COUNTRY SPECIFIC PROGRAMMES FOR CAPACITY BUILDING
 

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Recent activities

The launch of a fourth Round of the BiH Beacon Scheme (Best Practice Programme) took place in January 2009. This Round is now entirely locally owned following the transfer of responsibilities to the Ministry of Justice of FBiH and the RS Ministry of Public Administration and Local Government, as well as the FBiH and RS Associations of Local Authorities. The four partners have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding and have agreed to financially and logistically support the implementation of the Scheme. The OSCE will continue to support the scheme if necessary, and the Council of Europe will keep a close eye on its development, without being directly involved.

Previous activities

The Council of Europe and the OSCE Mission to BiH, in co-operation with the RS and FBiH Associations of Local Authorities, launched this Scheme in January 2005, which was financed from voluntary contributions from the Swiss and British Governments. All awarded municipalities were invited to disseminate their best practice all over BiH with the support of the OSCE and the Entities’ Associations of Local Authorities. A third Round of the BiH Beacon Scheme was launched in July 2007 by the RS and FBiH Associations of Local Authorities and the OSCE, but without Council of Europe involvement. Following a series of visits to the short listed municipalities and a general presentation, the Advisory Panel awarded Beacon Status to the following municipalities:

Brcko municipality, under the theme; “Implementation of IT technologies in services delivery process aimed at improvement of services quality and decision-making process”

Zenica and Mrkonjic Grad municipalities, under the theme: “Support to establishment and development of small and middle sized enterprises”.

Kozarska Dubica and Laktasi municipalities, under the theme “Improvement of agricultural production through partnership with agricultural producers and citizens in rural areas”.
 

Best Practice Award Ceremony, Banja Luka, April 2007

In the second half of 2006, the CoE implemented a project aimed at building the capacity of the RS and FBiH Associations of Local Authorities to deliver quality services to their members and partners. The two Associations went through a detailed assessment of their effectiveness which led to the development of distinct and common improvement plans building on strengths, exploiting opportunities and focusing on areas where further development is needed.