Brčko District is a unit of local self-government that has its own specificity – nevertheless, it actively participated in the reform processes together with the entities and the state. According to the decision of the European Commission, this local community represents a pilot project in the field of public administration reform, which will then be implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina, reports Federal Television.
The same scenes every day in the public institutions of Brcko at counters, citizens waiting in lines, nervous and frustrated. The digitization of public administration has been talked about for a long time – it would greatly make it easier to citizens.
“Each paper is a two-hour procedure”.
“A lot of time is lost”.
“Over 70 percent of people are literate for it”.
Members of the supervisory teams for public administration reform of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities and the Government and Brčko District are currently working on prioritizing the Action plan for Public Administration Reform, with the aim of adopting the best possible Action plan, but also to, as much as possible, see the bottlenecks remove them.
“The novelty is that we adopted a political and legal framework by adopting a document called a Common platform, which represents the obligation of entity governments, the Brčko District and the state level to implement the Action plan, but also the Strategic Framework itself,” explains Davor Šolaja, coordinator for public administration reform of the Government of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Digitalization of services is expected from the implementation of the Action plan, given that young people are constantly active through electronic networks.
“The administration itself needs to experience a new outfit, where it could be recognized as a good administration. This is what we are all striving for – to create a model so that there is no waiting, so that you no longer see crowds at the counters,” adds Šolaja.
From the non-governmental sector, they emphasize the need for quality reform of public administration, which primarily includes the systematization of jobs, because currently there are about 30 percent more employees than necessary in public administration. In addition to systematization, it is important to clearly define the responsibilities of employees.
“You have a phenomenon – people who work in the public administration sometimes do not have the standard that is valued for their salary at all. You can have a job, work two hours, and receive a full salary – and so on for a month. On the other hand, you have certain job positions where people really work and really earn their salary,” says Božidar Jović, from the Citizens’ Association Demos.
Public administration reform is one of the priorities for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s entry into the European Union. At a recent meeting in Brčko, former supervisor Jonathan Mennuti expressed concern about delays and challenges in implementing reforms in the area of administration.