18/05/2015
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Address:
Hotel Europe, Atrijum, Sarajevo, Bosna i Hercegovina
Hotel Europe, Atrijum, Sarajevo, Bosna i Hercegovina
Conference "Open Government Partnership Action Planning in BiH", whose aim was to point out the obligations BiH government should take in order to improve transparency and accountability of public authorities, was held in Sarajevo on May 18th.
On September 24, 2014, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) became a member of the multilateral initiative Open Government Partnership (OGP), which encourages governments from around the world to initiate reform in the area of transparency, citizens' participation in decision-making, the fight against corruption and the use of new technologies.
By joining this initiative, BiH committed to undertake a series of concrete measures towards the implementation of the principles of open government. The first step is to prepare an action plan as a strategic document which identifies priorities and activities in the field of improving transparency and accountability of government. According to the OGP calendar, it is envisaged that in the period from January to June 2015, government institutions, in collaboration with civil society, develop an action plan with a list of measures and activities that will be implemented in the next two years.
The panelists pointed out that almost eight months after the formal accession of BiH to the OGP, the process of developing an action plan has not been launched nor was the institution that should lead and supervise the process of developing and implementing an action plan appointed. Taking into account the standards and principles of the OGP, and the experiences of other countries, it is necessary to create a special mechanism for drafting an action plan and for public consultations during the drafting of the action plan. In this context, it is necessary to appoint a coordinating and advisory body for the development and implementation of the OGP Action Plan as soon as possible. It was also recommended to establish expert working groups covering specific areas of the action plan.
OGP implies that an action plan is prepared through a process of public consultations between government institutions, civil society and other stakeholders. Accordingly, non-governmental organizations presented their proposals for measures that should be a part of action plan, while urging government institutions and other civil society organizations to get involved into the consultation process, in order to contribute to the development of a high-quality action plan.
The conference was organized by Transparency International BiH, in cooperation with partner organizations Center for Social Research Analitika, Public Interest Advocacy Center, Association of Citizens "Why not" and Center for Investigative Reporting.