News Archives - Foreign Policy Initiative BH

Study visit for photo competition winners from V4 countries

In the period 14.11.2019. to 17.11.2019. Foreign Policy Initiative BH organized a study visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina for young people from Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary who participated in a photo competition on “SUCCESSFUL INTER-RELIGIOUS CO-OPERATION AND DIALOGUE”. Participants in these three countries had the opportunity to make their own picture based on a video collage, created as a result of shared personal experiences and thinking of young people in BiH, who portrayed equality in their stories through the prism of inter-religious coexistence and dialogue that makes BiH a unique country that can, by way of example, offer young Czechs, Hungarians and Slovaks a reading of history which shows that successful dialogue between members of different religious communities can be (and is, in fact) the rule, not the exception.

During the study visit, the participants had the opportunity to talk with representatives of NGOs in Sarajevo, the Center for Advanced Studies and Humanity in Action (HIA). Center for Advanced Studies – CNS is a non-governmental, non-partisan and non-profit organization dedicated to comprehensive and sustainable development of BiH – a society based on peace, justice, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Humanity in Action Bosnia & Herzegovina is an essential part of a collaborative, international learning community of university students and young professionals in Europe and the United States. They think about the big questions in life and society – like social responsibility, values, universal rights, and empathy for those who we disagree with. They care deeply about history and constantly compare the past to the present to learn for the future.

Also, at the premises of the Inter-Religious Council in BiH, they were introduced to the work of the Inter-religious Council which acts as a domestic, non-governmental organization that is not superstitious but a body through which the goodwill of traditional churches and religious communities is manifested to contribute jointly to building civil society in areas where the influence of churches and religious communities is undeniable..

At the War Childhood Museum, they had a presentation and then a tour of materials related to growing up in the war and got acquainted with the stories of each of the young people who submitted some of the items on display at the museum. The exhibition and the idea of establishing a museum was based on a 328-page illustrated book that brought the story of all ages with a rare opportunity to confront the traumas of their recent past without reinforcing ethnic boundaries, the WCM has expanded its activities to contemporary conflict, post-conflict, and resettlement zones.

The study visit finished with a city tour and a visit to museums and major historical sites and institutions.

These activities were organized as part of a project called “My Neighbor, Success Stories of Inter-faith Dialogue within and beyond the V4 Countries” funded by the International Visegrad Fund.

Political analysis: “The new dynamic of Europe! What can BiH hope for?”

On 12 November 2019, Foreign Policy Initiative BH, in cooperation with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung BiH has organized the presentation of political analysis “The new dynamic of Europe! What can BiH hope for?” by Davor Vuletić.

Bosnia and Herzegovina must fundamentally improve its legislative and institutional framework to ensure adherence to 14 priorities in the Commission’s Opinion. It should be the only political agenda for all political parties in BiH in the coming decade. The EU continues to have a strategic interest in the Western Balkans, but it is not a priority; rather, the EU’s priority is to work on its own ‘fitness’, and to give the Western Balkans time to do their homework. Therefore, this new dynamic will only be seen within the EU. BiH can only hope that its political elites will finally move forward.

The aim of this analysis is to provide an overview of the potential changes in the internal and external dynamics of EU politics and policy concerning enlargement towards the Western Balkans, particularly Bosnia and Herzegovina. It will examine the messages sent by the EU, in this context, prior to and following the formation of new EU institutions. Since European integration is a two-way process, this analysis will also try to show the current state of affairs in Bosnia and Herzegovina as it pertains to the requirements and expectations of the EU’s Stabilisation and Association process.

The analysis also aims to familiarise policy experts – those coming from different institutions, civil society organisations, diplomats, the international development community, the media, as well as political party officials and young political leaders – with what could be possible develop-ments in EU policy formulation following the European elections, and the formation of EU institutions over the next five years. It will also bring to their attention the impacts such developments will have on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s European aspirations.

Participants of the panel discission for the presentation of the analysis were its author Davor Vuletić (FPI BH), Dženana Hodžić (Political Advisor to the EUSR in BiH), Osman Topčagić (President of the Paneuropean Union of BiH, and Former Head of BiH Mission to the European Council), Rasim Ibrahimagić (Initiative for Monitoring the European Integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Darija Ramljak (The Directorate for European Integration -DEI). The discussion was moderated by Hana Sokolović (Former News Presenter at N1). Elisabet Tomasinec, Head of Political Section(EUSR in BiH) did the introduction speech. In their discussion the panelists have underlined that Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to fundamentally improve its legislative and institutional framework to ensure that it meets the 14 key priorities set out in the Commission’s Opinion.

The presentation was be attended by representatives of the civil society organizations, academia, relevant institutions, embassies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, members of the academia and media.

Winners of the video collage competition on: “SUCCESSFUL INTER-RELIGIOUS CO-OPERATION AND DIALOGUE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Third place 🥉 - Amina Žigić
Story title: My Neighborhood

In her short video, she told us about her happy growing up in a multi-ethnic community that made her a person with a broad views.

Second place 🥈 - Ermil Horozovic (Zavidovici)
Title: Inter-religious Relations of Youth

The video presents the true story of a group of students from different religions (a brief story of the religious coexistence). The video also shows two schools under the same roof shared by a fence, however young people do not pay attention to it. They met early in their academic years, and have been in touch with each other ever since. They have become friends who share everything, help one another, organize get-together meetings, visit one another for their religious holidays and learn the traditional way of cooking for the same. They can be an example of how to “demolish” a fence raised by religious conflicts. The video shows how we can only benefit from situations like these, and how we should spread positive energy rather than create conflicts, and encourage others to share the same thinking and behavior.

📌 First place 🏆 - Ishak Dedić (Bužim)
Story title: "Does it matter?"

The three friends train together. One is Catholic, the other is Orthodox, and the third is Muslim. It is not important to them, as it should be to everyone. They train and joke, and in addition respect each other. They don't mind the insignificant differences, they are friends, that's all that matters.

Video collage available here.

Contest text in local language available here.

Western Balkan PAR Monitor 2017/2018

The PAR Monitor is the result of research undertaken over the past year by the Think for Europe Network, with the goal of providing a systematic civil society monitoring of public administration reforms (PAR) in the Western Balkans. This exercise was motivated by the need to strengthen domestic, bottom-up pressure from the civil society sector in the long run, in
order to ensure that post-EU accession, when the leverage of the EU’s conditionality in the governance area weakens, the reform drive endures. Based on a robust methodological approach, combining quantitative and qualitative techniques, and building on the EU’s Principles of public administration, the PAR Monitor measures the countries’ state of play in PAR, benchmarks them against each other, and provides recommendations for improvement. The PAR Monitor also ensures complementarity with the monitoring carried out by SIGMA/OECD and the European Commission. It therefore provides a citizen and civil society focused perspective on the EU-SIGMA principles.

The PAR Monitor comprises an overall comparative regional report and six country reports, each including findings on the 23 compound indicators designed by the WeBER project team to monitor a selection of 21 EU-SIGMA principles.

Western Balkan PAR Monitor available here.

National PAR Monitor – Bosnia and Herzegovina 2017/2018

Public administration reform (PAR) is today considered a fundamental requirement for the EU aspirants on their accession path. As a complex and all-encompassing reform, PAR in the Western Balkans region is being thoroughly assessed through the lenses of the SIGMA Principles of
Public Administration, developed by the OECD/SIGMA and endorsed by the EU. These Principles define what makes a well-functioning administration in terms of its ability to deliver transparent, efficient and effective services to citizens, and to support socio-economic development.

In the context of a high external pressure for tangible developments in PAR, home-grown demand for better administration becomes even more important, to keep pressuring the government to pursue reforms once the external conditionality dissipates as the result of a completed accession process. Civil society actors, with local knowledge of administration’s
functioning, can lead such domestic advocacy efforts aimed at better administration. Independent PAR monitoring and evidence-based dialogues with the government represent a good approach to achieve this goal.

Based on such a rationale, the WeBER project has completed its first monitoring cycle. Its structured and evidence-based approach to PAR monitoring brings the reform closer to the public, by particularly focusing on PAR aspects with most relevance to the civil society and the public.
WeBER PAR monitoring strongly relies on strengths, skills, and local knowledge of the civil society in the Western Balkans. It builds on the SIGMA’s Principles of Public Administration as a cornerstone of PAR, while assessing them from the standpoint of an independently produced
PAR Monitor methodology. Overall, the methodology is based on the selection of 21 SIGMA Principles within six key areas, monitored and reported through 23 compound indicators that focus on different aspects of PAR.

Report available here.

Proactive transparency and the right of access to information: Two sides of the same coin

Societies which are seen as democratic societies are generally envisioned as an environment in which the government operates for the benefit of its citizens and works together with the citizens. One of the values of a democratic order of a country is the transparency of work of its administrative structures, as well as full respect of the inalienable rights of its citizens. Proactive transparency and free access to information are the
basic methods of communication between a state and its citizens.

When speaking about Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), a country which is, at least declaratively, a democratic state, it is still very far from the ideal when it comes to these two aspects of democracy. Its lack of openness
partly stems from its historic background from the time of communism, when it was not customary to ask the government to justify its actions or working methods. However, now, for this state which is striving towards
EU and Euro-Atlantic integration and membership, it is necessary to change this paradigm of communication between this state and its citizens. In order to build the citizen’s trust in the administration, the administration needs to be transparent, its work needs to be visible and understandable to the citizens, because in that way the possibility of corruption and abuse of power is reduced, and the citizens are enabled to take active participation in decision making processes. However, it is still too early to speak of the existence of a consistent proactive transparency in BiH.

According to the research of the WeBER project, perception of the civil society pertaining to the quality of legislation and the practice of access to information of public importance is low for all Western Balkan
countries, but BiH and Montenegro are at the very bottom. The results of this research for BiH show that less than 30% of the CSOs agree that the public administration authorities record enough information within their
work in order to provide the public with free access to information of public importance. Furthermore, only 20% of the surveyed CSOs consider the exceptions to the presumption of public character of information to
be adequately defined in the legislation and adequately applied in practice. However, some positive views are held towards practical aspects of requesting information: information is provided in requested format, within deadlines, and free of charge. Furthermore, the research has also shown that the information provision on the websites of the institutions lacks a citizen-friendly approach. Publicly available information is only partially complete and updated, and accessible within maximum three clicks from homepages of the institutions.

For more information, read our policy brief here.

Strategic Framework of Public Administration Reform

Do Western Balkan governments have effective public administration reform agendas? Is PAR purposefully implemented? Are there functioning structures to steer the reform design and implementation? Find out in this WeBER Infographic!

To see the infographic in full size, click here. (only available in English)

Find out more about WeBER Project here.

Western Balkan PAR Monitor 2017/2018 here.

BiH National PAR Monitor 2017/2018 available here. (English). Report in local language here.

Accountability

Do Western Balkan countries have good freedom of information (FOI) laws and are they consistently applied? Find out in this WeBER Infographic!

To see the infographic in full size, click here. (only available in English)

Find out more about WeBER Project here.

Western Balkan PAR Monitor 2017/2018 here.

BiH National PAR Monitor 2017/2018 available here. Report in local language here.

The fourth meeting of the National Working Group (NWG) for Public Administration Reform (PAR) in BiH

The fourth meeting of the National Working Group (NWG) for Public Administration Reform (PAR) in BiH was held today in Sarajevo on 29. November 2018. The motive behind the meeting was the presentation of a comprehensive report on the state of public administration in BiH – State PAR Monitor 2017/2018. The report was written pursuant to a year-long research and monitoring of PAR within the scope of WeBER Project, the first regional civil society project monitoring this process in the Western Balkans. The report is available here (english), in local language here.

Vedrana Faladžić, from the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office (PARCO BiH) and Lejla Ramić Mesihović, Director of the Foreign Policy initiative BH (FPI BH) have discussed on what is the significance of monitoring of the public administration reform by the civil society.

The State PAR Monitor for BiH was presented by Ms Anida Šabanović, FPI BH researcher. After the presentation, there was a serious discussion in which many discussants took part. Along with the members of the civil society organizations who are members of the NWG, Mr Nedžib Delić, head of the PARCO Operative Unit, Elvira Mujkić, PAR expert, Davor Vuletić, President of the FPI BH Assembly, and Mr Bojan Kovačević from the Business Development Agency EDA from Banja Luka.

This event has gathered representatives of civil society, public administration, media and PAR experts.

*NWG is a consultative mechanism within a ste between representatives of civil society and relevant state authorities in creation and monitoring of the PAR process in Western Balkan countries. NWGs were established in each of these countries as a part of a wider regional WeBER platform.

The brochure „A somewhat different manual for women political activism: And now that our Nail Polish Has Dried…“

On 12 November 2018, Foreign Policy initiative BH, within the scope of the Project dedicated to development of women negotiation skills, implemented with financial support of American Embassy in BiH, had organized a presentation of 13. The brochure is intended for women politicians and social activists in our country.

After spending three working cycles with women parliamentarians and political activists in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we have noticed a need for creating a brief manual pertaining to the specifics of women active involvement in politics, and offer a brief elaboration of involvement through identifying main problems and offering solutions through adequate policies.

The author of this manual and the director of Foreign Policy Initiative BH, Ms. Lejla Ramić Mesihović, has stated how the desire and the and the intent to empower the women dealing with politics, or intend to do so in the future, were vital for the creation of this manual with the goal of offering a quality analysis of the context and the authors position on political activity. The manual contains control lists stemming both from political theory and the authors own experience. A significant effort was invested to make them both be complementary with the text and for the text to be supplemented with the hints of concrete practical examples. We hope that the content offered in this manual will help political activists and those who wish to become so to maximise the effects of their own work for the benefit of the society and creation of their own political capital.

Politicians and social activists that have attended the presentation have discussed the current political situation in BiH and the role and presence of women on political scene. They have found that manuals, such as this one, are something that every woman, who wishes to be a part of political and social changes in our country, needs to have.

From the peer reviews:

…I recognize a particular value of this Manual in the fact that in its concise and easy to read text, and the introspective and far-reaching questions, certain contents are revealed which are not intended solely for women who are active in politics, but also for those who contemplate a possible political involvement, as well as for those who, next to political involvement, recognize a dramatically different social context of women lives regardless of the field they are active in…

PhD. Ms. Nedžma Džananović Miraščija

…the manual is full of questions for self-reflection recommended for women in politics in order for them to become aware of their own levels and sources of power. By answering these questions, women in politics, could in fact, reach some uncomfortable, yet invaluable cognisance pertaining to their political position and activism. Women politicians are reminded of the “dominance techniques” that they, without a doubt, have experienced, but did not always know how to define their discriminatory nature. The practicality of this Manual is seen in its concise form and telegraphic reminders of the methods for creating gender sensitive policies, as well as barriers encountered in achieving them. Control lists and illustrations presented in the Manual greatly contribute to the efficient usage of the text…

MSc. Nina Karađinović