Presentation of the monitoring report on the Action Plan for the implementation of the Open Government Partnership Initiative

As part of the monitoring process of the Action Plan for the implementation of the Open Government Partnership Initiative in the Republic of Serbia for the period 2016-2017 (hereinafter: Action Plan) Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, in cooperation with the authorities and civil society organizations that make up the working group has prepared a Report on the implementation of the Action plan for the first 6 months of 2017.
The meeting on which the report was presented was held on June 27, 2017 in the library of the Human Rights House, in Belgrade. The meeting was attended by 25 representatives of state bodies and CSOs who directly participate in the implementation of the commitments of the Action Plan, as well as interested representatives of other CSOs.

Dragana Brajović from the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government reminded that this Action Plan was adopted in November 2016 and lasts until June 2018. Out of a total of 14 foreseen commitments so far, 5 have been fully implemented, 6 obligations have been implemented to a significant extent, 2 obligations have been implemented by more than 50%, and the implementation of 2 obligations has not yet started. She pointed out that the local self-government units are still not sufficiently familiar with the existence of the POU Initiative, nor with the obligations stipulated in the Action Plan, but also that primarily CSOs work on promotion of the POA and started to support LSG for the creation of local action plans.

Bojana Selaković, Acting director of Civic Initiatives, announced the implementation of the first scheduled obligation, ie. development of a job description model, a part of the workplace of an officer in charge of cooperation with civil society in the local administration. Although this is a recommended, not a binding document model, some LSGs have already expressed interest in establishing this position. She stated that CI in the coming period will certainly monitor the implementation of this obligation in order to improve the cooperation of LSGs with CSOs.

In this regard, CI and the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society will organize trainings for public administration officials and CSO representatives in September regarding the implementation of the Guidelines for the involvement of civil society organizations in the process of adoption of regulations.

By the end of the year Amendments to the Regulation on the means of encouraging programs or missing part of funds for financing programs of public interest implemented by associations are expected. By fulfilling this obligation, the process of financing the association from the state budget and LSG would be made more transparent by introducing mandatory reporting on the results of supported programs / projects, but also regular monitoring and evaluation by the authorities in which the program / projects were selected.