On September 24, 2014, Bosnia and Herzegovina officially joined the multilateral global initiative Partnership for Open Government.
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a global multilateral initiative for the transparency and openness of the work of public authorities, and its participants are countries that, by membership in the Partnership, commit themselves to concrete measures and actions in the areas of transparency, strengthening citizen participation in authorities, fight against corruption and the introduction of new technologies that make public administration as efficient as possible.
In order to implement the Initiative, at the end of 2016, the BiH Council of Ministers (“Official Gazette of BiH”, No: 94/16) made a decision on the formation of the Advisory Council – a body that has an advisory and coordinating role with the aim of encouraging transparency and openness of public administration bodies, and the inclusion of citizens and civil society organizations in shaping public policies in accordance with the “Partnership for Open Government” initiative. The task of the Council is to prepare a proposal for the Action Plan Framework for the implementation of the “Partnership for Open Government” initiative.
The Advisory Council was constituted at the session on June 15, 2018.
In 2018, three sessions were held at which steps and dynamics were agreed upon in the creation of Action Plans of the competent levels of government, as well as the consultation process with the interested public was agreed upon. Draft Action Plans of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been prepared and public consultations have been held for them, while drafting of the Action Plan of the Government of Republika Srpska is in the preparation phase.
At the session held on April 4, 2019, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the proposal of the Ministry of Justice, adopted the Action Plan of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the implementation of the Partnership for Open Government initiative for the period 2019-2021.
This is the first Action Plan, after Bosnia and Herzegovina officially joined the multilateral global initiative for the transparency and openness of the work of public authorities in 2014, the Open Government Partnership (OGP).
The Action Plan is aimed at strengthening the integrity of institutions, more efficient management of public resources, improving public services by applying open data, increasing the transparency of institutions, and improving cooperation and greater participation of civil society in the creation of public policies.
The measures from the Action Plan refer to more proactive publication of information on the websites of BiH institutions and the fulfillment of standards of proactive transparency, open data in the field of statistics and public procurement, the construction of a web platform for the development of integrity plans of BiH institutions, the creation of budgets for citizens, and the establishment of efficient cooperation mechanisms with civil society.
