih Republike Srpske (Alliance of blind people, Republika Srpska); Savez gluhih i nagluhih Bosne i Hercegovine (Alliance of deaf and partially deaf people, BiH); Savez udruženja za pomoć mentalno nedovoljno razvijenim licima Republike Srpske (Alliance of associations working to support people with mental disabilities, Republika Srpska); Ring (working on the prevention of people trafficking); Volontiram (I volunteer, working on the promotion of voluntarism); Mono (working on youth policy).
CSO network participants are very satisfied with the Cidi series of seminars on policy dialogue. As one participant said after this seminar: “Every time I come to one of these seminars, I feel more competent to engage in policy dialogue, and leave with much, much richer knowledge”, is noted in the press release of Delegation of the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina.