Testimonials on Cooperation and Results: 2010-2013

STRENGTHENING OF PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Testimonials on cooperation and results: 2010-2013

Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Impressum PUBLISHED BY: Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina Splitska 6 71000 Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina T: +387 33 221 118 F: +387 33 220 027 E: spi-bih@giz.de I: www.spi.ba EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Elvis Mujanović INTERVIEWS BY: Najra Krvavac-Perišin PHOTOGRAPHY, DESIGN AND DTP BY: Peđa Kazazović

The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other involved organisation, Government of the FR Germany nor GIZ.

(c) 2013 Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions

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FOREWORD Reinhard Lüke, Programme Manager

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BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE PROGRAMME’S FIRST PHASE

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A REFORMED PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION BECOMES A REAL CITIZENS SERVICE AND ENSURES EFFICIENT PERFORMANCE OF THE CIVIL SERVICE Semiha Borovac, State Coordinator for the Public Administration Reform in BiH

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CIVIL SERVICE CAPABLE TO RESPOND TO THE CHALLENGES IN THE EU ACCESSION PROCESS Neven Akšamija, Director of the Civil Service Agency of BiH

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TEAM WORK ON DEVELOPMENT OF THE AGENCY’S STRATEGIC PLAN UNLEASHED THE CREATIVE POTENTIAL OF THE EMPLOYEES AND CREATED MANY IDEAS FOR IMPROVEMENTS OF OUR OPERATIONS, Husein Nanić, Director of the Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance

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STRENGTHENING THE CENTRAL BANK OF BIH ON ITS PATH TOWARDS THE EUROPEAN SYSTEM OF CENTRAL BANKS Renata Barić, Head of European Integration Department, Central Bank of BiH

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PROGRAMME ACTIVITIES GEARED TOWARDS THE REAL NEEDS OF THE AGENCY Dragan Pinjuh, Expert Adviser for Legal Affairs and Human Resources, Agency for Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary Education of BiH

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INTER-INSTITUTIONAL EXCHANGE AND JOINT IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTIVITIES BASED ON THE STANDARDS OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM Slavica Škoro, Expert Adviser for Public Relations, Agency for Development of of Higher Education and Quality Assurance

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SOME OF THE PROGRAMME’S ACTIVITIES IN THE PAST YEAR

Dear Sir/Madam, dear reader, This brochure was prepared in the light of completion of the first phase of the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

With this brochure, we would like to inform you about this programme of German technical cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina and to give you an insight into the results that were achieved so far.

The implementation of the Programme was agreed within the framework of negotiations between the governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Germany in October 2009. The Program me has been implemented since the middle of 2010; by the end of 2013, we will complete the current phase after a three and a half year term. It will be followed by a new three-year phase from 2014 until the end of 2016.

The objective of the Programme for Strengthening Public Institutions is to improve the quality of services provided by selected state institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in line with the demand throughout the country. It is also supposed to make a contribution to the further EU rapprochement of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany contracted the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH for implementation of this Programme. The main partner in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the Public Administration Reform Coordi-

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Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

nator’s Office (PARCO). Other implementation partners and beneficiaries at the beginning of the first phase were: • Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina • Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina • Public Procurement Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina • Agency for Pre-Primary, Primary and Secondary Education of Bosnia and Herzegovina In 2012, the following institutions were added: • Civil Service Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina • Directorate for European Integration • Procurement Review Body • Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance The foregoing list of participating institutions gives a strong indication of the distinctiveness which, at the same time, represents the challenge for our Programme: the partners are engaged in completely different fields and have completely different roles and responsibilities. However, we managed: •

on one hand, to support different partners with strengthening their professional competences (e.g. advice provision to the Agency for Statistics

REINHARD LÜKE

Programme Manager

with the price index calculation in accordance with EU standards, support to the Agency for Pre-Primary, Primary and Secondary Education in evaluation of reform measures in the education sector) •

on the other hand, to also identify thematic areas that are of common interest. These include scopes of duties such as communications activities, human resource management, public procurement, and quality management. It is always a pleasure to see the engagement with which our partners exchange experiences regarding these topics, and how they learn from each another.each another.

At this point, I will not go further into the results of the Programme that were achieved so far, but tell you how pleased I am that our partners have taken over the task to give you an insight into our cooperation so far and its success in the following chapters.

In the current phase of the Programme that is coming to an end by the end of 2013, very good foundations for the continuation of the cooperation with the currents partners have been established, and we would like to use them as a basis for the new phase. In the process,

we would like to concentrate even more on “common issues” that have been already mentioned before. This refers to the scopes of duties that are also subject of the Public Administration Reform Strategy of the country. In consultation with other donors and the EU delegation in particular, we would like to contribute by sharing good examples of cooperation and experiences we had with our partner institutions over the course of cooperation that may also be used in other areas of public administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

I would like to use this opportunity and express deep gratitude to the partner institutions, cooperation partners, and contracted experts and consulting companies, but also to GIZ colleagues and the Programme team for the good cooperation. I am looking forward to our future cooperation.

I hope you will enjoy this brochure. Thank you for your time and attention.

Best regards, Reinhard Lüke Programme Manager

Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Brief Overview of the First Programme Phase

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Implementation Agreement between PARCO and GIZ was signed on 10 November 2011.

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The first joint workshop with all the institutions involved was held on 24 November 2011. At this occasion, vision and mission of the Programme were presented, discussed and adopted establishing a basis for development of the strategy. Steering structure of the Programme was discussed as well, and the establishment of the Programme’s Advisory Board was agreed.

In the following months, involved institutions agreed on the function of the Advisory Board as a steering mechanism for the Programme, platform for management of lessons learned, and a forum for innovation in cooperation. Rules, procedures and members of the Advisory Board were also defined and agreed. Furthermore, the criteria for admission of future institutions and

PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE •

In the last quarter of 2010 and in 2011, the Programme focused on establishing cooperation with the involved partner institutions and setting up a cooperation structure that would ensure best possible achievement of planned results. The first Programme workshop was held 8 and 9 December 2010 where the representatives of GIZ and PARCO had the opportunity to discuss first steps in establishing the cooperation mechanisms for implementation of the Programme.

Over the following months, a closer look was taken to identify individual and common needs and interests of each of the four beneficiaries at that time (Central Bank, Agency for Statistics, Agency for Public Procurement and Agency for Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary Education), as well as those of PARCO. On that basis preliminary plans of operations were developed to form the basis for tackling burning issues within the institutions, and for the development of the Programme’s strategy.

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Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

support measures were agreed upon during this first joint workshop. A major additional result of this workshop was that all involved institutions made inter-institutional exchange and cooperation one of the Programme’s priorities for the future.

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Memorandum of Understanding between the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina and GIZ was signed on 9 February 2012.

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The first meeting of the Programme’s Advisory Board was held on 14 May 2012 when the detailed Programme’s strategy was adopted.

Inclusion of further beneficiaries was discussed and agreed between the members of the Advisory Board. The Advisory Board recognised the importance of inter-institutional cooperation on topics of common interest, and proposed the establishment of inter-institutional groups for human resource management, communication/public relations, public procurement, gender equality and mainstreaming, and statistics and data exchange.

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In September 2012, four new institutions were included in the Programme (Civil Service Agency, Directorate for European Integration, Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance, Procurement Review Body). In the following months Programme actively worked on needs assessments for the new institutions and developed plans of operations according to the specific and common interests of each institution.

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In February 2013, inter-institutional groups for human resource management and public relations/communication have been formed with representatives of each of the nine involved institutions developing specific plans of activities of common interest. First joint activities started the following month. Besides sharing best practices between the institutions, work of these groups was also aligned to meet the standards and provisions of the Public Administration Reform Strategy. Later in 2013, initial meetings of the inter-institutional groups for gender, statistics, and public procurement were held. Additionally, the need for expansion was identified and the inter-institutional groups for IT and quality management were established.

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Results Highlights of the First Phase of

the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions

OVER 9000 DECISIONS OF THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT REVIEW BODY ARE DIGITISED IN ORDER TO MAKE THEM EASILY ACCESSIBLE AND SEARCHABLE ONLINE.

FOUR E-LEARNING COURSES AVAILABLE THROUGH THE ESTABLISHED E-LEARNING PLATFORM OF THE CIVIL SERVICE AGENCY FOR MORE THAN 3000 PUBLIC SERVANTS.

CONSOLIDATION OF DATA PRODUCED BY THE CENTRAL BANK INTO ONE DATA WAREHOUSE ENABLES CENTRAL BANK TO BETTER UTILISE ESSENTIAL STATISTICS.

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REGISTER OF CONTRACTING AUTHORITIES AND BIDDERS MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AGENCY’S WEBSITE HAS BEEN USED BY MORE THAN 3000 REGISTERED USERS ENSURING THE INCREASE IN TRANSPARENCY OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PROCEDURES.

FIRST CLIENT SURVEY CONDUCTED FOR 4 INVOLVED INSTITUTIONS GATHERED INFORMATION ON SATISFACTION WITH PUBLIC SERVICES FROM MORE THAN 2,000 USERS FROM PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND – FOR EACH OF THE 4 INSTITUTIONS – FROM OVER 800 CITIZENS.

Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

MORE THAN 50 REPRESENTATIVES OF MEDIA AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS PARTICIPATED IN A SERIES OF OUTREACH ACTIVITIES ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM.

TWO ADDITIONAL E-LEARNING MODULES ON EUROPEAN INTEGRATION ARE OFFERED BY THE DIRECTORATE FOR EUROPEAN INTEGRATION. MODULE ON THE PROCESS OF EU INTEGRATION WAS USED BY MORE THAN 800 PUBLIC SERVANTS FROM ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY. SYSTEM FOR EXTERNAL EVALUATION OF STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENTS SUCCESSFULLY TESTED IN 3 SCHOOLS ACROSS THE COUNTRY WITH 77 STUDENTS PARTICIPATING.

Semiha Borovac

STATE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM COORDINATOR, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM COORDINATOR’S OFFICE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

A REFORMED PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION BECOMES A REAL CITIZENS SERVICE AND ENSURES EFFICIENT PERFORMANCE OF THE CIVIL SERVICE »

In the needs assessment which preceded the implementation of the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions in BiH which segments proved to be the most important in the strengthening of the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office and the public administration reform process itself, and how does the Programme fit in the overall public administration reform?

I would like to start by expressing gratitude to the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany for their assistance to BiH through the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions in order to facilitate its path in the European Union integration, and also for the help they provide for strengthening the public administration institutions, enabling them to provide full capacity services to the citizens in an efficient and effective manner.

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The Coordinator’s Office recognised the significance of the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions in BiH, given that the Public Administration Reform Strategy and its accompanying Revised Action Plan 1 focus on the improvement of general administration capacities, which also includes strengthening of the individual institutions’ capacities, as well as their cooperation and coordination in the introduction of practices and solutions that would contribute to an efficient, effective, open, transparent, and citizens-oriented administration.

Since the Programme is based on the concept of cooperation and synergy between public institutions, we hold that it is fully in accordance with the objectives and activities of the Revised Action Plan 1, and that it may serve as a significant instrument of support for the modernisation of beneficiary institutions and, through the upscaling effect, have an i mpact on the improvement of capacities in other institutions. The significance we gave to the Programme is best reflected in the fact that we were pleased to accept the role of a main local partner in the implementation, and coordinated the activity of entering into the agreement between the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Council of Ministers of BiH. In the needs assessment we have identified a need for support and development of capacities, both internally i.e. organisational and externally, in terms of strengthening the role of the Office and development of partnerships with key institutions for the implementation of measures from the Revised Action Plan 1. Considering the complex mandate and competences of the Office, it is necessary to constantly strengthen the capacities and business processes, wherefore we regarded the Programme as an opportunity for the development of existing competencies of the Office and its employees, particularly in the area of strategic planning, in monitoring and evaluation, project cycle management, and in management of the Public Administration Reform Fund.

Additionally, there was a strong need in the segment of development of new competencies, such as the management of overall quality and the development of sectoral reform framework. On the other hand, a constant need for the improvement of coordination and communication systems in the public administration reform implementation provided significant scope for the improvement of these processes and for the creation of partnerships with the institutions where the Programme served as a solid ground in the fact that it had a base of beneficiary institutions.

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Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Which implemented activities did you find essential during the first phase of the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions?

In the first phase, one of the key activities was related to the joint work together with the Programme, in terms of creating a structure for the management and implementation of activities, which resulted in the establishment of the Project Advisory Board. A specific position of the Office, as an individual beneficiary institution as well as a body coordinating the public administration reform process, which involves all other public administration institutions (including other beneficiaries of the Programme), determined a more complex development of the plan of operations for the cooperation with the Programme, where we also focused on the mentioned internal and external aspects of cooperation. Coordinating role of the Office also resulted in successfully implemented initiative of broadening the circle of Programme beneficiaries, which includes additional institutions relevant for the reform, in particular the Civil Service Agency of BiH and the Directorate for European Integration.

