Improving Proactive Transparency (BA0009)

Which public issue does the obligation address? In December 2018, the Council of Ministers of BiH adopted the Proactive Transparency Policy and Standards and ordered the institutions of BiH to publish all 38 types of information composing the Standards on their websites, and the Public Administration Reform Coordinator's Office annually conducts surveys on the Standards implementation. For the purpose of a comprehensive analysis of compliance with the Standards, the Agency for Statistics of BiH has developed the software used for the survey, and the Memorandum on the use of software and data storage has been signed with the Public Administration Reform Coordinator's Office. Public Administration Reform Coordinator's Office conducted an online survey among administrative institutions in the period from 9 February 2021 to 10 March 2021. The survey covered 81 institutions, while 63 institutions answered the questionnaire. One institution did not answer all 38 questions. 62 institutions (76.5%) answered 38 questions. The survey showed that the average compliance with the proactive transparency standard was 67.57%. