Within a document Strategy of the Public Administration Reform, the existence of the “satisfactory administrative capacities” has been established as one of key preconditions for successful implementation of the reforms and integration of BiH in the European Union (EU). From this stems the primary objective established by the PAR Strategy in the area of Human Resources Management which is related with the need to develop “professional, politically impartial, nationally balanced, ethical, stable and active public service, which is respected and which is in condition to provide effective services both to governments and citizens”.
For the purpose of achieving this objective, the authors of the PAR Strategy call upon establishment of the Public Administration Institute (Institute) at the level of whole country, directing towards “establishment of the Public Administration Institute for the whole BiH” as one of key activities. It is also specified that “the Public Administration Institute will fulfill the role of the provider of training, from one side, and the creator of the teaching curriculum for civil service, from the other side”. However, at the same time, the documents the PAR Strategy and the Action Plan 1 for its implementation, did not ensure detailed directions and specifics on what is supposed to be a concrete role, scope of work and functions of the Institute.
The Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office (the PARCO) has been put in charge to coordinate the process of implementation of this reform. In accordance with that, in the light of previously stated objectives, the PARCO agreed with the representatives of the UNDP for BIH the insurance of technical/expert aid for the purpose of conduction of thorough analysis of feasibility and giving recommendations related with possible options for establishment of the Institute, which are supposed to result in special study document.
That way, the general objective of this study is to explore the possibilities and to propose modalities for establishment of the Public Administration Institute, which would be based on comparative estimation and review of the approach and best practices in other countries in the region and thorough analysis of the condition in BiH in relation to present system and existing forms of training of the civil servants.
Within this project, the UNDP ensured the technical assistance in the form of engagement of two international consultants, who in the previous period prepared a comprehensive document of Feasibility Study for the Public Administration Institute in BiH. In this phase, the work draft of the document has been established, which primarily is supposed to offer basis for organisation of an all comprising discussion with the representatives of domestic institutions, administrative bodies and international partners who have an active role in the area of public administration reform, so in the following period possible options and further directions of development of this initiative could be examined.
In the process of making the Feasibility Study, the authors consulted the whole range of relevant stakeholders, who include, besides the representatives of the PARCO, the PAR coordinators from the entities and the Brčko District of BiH, the representatives of the Ministry of Justice of BiH and the Federation of BiH, the Ministry of Administration and self-management of the RS , the civil service agencies of BiH and the FBiH, the Agency for Public Administration of the RS and the Subsection for HR of the Brčko District, the representatives of the cabinets of the entity prime ministers and the mayor of the Brčko District of BiH, the European Centre for Public Law in Brčko, the Faculty for Public Administration in Sarajevo, the OHR and the European Commission Delegation.
In the continuation of the work on the project, it was planned to hold in February 2008 a joint meeting in the form of a round table in which the international consultants who prepared the document will present it and use this opportunity to together with the representatives of domestic institutions from the levels of BiH, the Republic of Srpska, the Federation of BiH and the Brčko District of BiH, who are in charge for implementation of this group of reform measures, discuss the significant elements and findings from the contents of the study. This first joint meeting has an objective of discussing in more detail the questions which stem from the document prepared for discussion, with an intention to further improve and clarify the proposed options for establishment of the Public Administration Institute. At the same time, the meeting presents the start of a more intensive consultative process, which should be ended by drafting the final version of the document and whose preparation should be ended by the end of the first quarter this year.