Finally, the system of reporting to the Council of Ministers of BiH on implementation of the agreement for which the Office is in charge of has been successfully established.

In terms of specific activities in the segment related to the Office, plan of operations for the cooperation has been developed and, we may say, largely implemented. The key activities pertained to the implementation of organisational analysis of the Office, development of the capacities in the segments of strategic planning, management of finances of the Public Administration Reform Fund, monitoring and

evaluation, as well as the development and application of IT solutions as a support to business processes. An important segment also included the support to the preparation and implementation of projects financed from the Public Administration Reform Fund and the establishment of inter-institutional working groups for specific areas of activity.

Regarding the other partner institutions of the Programme adequate operational plans have been developed for each institution based on identified individual needs. According to information from our partners, everyone is very satisfied with the implementation of these individual activities. »

How did the process of cooperation establishment go and to what extent are you satisfied with the established steering mechanisms for the Programme?

We are highly satisfied with the cooperation as a part of preparations for the implementation and with the development of mechanisms for the steering of the Programme. Through the joint work and consultations with all members of the Programme we have developed a steering structure based on the Advisory Board, the scope and responsibilities of which are defined in the adopted documents. Additionally, cooperation was established in the reporting segment, where the Programme provides active contribution and support in the preparation of the Report on Implementation of the Agreement for the Council of Ministers of BiH. Finally, the established inter-institutional working groups have indeed proved to be a source of synergy and joint work of all involved institutions, which notably facilitated the management of the Programme, as well as the coordination and communication between all participants. »

Given that the mandate of the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office includes exclusive coordination competency for the implementation of the public administration reform, the implementation of the Programme so far provided for a greater cooperation with the state-level partner institutions, which is an additional highly significant segment of the implementation so far. »

Some of the most important segments in the development of PARCO’s capacities certainly include the advisory, coaching and training activities in the segments of strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, finance management of the Public Administration Reform Fund, and project management. A notable contribution was also made in the area of internal processes improvement and development.

We expect that the real effects of a broader dissemination of knowledge and solutions will occur in the next phase of the Program, when we intend to pilot certain solutions and best practices through the working groups in partner institutions, and then try to implement them in other key institutions at all levels, using the referenced structure.

What could be identified as the most important milestones of the Programme?

» Even though such a complex programme as the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions includes numerous activities and achieved results, we may identify some milestones in our cooperation such as the implementation of organisational analyses and identification of users’ needs which are the basis for individual activities, establishment of the Programme coordination and steering mechanisms, establishment and functioning of the inter-institutional working groups, and the definition of and work in the new areas of development, such as quality management in public administration.

What could be the examples of best practices of the Programme in the development of PARCO’s human capacities?

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What activities have been undertaken for the purpose of further dissemination of knowledge and tools from the Programme towards other PARCO employees and other potential users in other public administration bodies, and how would you assess the work in the inter-institutional groups and the creation of expert network as well as the exchange of knowledge and experiences through the Programme?

The Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions is exceptional due to the special opportunity to use the effects of synergy between partner

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institutions. The working groups proved to be significant ‘‘conductor” of knowledge and practices within the partner institutions, whereas a great deal of the Office activities, especially in the segment of coordination, also included the dissemination of results to all institutions and all levels of administration in BiH, through the coordination and implementation structure at disposal for this Office. Our partners in the Governments of the FBiH, RS and BD BiH, primarily the public administration reform coordinators and members of supervisory teams for all reform areas, were involved in and informed about the activities, the results of which were expanded to their institutions. Nevertheless, the real effects of such wider dissemination of knowledge and solutions are yet to be experienced in the next phase of the Programme, when we intend to pilot certain solutions and best practices through the working groups in partner institutions, and then use the referenced structure to try to implement them in other key institutions at all levels. The best example is the establishment of the working group and the start of the activities related to the development of adequate models of quality management for the public administration in BiH, where we expect that after the pilot phase with the beneficiary institutions there will be significant upscaling and acceptance of the selected models in the entire public administration.

What are the identified needs for the improvement of the PAR monitoring and evaluation system, and what were the specific responses of the Programme regarding these needs? Can we already speak about some results and, if yes, which ones?

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We find that the issue of monitoring and evaluation plays the central role, and there our needs have been aimed at the strengthening of capacities of the Office employees engaged in the monitoring and evaluation. Given that the monitoring and evaluation is a dynamic area and that it is necessary to continuously adjust and further develop it, we have constantly worked on the improvement of the existing procedures and practices. A significant activity within the Programme is the process automation through the introduction of software solution, which should facilitate and upgrade the collection of information on the progress and implementation, as well as to increase the involvement of stakeholders and the transparency of reporting and findings of the monitoring and evaluation relative to the progress of the public administration reform in BiH.

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Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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How do you assess the strengthening of the coordination role of state-level institutions, such as PARCO, and has that role been additionally strengthened through the Programme?

The aim of this segment of cooperation between the Office and GIZ is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Office’s work, primarily in terms of coordination between the responsible parties of the public administration reform, through the strengthening of capacities and improvement of mid-term planning. Through this mid-term strategic framework, we will ensure better coordination with all partners in the reform and more effective technical and advisory assistance to key institutions in the implementation of the public administration reform in BiH. Additionally, building-up partnership and common vision of the public administration reform with other institutions relevant for this process contributes to the coordinating role of PARCO in the practice, and allows for a more significant focus to be placed on the role of reform activities initiators. »

To what extent did the first phase contribute to the European integration process, and how does the strengthening of PARCO capacities and the support to public administration reform implementation affect the path of Bosnia and Herzegovina towards the European Union?

The public administration reform is certainly one of the key requirements of European integrations, through so-called administrative criteria and capacity of the

SEMIHA BOROVAC

State Public Administration Reform Coordinator, Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office in BiH

administration to adopt the Community acquis of the European Union. Any progress in the modernisation and reform of the public administration is a significant step forward in the integration process.

An efficient, reliable and transparent work of public institutions is crucial for further European integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina and part of the requirements of the public administration reform in BiH. Only reformed administration may become a service for the citizens, ensure efficient performance of social activities, and satisfy important daily needs of the citizens in accordance with the public interest and general values.

Additionally, the inclusion of the Directorate of European Integration in the Programme, as an institution equivalent to PARCO in the process of European integration and improvement of partnership between our two institutions, will result in a better harmonisation of work and more effective fulfilment of conditions laid down for BiH. »

What were the major problems identified in the previous phase and how did you respond to them?

