The Conference “Open Government Partnership in BiH”, organized by the OGP Initiative, was held in Sarajevo on June 9, 2014.

The conference on Open Government Partnership in BiH was organized by a number of non-governmental organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) active in the promotion of government transparency and accountability - Transparency International BiH, the Center for Social Research Analitika, the CPI Foundation and the Centre for Investigative Journalism - in partnership with the Open Society Fund BiH and the regional project “Advocacy for Open Government: Supporting the Right to Know in South East Europe”. The aim of the conference was to advocate for the membership of BiH in the multilateral initiative Open Government Partnership (OGP) and for the country to take on important commitments of government openness.

The focus of the first part of the conference was set on comparative practices of the participating OGP countries and their experiences in taking over the open government commitments. The topics related to the process of participation in Partnership, as well as to standards promoted by the Initiative were presented by Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of Access Info Europe, Paul Maassen, OGP Civil Society Coordinator and Kitty von Bertele, Head of Policy and International Team at Cabinet Office of the UK Government. Irena Bojadzievska, National OGP Coordinator and representative of the Ministry of Information Society and Administration of Macedonia, and Dina Bajramspahić, Member of the Montenegro OGP Operational Team and representative of the Institut Alternativa from Podgorica, presented their experiences in the development of the OGP Action Plan, as well as the obstacles and potentials that government and civil society face in that process.  

Bosnia and Herzegovina is not an OGP member yet. However, the Council of Ministers BiH, at its session held on June, 2^nd, 2014, endorsed this initiative and delegated Ministry of Justice BiH to cooperate with the Office for Public Administration Reform and other institutions in further activities leading towards BiH’s joining the OGP. Therefore, in order to identify some of the priorities for opening up governments in BiH in the upcoming period and in the process of Action Plan development, the focus of the second panel was on current practices of government openness in BiH. Niko Grubešić, Deputy Minister at the BiH Ministry of Justice, spoke about the mechanism for citizens’ participation in the process of decision making. Jasminka Džumhur, Ombudsperson of BiH, indicated some of the priorities of open government such as proactive transparency. Leila Bičakčić, Director of the Center for Investigative Journalism, Ena Kljajić Grgić, Coordinator of ALAC project at Transparency International BiH and Damir Mehmedbašić, Executive Director of CPI Foundation pointed out the current barriers in access to public information, and the importance of transparency of public finances in BiH. The panel was moderated by Tarik Jusić, Executive Director of the Center for Social Research Analitika. Helen Darbishire, panel discussant, pointed out that BiH authorities need to have a vision of priorities that will lead to a greater level of openness, and that, together with civil society, working towards identified priorities should be their focus.

This conference was organized with the financial support of the Open Society Fund BiH and the European Union.