The council of Ministers of BiH, at the 145th session, which was held on Thursday, March 10, adopted the Report on Work of the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office of BiH for 2010.
The Report, among other things, states that during 2010, the activities of the PARCO were focused on preparation of the draft revised Action Plan 1 (AP1) and creation of basis for draft Action Plan 2 (AP2).
As a result, after almost a year since adoption of the conclusion to analyse the existing Action Plan 1 of the Strategy of Public Administration Reform and after a series of meetings of the Supervisory Teams, Coordinators and experts in these areas, the PARCO drafted the revised Action Plan for all six reform areas with precise objectives, activities, bodies that are in charge of implementation and timelines for implementation of certain measures. The Draft revised Action Plan was presented in December 2010 to the members of the supervisory teams, entity coordinators and the Brčko District of BiH Coordinator, and to the representative of the European Union Delegation in BiH. Revised Action Plan 1 is a document that will accelerate public administration reform process and contribute to quicker meeting of the conditions required of the BiH administration in the EU accession process. By the new measures and activities that the institutions of governance in BiH should implement by 2014, the public administration in our country would be additionally strengthened and approximated to the citizens and the business community. Also, there is a set of documents drafted, required for preparation of the Action Plan 2 of the public administration reform.
The report of the PARCO for the past year, stated that implementation of the measures of the Action Plan 1 in almost all reform areas was approximately equal at all four administrative levels and that the institutions of government in BiH by December 31st, 2010 fulfilled 48.64 per cent of the measures. Implementation of the projects for the reform, which are financed from the Public Administration Reform Fund, was continued during 2010. Three projects were completed, six are in the implementation phase, three projects are in the process of procurement, while preparation of one terms of reference is ongoing. A series of new project ideas was prepared in the reform areas, related to implementation of measures from the Action Plan 1. Documentation for new projects is being prepared that should enable fulfilment of measures from the Action Plan 1.
The PARCO, in the last year, continued intensive cooperation with the entity coordinators and the coordinator of the Brčko District. During 2010, the BiH PAR Coordinator held four meetings of the Coordinators for Public Administration Reform of the Federation of BiH, the Republic of Srpska and the Brčko District. At the meetings, among other things, it has been agreed to set priorities in all the six reform areas, strengthening of the PARCO has been supported as well as of the position of the entity coordinators, attracting new donors has been supported, the sector approach has been discussed, as well as methodological approach for development of the AP 2 and the Common Platform. The Coordinators were also involved in the work of the Joint Management Board of the Administration Reform Fund participating in decision making of this Board, which is primarily related to implementation of the projects from the reform areas.
In addition, in the last year, the focus of the work of the PARCO was also on organization and coordination of work of the supervisory teams in the six reform areas, which in accordance with the Common Platform on the Principles and Manner of Implementation of the AP 1 have the responsibility for supervision of the operational implementation of the measures from the AP 1, monthly reporting to the administrative level on implementation of measures from the AP 1, setting priorities in the reform area, harmonization of indicators of progress, initiating and proposing project proposals, supervision of implementation teams as well as to ensure timely implementation of measures from the AP1.
Last year, the public administration reform advisors from the PARCO held a total of 32 meetings with the supervisory teams from all six reform areas. To ensure as efficient as possible coordination of the public administration reform process, the PARCO, at the beginning of the year, prepared the information on the work of the supervisory teams for 2009, which gave a brief overview of activities of each of the supervisory teams, observations related to their past work and recommendations for future work. Information on the work of the supervisory teams was presented the PAR coordinators of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic Srpska and the Brčko District of BiH.
Additionally, in order to improve efficiency of work of the coordination mechanisms, which has been foreseen by the Common Platform on the Principles and Manner of Implementation of the Action Plan 1, the PARCO initiated the analysis of coordination and communication in the structures for implementation of the Action Plan 1, which in addition to the PARCO consists of the Entity Coordinators and the Coordinator of the Brčko District of BiH, and the supervisory and implementation teams in the reform areas.