We are very satisfied with the implementation of the first phase, accomplished results and cooperation with GIZ. Realistically, we would not be able to point at a single problem in the true sense of the word.

Problems, if any, primarily occurred due to technical reasons and complexity of the establishment of management and coordination system and delay of certain activities. However, these problems are common for such comprehensive programs, and further implementation proved that such smaller issues at the very beginning were successfully resolved. »

What cooperation priorities would you identify for the next phase of the Programme (20142016)?

Priorities for the next phase of the Programme will depend on the trends and developments in the field.

By any standard, the priorities would relate to further strengthening of partnerships and synergy between the beneficiary institutions of the Program, and dissemination of the results and knowledge to all administration institutions. The focus of this cooperation should be placed on the objectives and measures of the Revised Action Plan 1, especially in the areas of communication and knowledge management, promotion, quality management, project management, strategic planning, monitoring

What makes the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions different from many similar projects and programmes is the flexibility in work, which allows us to focus on real priorities occurring during the implementation of activities. and evaluation, etc. Capacity development is still an important segment of the project, provided that the approach would focus on a joint development of skills and knowledge, primarily through the working groups and institutional learning. »

How do you assess the overall understanding of needs in the public administration reform process by the experts engaged in the Programme?

We hold that the cooperation with GIZ is noteworthy, in particular due to the commitment, understanding the needs of beneficiaries and the concept of cooperation based on realistic needs. Other beneficiary institutions share the same opinion, which has been clearly pointed out at previous sessions of the Programme’s Advisory Board. What makes the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions different from other similar projects and programmes is the flexibility in work, thus allowing us to focus on real priorities occurring during the implementation of activities, and enabling timely reaction and optimal work results. Such flexibility also exists in the approach of experts engaged in the Programme, where we can witness a strong orientation to users and their realistic needs. We also find highly significant the fact that the Office was involved in the evaluation of the first phase and in the development of the concept for the second phase of Programme which were done by GIZ and where we had an opportunity to give proposals and to focus the next phase on the real needs and priorities in the public administration reform and coordination and communication with all institutions of the administration. Finally, I would like to express my satisfaction with the cooperation so far and with the achieved results within the Programme and to point out high expectations that we and our partners have for the next phase, when the Programme, in our view, would be one of the key instruments of support to the public administration reform process as well as the individual institutions of BiH.

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Neven Akšamija

DIRECTOR OF THE CIVIL SERVICE AGENCY OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

CIVIL SERVICE CAPABLE TO RESPOND TO THE CHALLENGES IN THE EU ACCESSION PROCESS »

What was the motive for the Civil Service Agency to join the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

The role of the Civil Service Agency in implementation of the Programme was to delegate measures and activities that offer best support to development and improvement of service capacities related to its mandate, that is, employing of civil servants in BiH institutions and training of civil servants. The goal is to develop the services so their users (citizens and civil servants) could use services of the Agency in the most efficient and suitable way.

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What are the most prominent results of the first phase of the Programme?

Over a relatively short period of almost a year, significant results have been achieved. In the field of training of civil servants, a measure for conducting of a detailed system analysis for the purpose of developing the system for comprehensive training management was implemented. Development of the system has been contracted and the measure is currently in implementation. In the field of development of systems for electronic and distance learning, the measure for preparation of guidelines for establishing the e-learning system and related action plan was finished, while the training measures and the transfer of knowledge of the engaged consultants helped in developing human capacities to enable implementation and sustainability of the e-learning system. It was followed by implementation of the systems for electronic learning management and webinars, and launching of the first set of four electronic trainings set as priorities according to the needs analysis. In the field of employing civil servants, the measure of detailed system analysis for development of the e-recruitment system is finalised, and the contracting of a system developer is currently underway.

Beside these activities, the Agency is involved in several measures implemented through the inter-institutional groups, focused on issues such as communications and information technologies. »

Cooperation with GIZ and the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions is seen as the best thus far because through the daily cooperation with our staff GIZ managed to recognise actual needs of the Agency.

What are the most important milestones for the CSA which were achieved during the implementation of the Programme?

Those would be the preparation of the guidelines for establishment of the e-learning system and the relevant action plan, finalisation of introduction of the technological platform for e-learning systems and commissioning, as well as finalisation of the process of further detailed system analysis for measures aimed at introduction of the training management and e-recruitment systems creating grounds for the actual development of these systems. »

application system which eliminates the need for sending documents via traditional mail. Communication with citizens – candidates in employment procedures – would be made using personalised texts and emails. All stages of the employment procedure, from the application to the selection of candidates, will be fully supported by this system. In addition, in order to ensure effective and efficient management of training activities, training management system is being developed to be client-oriented web portal for training of civil servants in all state level institutions and training of administrators. The system for organising so-called horizontal trainings will be used by the Agency, but also other institutions providing trainings in different sectors for all civil servants in the institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Similar to the e-recruitment system, this system will fully support all stages of organising the training, from applications to selection of candidates, and finally, evaluation of the training.

What would you describe as the best practices in the Programme so far?

» That would certainly be the development of the e-recruitment system that will provide citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina with an opportunity to apply for vacant positions in the civil service using the online

»

To what extent does the programme contribute to development of human resources within the Agency and to strengthening of institutional capacities required in the EU accession process?

Building capacities of the Agency for implementation of these measures is of key importance for their success. Employees of the Agency involved in the activities of the Programme went through courses of managing development of the e-learning system, agile methodology and development of web-based IT systems and IT security. A study trip was organised to introduce good practices, advantages and weaknesses, requirements and risks of establishing e-learning system. Activities of several inter-institutional groups resulted in implementation of several important measures that contributed to building capacities of the Agency in terms of communication with the clients and development of innovative solutions.

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As the potential candidate for EU membership, Bosnia and Herzegovina needs civil service that will make public administration capable of responding to the challenges ahead, on the way of accession. In this context, the role of the Agency is indirect, but important, since it provides for employment of highly qualified civil servants and ensures their professional training and development. We believe that the development of an efficient and effective e-recruitment system focused on optimally meeting the needs of citizens will attract high-quality candidates to apply for announced vacancies in civil service.

Introduction of new learning methods, developing of e-courses and possibilities of organising webinars with coaches from anywhere in the world being included in education process increases quality and effects of the trainings systems for civil servants on their professional growth.

Today, what are the long term goals in development and strengthening of capacities in the sector?

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After the implementation of the first phase and putting the developed systems into operations, the Agency will considering proposing new activities that would further develop capacities for the Agency to provide its services. Those may involve introduction of new channels for providing trainings, development of support for smartphone devices, etc.

