In the organization of the EU4PAR project, financed by the European Union, and in cooperation with the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office, a two-day workshop was held on June 11 and 12 in Kozara on updating the Communication Strategy for informing the public about the process of public administration reform in BiH and the implementation of the Action Plan.
Updating these two documents is one of the recommendations of the Special Group for Public Administration Reform between the EU and BiH.
Darko Kasap, coordinator for public administration reform of BiH, Aleksandar Šuvak, coordinator for public administration reform of the Government of Republika Srpska and Davor Šolaja, coordinator for public administration reform of the Government of Brčko District of BiH supported the updating of documents and emphasized the importance of communication of the PAR process in order to better inform citizens of BiH.
In the document Strategic framework for public administration reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina 2018-2027 it was pointed out that “it is necessary to intensify communication with citizens in order to achieve a high level of understanding and acceptance of the process and changes that the public administration reform brings. Information exchange between governments and citizens and citizen involvement are key to democratic governance and it represents an instruments for better policy making.
The communication strategy for informing the public about the process of public administration reform in BiH was developed based on analyzes of the communication environment, including a survey of public opinion and citizens’ perception of the Public Administration and other available research and analyses. The communication strategy for public administration reform defines communication goals, target groups, communication channels, tools and messages, monitoring and securing financial resources. The implementation of this strategy is accompanied by an action plan with specific activities that will be implemented by the institutions in charge.
The workshop brought together civil servants that are dealing with public relations: from the Public Relations Bureau of the Government of Republika Srpska (Danijel Radujković and Aleksandar Lozo), the Information Office of the Government of the Federation of BiH (Ognjen Blagojević), the Information Service of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of BiH (Aleksandar Obradović and Ines Kunovac) and the Information Sector of the Government of Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Marko Draganić and Adnan Murselović) and the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office (Vedrana Faladžić).
The workshop was led by communications expert Aida Prljača and Edmond Miletić, head of the EU4PAR project.