Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH), in cooperation with the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office (PARCO), with the support of Sweden, is organizing a conference entitled “Two decades of public administration reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina – (un)learned lessons”. which will be held on November 30, 2023 in Sarajevo in the Europe Hotel at 10:00 a.m.
After two decades since the beginning of the public administration reform process in Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to the assessment of the European Commission, the country is still in the initial phase of reform.
According to the findings of SIGMA, in all areas of reform according to the principles of public administration, BiH lags behind the regional average of the countries of the Western Balkans, and is also the worst rated in all areas and overall in the region, with the exception of the area Strategic framework for public administration reform.
The commitment declaration of governments at all levels did not result in significant reform steps, and even less achievements, despite the high degree of prioritization of public administration reform by the EU and significant donor allocations through technical assistance projects.
The specific constitutional (power-sharing) arrangement of the country and the almost continuous political crisis are certainly not factors that favored such a complex challenge facing the country, such as public administration reform.
In such a situation, it is no surprise that more than two-thirds of citizens express distrust towards governments and administration, i.e. dissatisfaction with public services.
The conference will serve as a platform for summarizing and analyzing (un)learned lessons as possible guideposts in the upcoming reform challenges. The goal of the conference is to open a debate on the scope and achievements of the public administration reform process so far, with a special focus on the lessons learned and to consider the next steps in the light of the upcoming phase of the EU accession process, the opening of negotiations.
In order to prepare and encourage public discussion on the subject of the achievements of public administration reform and the direction of further movement through the reform process, it is planned to publish a collection of papers with the working title “Public administration reform, 20 years later – (un)learned lessons”. The authors, from the perspective of direct participants in the process and/or active observers, will give their overview of the key challenges that followed either the reform process as a whole, or its individual segments and/or areas, and possible courses of action for the purpose of overcoming existing challenges and improving the future reform process.