How would you describe overall cooperation with the Programme?

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We believe cooperation between GIZ and the Civil Service Agency is excellent and we are hoping to achieve planned goals and results. The measures implemented are of particular importance since they primarily concern services to a wide user community (citizens of BiH and all civil servants in BiH institutions) and are not limited to meeting internal needs of the institution. Added value of these measures is in their service orientation, since these systems will be available to other government institutions in need, which facilitates standardisation and introduction of a one-stop shop in providing public administration services.

Over the ten years of its existence, the Civil Service Agency established cooperation with numerous international development organisations. Cooperation with GIZ and the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions is seen as the best thus far be-

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NEVEN AKĹ AMIJA

Director of the Civil Service Agency

cause through the daily cooperation with our staff GIZ managed to recognise actual needs of the Agency, to provide quality contribution in defining goals and expected results of proposed measures, ensuring necessary resources and successfully leading measures to their full implementation. In this process, particular attention has been paid to human capacities of the Agency, which we find very important for sustainability of the systems implemented.

Husein Nanić, PhD

DIRECTOR OF THE AGENCY FOR DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE

TEAM WORK ON DEVELOPMENT OF THE AGENCY’S STRATEGIC PLAN UNLEASHED THE CREATIVE POTENTIAL OF THE EMPLOYEES AND CREATED MANY IDEAS FOR IMPROVEMENTS OF OUR OPERATIONS Rapprochement of Higher Education in BiH to the Standards in the EU I would like to point out that our Agency is relatively young. We have been active for five years, and the first year went by in establishing this institution. In the second stage, the goal was to employ staff and develop key activities within the scope of the Agency. At the time of joining the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, our Agency had not been fully developed, thus SPI came just in time.

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The field we are dealing with is relatively new, both here and abroad, and any pioneering quest usually means many challenges. At the same time, we needed to introduce numerous activities to enable functioning of the Agency itself, and to strengthen its capacities. Our priorities were strengthening of skills and knowledge of our staff and employing of new staff; obviously, the focus was on the very functioning of the Agency and operations that need to be ran. We are engaged in numerous activities concerning higher education. Our objective is to provide conditions for BiH higher education to enter European education area, but also global educational systems.

Stabilisation and Association Agreement and the Bologna Declaration impose certain obligations and directions for our future activities. Because of the aforementioned, we believe we need fresh information and examples of good practice in order to engage our full capacity and handle the tasks entrusted to us. The Agency cooperates with numerous partners in decision making process, which makes the functioning of the Agency and its processes even more complex.

Therefore, taking part in this Programme was of enormous value to us.

The Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance joined the Programme quite late, in September 2012. Preliminary recommendations and consultations made it obvious that the Programme is offering excellent opportunity for strengthening of capacities in our Agency. At the meeting held with GIZ representatives, we exchanged opinions and discussed the essence of the Programme, only to realise that there is an actual need for us to join the Programme; we also identified activities and methods of the Programme that would be the most appropriate for this institution. The entire process did not last long, and after less than a month from the first meeting, HEA joined the SPI Programme.

REALISTIC LOOK AT THE WEAKNESS AND FLAWS OF THE AGENCY The Agency currently employs nine civil servants, seven of which are active in terms of work engagement. Besides the Director and two Assistant Directors, there is technical support, and nineteen permanently employed staff members. Having in mind our current duties, we are lacking human, financial and material potentials to develop the values of the

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institution, instead, we are forced to deal with tasks set by the law as our core activities, such as issuing recommendations, analysing the state of higher education in Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc. Therefore, the Programme, as all of my colleagues agree, is more than welcome since we did not have enough time, means, or human resources, to reflect upon ourselves after four years of effective operation, and conduct realistic and comprehensive SWOT and PEST analysis, and to use results to detect weaknesses and gaps in our Agency; joining SPI offered the solution. It was instantly clear that organisation and systematisation of the Agency needed change. Some of our departments are overloaded, and some could be more efficient if the resources were properly handled. Workshops organised by GIZ and its partners made us realise that we should establish new sectors, and give some priority to certain sectors of the Agency due to the nature of their activities.

The analyses conducted in cooperation with GIZ showed weaknesses, strengths and clearer image of the key activities that need to be implemented immediately. We are currently working on a strategic plan for the Agency over the next five years, with some activities already implemented. We have held many extremely useful meetings dedicated to this issue and attended numerous workshops aimed at our actual needs. As the Director of this institution, I was pleased, both personally and professionally, to attend joint planning with my colleagues where, after only two days of active exchange of opinions on the strategy, our goals and mission, we came up with an abundance of excellent and creative ideas on how to improve our operations. In a supportive and pleasant atmosphere, thanks to the stimulating programme activities, we distilled quite a definite vision of where we want to be in five years, and how it can be achieved.

UNLEASHING THE CREATIVE POTENTIAL OF EMPLOYEES Relieved of daily duties and responsibilities which have been overwhelming due to the lack of human resources, I am pleased to say that our employees showed great creativity, intelligent problem solving approach, and strong enthusiasm and dedication to work.

We have defined our mission, vision, and main three objectives, and we are moving forward, undertaking further steps. Even with the legal obligation to

INTER-INSTITUTIONAL DIALOGUE AS ONE OF THE KEY BENEFITS OF THE PROGRAMME

DOC. DR. HUSEIN NANIĆ

Agencija za razvoj visokog obrazovanja i osiguranje kvaliteta

prepare the strategy, it would have been really difficult for us to do the entire job by ourselves, without the support from this Programme, and the quality of the work would have suffered. Luckily, we found ourselves in a position to have our staff highly motivated to produce sound and useful document, and to enjoy in working on a task that would have been a burden on top of their daily duties and responsibilities.

In addition, Agency representatives joined the group for communication and human resources statistics; our representatives actively participate in all relevant activities, and, after the study trips to the United Kingdom and Germany and the workshops, they are deeply impressed, which is very important for their professional and personal growth. Fresh experiences and the perspectives they now have are positive and useful for their future engagement.

Another activity realised within the Programme that needs to be mentioned is surveying of the quality of our web portal. Since the surveyed population is quite specific (mainly higher education institutions, students, academic community and education authorities), the expected feedback will help us explore the needs of our clients, paying due attention to applicable international standards. From a wider perspective, we find it important in terms of improving our activities and approaching the desired European standards.

Inter-institutional dialogue is, in our case, one of the key benefits the Programme. In fact, the Agency for Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary Education in BiH suggested that our Agency joins the Programme.