Analysis of functioning and strengthening of mechanisms of coordination, management of the PAR Fund and finding new donors were also important activities during the year.
The PARCO, in 2010 was engaged in searching for new donors, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway announced that in the period 2011 – 2013 will give support to the public administration reform, and the representatives of the SIDA expressed the readiness to further support the process of public administration reform through cooperation with the PARCO.
In order to enable unhindered and safe financing of the approved projects in 2011 as well, the PARCO, in May last year, initiated the procedure of amendment to the Memorandum of Understanding for establishment of the PAR Fund (MoU), which resulted in the Annex II to the MoU, which was signed in autumn 2010.
The state public administration reform coordinator in BiH, at the invitation of the European Union Delegation in BiH, attended in October the regular meeting of the ambassadors of the European Union, where she spoke on the results so far in the process of the public administration reform and the challenges faced by the PARCO. The discussion of the ambassadors of the European Union opened the question of financing of the public administration reform in the future and the effects of the reform activities co far.
The PARCO also started the process of monitoring of the projects which are financed by the PARF, which is one of the results of the work of the of the technical assistance to the PARCO.
During 2010, implementation of the project “Strengthening BiH Capacities for Strategic Planning and Policy Development – SPPD” continued, for whose monitoring, directing and reporting to the Council of Ministers on its implementation the PARCO is in charge. The Council of Ministers of BiH adopted the third and fourth semi-annual report on project implementation. To note, by signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the UNDP and the beneficiaries of the project, the implementation of the SPPD began since March in three new sectors: agriculture, social protection, and small and medium enterprises.
Since March last year, the PARCO is engaged in introduction of the sector wide approach in planning of the pre-accession assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina. That is, the sector of public administration reform together with the sector of justice, based on good experiences so far, was selected as the pilot project for introduction of the new approach taking into account the fact that it greatly satisfies the requirements from the set five components, related to management and mechanisms of coordination, segments from the part of policies and strategies, questions related to midterm perspective and sector budget, required institutional capacities, and existence of the system for monitoring of impact.
Representatives of the PARCO, by the Decision of the Council of Ministers of BiH, were appointed in the work groups for European integration, whose scope of work is coordination of activities related to the process of European integration, coordination and monitoring of fulfilment of contractual obligations from the Interim Stabilisation and Association Agreement, through work in the subcommittees and at the meetings of the RPM, as well as coordination and monitoring of execution of the measures from the European Partnership, coordination of the process of harmonisation of the legal system with the acquis and other activities. Work groups are in charge of preparation of the reports for the Delegation of BiH in the temporary boards of the European Community and BiH.
In the report, it has been noted that the PARCO, in 2010 as well, continued cooperation with the Directorate for European Integration and the Directorate for Economic Planning, both on the activities related with the reform of horizontal administrative capacities (AP1) and on preparation of the plan of sector reforms. Representatives of the PARCO participated in the meetings of the structures for implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, as well as of other work bodies concerning the matters of the public administration reform.
Aiming at improvement of coordination and continuation of implementation of the process of public administration reform, the PARCO will in the future, among other things, intensively work on ensuring new assets for the PARF, building of capacities and training of representatives of implementation and supervisory structures for implementation of public administration reform in the area of development and preparation of the projects, monitoring and reporting, strengthening of mechanisms of coordination between the PAR coordinators at all four administrative levels, and during this year, the PARCO will submit the revised Action Plan 1 to the Council of Ministers of BiH and to the Governments of the Federation of BiH, the Republic of Srpska and the Brčko District, with the objective of its adoption and further implementation of the reform.
The PARCO, with the assistance of the technical assistance team, together with the PAR coordinators from the FBiH, the RS and the Brčko District will work to prepare the second Action Plan “Creating a basis for sustainable capacity development by sectors”, thereby fulfilling obligations stipulated by the PAR Strategy. Complete Report of the PARCO for 2010 can be seen here.