A series of meetings and counselling were held to help us realise our position in terms of organisation, ideas, documents, and level of development in general. This type of dialogue can be rewarding with very stimulating ideas and solutions which could be applied and help colleagues in other institutions to implement your successful models. I find the lack of cooperation between institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina prominent in all segments, especially in the field of our expertise, but even farther, and that makes this form of exchange of knowledge and practices so important.

RECAP OF THE PROGRAMME’S FIRST PHASE AND THE AGENCY’S NEEDS IN THE SECOND PHASE Over this relatively short period of our participation in the Programme, we have held numerous consultations and, besides the needs I have already mentioned and which enjoy our full attention, we also recognised some of the activities that could be developed and implemented in future stages of the Programme. For instance, four or five years ago, when we were establishing the Agency, we have created a document management system, top of the line solution at that time; however, years of advances in technology and weaknesses of the system detected over the years of use make us realise it needs to be updated. One of the challenges of our process is introduction of paperless accreditations. The reasons are quite logical. Bosnia and Herzegovina has 45 higher education institutions. That means 1,200 study curricula and they all need to be processed, and each one is presented on hundreds of sheets of paper; sum it up, and you get a mountain pile of paper. Unless we continue investing in ourselves, developing internet-based accreditation software, we will end up in an overwhelming pile of folders and paper documents. As we recently discussed at the meeting with GIZ consultants – we would like to develop our activities in two directions: paperless accreditations and improvement of our document management system, i.e. improvement of the e-government. If there is a possibility for us to take part in Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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it, we would dedicate our efforts to enable paperless functioning of the Agency where all incoming and outgoing documents would be sent via internet and specialised software solutions. Budget allocations for this purpose are quite modest, not allowing even for main working tools, therefore, opportunity to do that as a part of the Programme would mean a lot. In addition, strengthening of human resources and encouraging team work will, beyond any doubt, remain in our focus.

Implementation challenges and potential obstacles were based on the lack of human resources and we have been lucky to eliminate them. The Programme is exceptional, not only because it managed to assist us in dealing with obvious difficulties and complicated procedures resulting from complex state administration, but also because it was not just a mere donation. The Programme offered sufficient room for us to adjust the capacities put at our disposal to our own needs. On the other hand, since the Agency lacks staff, sometimes it was hard to compensate for the absent five or six, when they were attending workshops. However, knowledge they managed to collect from those workshops will help us become more efficient in our work. We have been quite engaged in transferring the knowledge to other members of the team, and the results are already evident.

Relying on this Programme but also by participating on other different projects and programmes, as well as through partnerships with similar agencies and institutions, we are slowly but surely setting grounds for joining EU. Of course, these partnerships require same or similar level of organisation and competencies between the institutions. We have recently established a 24-month Twining Programme with the Agency from Austria dealing with the same scope as our Agency. To keep pace with them, we need to invest extra efforts. Bosnia and Herzegovina signed the SAA, and Article 100 states that BiH is obliged to adopt Bologna principles, and we, as the Agency, are the ones directly responsible for their implementation. In addition, BiH signed the Bologna Declaration and assumed the responsibility to apply the principles and approximate and include higher education of BiH in the vast Europan Higher Education Area (EHEA). That is exactly what we have been doing; our goal is European integration in the field of higher education. We are competent and entrusted with these tasks; therefore I believe that everything that

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Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

I find the lack of cooperation between institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina prominent in all segments, especially in the field of our expertise, and that makes exchange of knowledge and practices even more important. was done within this Programme over the last year directly supported strengthening of our activity and quality assurance in this respect.

As a director, I find it important to establish a systematic and sustainable high level of functioning of the Agency and its services, which means optimal organisation, planning and programming of activities, and professionalism. We want and need to be a step ahead, since we are the ones defining criteria and taking part in evaluating situation in higher education institutions in order to make recommendations to improve using accreditation process. That is most certainly the most complex part of the job in a country, and the Agency should have such potentials, such broad knowledge, skills and competencies to put us in place where we could ensure that the highest EU standards are applied in our Agency.

Renata Barić

HEAD OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION DEPARTMENT

STRENGTHENING THE CENTRAL BANK OF BIH ON ITS PATH TOWARDS THE EUROPEAN SYSTEM OF CENTRAL BANKS Now, that the first phase of the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina is coming to an end, I can say, on behalf of us in the Central Bank, that we are very satisfied with the cooperation with GIZ and with the final results. We would also like to express our gratitude and appreciation to GIZ and the Federal Republic of Germany and the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development.

Technical cooperation and the level of understanding our needs shown in this process are of great importance, or more accurately, impressive. We have achieved much more than originally planned. Looking back over the last three years, it becomes obvious that one of the cornerstones of successful cooperation and successful project is proper preparation based on standard project methodology. The Central Bank has quite rich experience with technical cooperation programmes, including cooperation with the European Central Bank and 21

and other organisations. We are attempting to make all of our technical cooperation programmes complementary, avoiding any overlapping. We want to ensure continuity of work and harmonisation with European standards, which primarily means situation and needs analysis of high quality. The same was applied in this programme as well. After the needs assessment, priorities needed to be set, since every institution – including the Central Bank – has a series of needs, and constantly strives towards harmonisation with EU standards, and introduction of new practices and policies. The entire cooperation within the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions essentially corresponds to the strategy of the Central Bank, particularly the current strategic plan for 2011-2017, where one of the main goals of the Central Bank is to ensure intense international and European cooperation in order to continue efforts of the Central Bank invested in bringing BiH closer to the European Union, and joining the European system of central banks.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AS THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL OPERATIONS Once we analysed the needs – in cooperation with the team and delegated consultants – we set the priorities and identified several key areas that could benefit from cooperation and expertise of the Programme, and the cooperation in this Programme was focused on information technologies. Information technology is more than what we call the core central banking activity; in fact, it proved itself to be very important, even crucial for successful operation of the entire Central Bank. Through the strong support from the Programme, we attempted to ensure proper integration of our information systems into entire operation of the organisation. The process provided us with valuable support from the IT consultant who worked with the Central Bank and its team for almost a year.

The efforts served the purpose properly and we initiated the primary goal – introduction of quality IT architecture. When I say IT architecture, I am referring to the general IT system of the Central Bank, and such integration will ensure quality information support to our expert public. The key goal was to avoid isolated, partial solutions and gravitate towards a general system-wide solution. A high-quality database has been planned; the application is under prepara-

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RENATA BARIĆ

Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina

tion to be officially implemented. It is a revolutionary system for BiH – a data warehouse with automated statistical processes, and very expanded and complex software solution which is to be implemented in several stages. We started with the government finance statistics, while the focus of the second stage was on monetary statistics of financial institutions; both stages have been finalised. We are currently working on preparing the presentation for the general public. Here we speak of a statistical interactive web portal offering the best and most appropriate solutions, ensuring user-friendly tools and access to our statistical data available to public and interested intuitions. The project is demanding, complex and long term, leaving us to hope that it will be continued with support from GIZ. This type of solution has not been applied in Bosnia and Herzegovina so far, and the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be the first institution in BiH, even in the region, to offer such software solution. Besides the horizontal activities, the Programme provided us with a high-quality support in risk management within the Central Bank. With support from GIZ, a consultant agency was hired, and it managed to present a series of quality solutions, and provide our colleagues from the Risk Management Department with a solution for better analysis of financial data in creating reliable institutional strategy.

Programme has helped in achieving a much better inter-institutional dialogue and exchange of ideas and experiences between the Central Bank and other institutions, such as the Agency for Statistics.

INDEPENDENCE OF THE CENTRAL BANK AND INTER-INSTITUTIONAL EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCES The Central Bank participates in several task groups within the Programme that have significantly supported building common knowledge and experiences.

A forum for exchange of experiences, as well as a quality network of experts from all institutions, has been established. The Central Bank is surely a monetary institution, and according to the EU regulations and due to the specific nature of our field of expertise, we need to insist on independence of the Central Bank in BiH. Therefore, we strongly support public administration reform, yet with our own specific mandates. Partners in the Programme have recognised this, and provided us with the solutions that suit our specific needs and fields of work.

Finally, the Programme has helped in achieving a much better inter-institutional dialogue and exchange of ideas and experiences between the Central Bank and other institutions, such as the Agency for Statistics which is, basically, our natural partner.

Colleagues from the IT sector and from the Agency for Statistics visited colleagues in the Austrian Central Bank, which moved aspects of cooperation, dissemination of knowledge and experience beyond not only national, but also regional borders. What started as an engagement of external experts, by the end of the first stage of the programme, evolved into a relationship between the equals, and amazing contacts network. Thanks to the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions we are in a position today to receive information and recommendations, and exchange experiences with our colleagues in Vienna, Brussels and Frankfurt, which is the practice we find exceptionally valuable.

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Dragan Pinjuh

EXPERT ADVISER FOR LEGAL AFFAIRS AND HUMAN RESOURCES

PROGRAMME ACTIVITIES GEARED TOWARDS THE REAL NEEDS OF THE AGENCY The Agency for Pre-School, Elementary and Secondary Education (APOSO) was established by the Law on the Agency for Pre-School, Elementary and Secondary Education, enacted in 2007, while the Agency became operative after time-consuming procedures, in 2009. The Agency is a successor of the previous, inter-entity Agency for Standards and Evaluation in Education for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska, taking over its employees.

Since these employees were not civil servants, they needed to go through an appropriate procedure to achieve that status, which slowed down the start of the Agency’s work. At the very beginning of operation, we faced organisational challenges since it was obvious that, despite the fact that the employees of the previous agency already had experience, tests of education, analyses, etc.,

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they needed to go through different forms of adaptation, which prolonged the start of operation. Since the Agency is located in Mostar, where the head office and two regional units dealing with different tasks are situated, it was a challenge to coordinate and compile quality products that will represent the Agency, its goals and tasks in a consistent and appropriate way. Exactly at that time, Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina was launched, and APOSO was included, where GIZ consultants, in cooperation with the Agency personnel, conducted analysis of current situation and the needs of the Agency in order to identify main activities and areas that allow strengthening of the Agency’s capacities.

Over the three years of our participation in the Programme, we have received concrete assistance aimed at actual needs of the Agency. Programme generously supported training measures for our staff and activities on establishing proper principles of work for our core tasks. We believe we will be able to make the initiated measures even more specific in our future work. We started with the analysis of the current situation, and used the results for more specific activities concerning identification of quality programmes which are not only related to strengthening of the institution, but also activities that Agency should and is willing to produce eventually, such as the establishing of a database for external testing in education.

The Agency was formed as an expert body with a task to improve education in Bosnia and Herzegovina offering recommendations and advice, providing expertise in preparation of curricula and syllabuses, conducting evaluations and other forms of testing in education, and working on secondary vocational education in order to bring education to the reference European level. The focus is on providing the graduates with competencies and skills on the appropriate level. Therefore, school is no longer focused on the teacher and the curricula but on youth and knowledge they need to acquire. Having in mind it is a complex task for an agency with only 26 employees out of planned 46, it is clear that our capacities were insufficient to reach the goal in a short period of time.

In addition, we need to be aware that the Agency is an expert body, with ministries of education being responsible for implementation of education, there-

fore, the Agency does not have any actual powers to affect implementation of the recommendations it provides. We are aware that the Agency has clearly defined responsibilities and competencies in terms of improvement of education in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and we perform our tasks accordingly.

Programme generously supported training measures for our staff and activities on establishing proper principles of work for our core tasks.

Assistance provided by GIZ and the entire Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions was of key importance since it helped us implement more activities, from trainings to programme tasks, and some of the trainings concerned preparation of projects, which will be very helpful when we need to raise funds for working on other projects. Besides the strengthening in form of trainings, we received some concrete help in preparing a database to be used in students’ tests and facilitate processing of test data. The SOPO application is quite important since it could improve quality and efficiency of data processing after all necessary preparations that consume a lot of time and effort of our employees.

It is a huge project that already included assistance from numerous external experts who perform consolidation and analysis of the data; we also engaged students who fed the databases and forms with the data from the tests.

All of this is done using the SOPO application since it allows using of a test reader that automatically distributes the data into appropriate fields; this saves time, resources and finally, money. We already

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money. We already have a database with searchable data. It is a truly exceptional project that we managed, with support of the Programme, to test in three schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina – in Sarajevo, Mostar, and Banja Luka. During the test, we simulated actual conditions and processing of the test, defining of test tasks, delivery to schools, preparation of tests, collection and returning of tests, reading of data and storing into the database. The simulation was flawless, and the application is to be used in the next testing. We believe it will be interesting to compare test results from earlier tests of eight-graders in elementary schools with results of tests in a nineyear programme since it will help us make a comparison of the eight-year and nine-year elementary education system. That is the only way to determine actual results achieved by these two systems.

Within the Programme activities aimed at the establishment of a monitoring system are being implemented, and they are very important for being able to tell us where we are in terms of performing the planned tasks, monitoring of results, and if the results are in line with what is needed, to what extent we have managed to achieve our goals, and how to move forward. The basis is set in the strategic plan of the Agency, which produces annual plans; lack of quality in monitoring and evaluation would mean difficulties in executing and planning future steps.

Furthermore, the Programme has developed and supports a public information campaign on current APOSO projects is ongoing with an aim to raise awareness on tasks and responsibilities of the Agency.

Over the course of the Programme, we attempted to include as much employees as possible into its segments, which was usually one representative in each of the projects. Since majority of these activities were aimed at the institution, information were distributed through collegiums; once we introduce intranet, the plan is to establish a database with information and training materials that would be available to all colleagues, with exchange of data on a daily basis.

DRAGAN PINJUH

Agency for Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary Education

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Slavica Škoro

AGENCY FOR DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE

INTER-INSTITUTIONAL EXCHANGE AND JOINT IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTIVITIES BASED ON THE STANDARDS OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM I was part of the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the activities implemented within the Programme since September 2012, when the Agency for Higher Education and Quality Assurance (HEA) was included in the Programme. I am a member of the Agency’s group for development of a mid-term strategy and a member of the inter-institutional group for communications, formed under the Programme. It was the group for communications that managed to gather exceptional professionals, and after some time and numerous activities and workshops we have held, it became evident that profession and what we do is not the only thing that brings us 27

together. The group gathers people with same or similar energy. We have managed to implement several activities contributing to goals we have set as a group. Since the very start of my working on the task, we have produced a plan of joint activities, and analysed it to determine what is necessary for us in charge of communication to improve this particular segment of activity within our organisations.

As far as activities are concerned, we started with a plan of activities, and then implemented some of the activities we found necessary although it would have been impossible to implement such activities without Programme’s support, despite the fact that they are foreseen for institutions of our level, and also set in the Revised Action Plan 1 of the Public Administration Reform Strategy. Furthermore, we have completed an extensive analysis of websites of all nine involved institutions. This analysis included the analysis of the websites’ quality and content, assessment of the current online sophistication, i.e. evaluation of the level of development of the services offer through the existing websites, and a survey on satisfaction of website visitors. Quality assurance in terms of consistency between websites of institutions is one of our major goals, and it is also foreseen in the Revised Action Plan 1 for institutional communication, which will, together with the website visitors survey, result in many useful inputs for our efficiency in communications. We also developed and organised a workshop on communications planning, and we are currently organising a workshop on freedom of access to information. Another recently finalised activity is a study visit to the United Kingdom, where the members of the group – over the course of six days – met with the Executive Director of UK Government Communications, Alex Aiken and many other communications experts working in the UK governmental institutions. This proved itself useful and inspiring in many ways. We had the opportunity to understand the concept and importance of communications within the UK government, see innovative solutions in use, and think of what can be used and adapted to our conditions. Based on such experiences we have as a group developed our own joint ideas how to improve communications in the involved institutions and in the public administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Agency team is relatively small with around

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It would have been impossible to implement such activities without Programme’s support, despite the fact that they are foreseen in the Revised Action Plan 1 of the Public Administration Reform Strategy. twenty employees and operates without a rigid bureaucratic distribution of tasks and duties. We are a compact team, all actively participating. In that sense, activities of the Programme are welcome, since they have brought us a new quality of work. We have managed to realise several things we knew we needed, but we were unable to do what was needed without the help from the Programme. Its role was crucial.

I will dare to say that a good deal of work done in the Agency involves communication. One of our tasks is to inform the public on the meaning of quality assurance in higher education, to explain its importance, responsibilities of the key players which include us, the Agency, but also other interested parties and expert communities we cooperate with. It is primarily the academic community: students, professors, ministries of education, but also general public; we all share the same goal - improving quality of high education in order to make Bosnia and Herzegovina a member of the European High Education Area.

I would like to, on behalf of my team, express my gratitude to GIZ and the Programme team, the people with which we regularly communicate and who are absolute professionals. We are blessed with the opportunity to work with them, for having them to support us and to understand our needs.

Some of the Programme’s Activities in the Past Year SUPPORT TO STRATEGIC PLAN DEVELOPMENT FOR THE AGENCY FOR DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE The representatives of the Agency for the Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance participated in a workshop for strategic planning where they actively worked on preparation of a strategic plan for the Agency. By process of strategic planning, the Agency will have opportunity to analyse its organisation, define its strategic guidelines of work and development and make operative plans for realization of activities in future period of five years.

MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP VISITED THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM From 22 to 27 September 2013 a study visit to the Government of the United Kingdom has been organised for the members of the inter-institutional group for communications

AGENCY FOR PRE-PRIMARY, PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION BIH AND GIZ DONATED TEXTBOOKS FOR 77 PUPILS OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS On the first day of this school year 77 pupils received a donation of more than 1.000 textbooks and 1.500 notebooks, which will prepare them even better for the coming school year NEW E-LEARNING MODULE ON EUROPEAN INTEGRATION PRESENTED E-learning module was developed within the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions and will enable public servants to learn more about the EU integration process

WORKSHOP ON COMMUNICATION PLANNING HELD IN TESLIĆ Workshop participants worked on a case study for two

days and jointly developed a communication plan

ANALYSIS FINDINGS OF THE MOST APPROPRIATE MODEL FOR QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS PRESENTED Representatives of Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office, Civil Service Agency of BiH, Public Procurement Agency of BiH, Central Bank, Directorate for European Integration and the team members of the Programme for Strenghtening of Public Institutions attended a presentation held on 30 May 2013 about the most appropriate model of quality management in public institutions

REPRESENTATIVES OF INSTITUTIONS FROM BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA PARTICIPATED IN A TRAINING OF THE EUROPEAN ACADEMY IN OTZENHAUSEN Representatives of the Directorate for European Integration, Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance and the Central Bank attended the training held at the European Academy in Otzenhousen. The course “European Union: Structures, Policies, Programmes” was focused on cooperation with the EU and its institutions and presented an opportunity to visit the European Commission and the European Parliament

IMPROVEMENT OF DATABASE FOR EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT IN PRE-PRIMARY, PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutins works together with the Agency for Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary Education in order to develop a data model that will automate the external evaluation of pupils’ achievements and knowledge. This would allow developement of a data base which will facilitate easy and simple access to relevant information to all interested parties Strengthening of Public Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Follow the updates on the Programme at www.spi.ba or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SPIBiH

Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions Splitska 6 71000 Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina T +387 33 221 118 F +387 33 220 027 E spi-bih@giz.de I www.spi.ba I www.giz.de Facebook: www.fb.com/SPIBiH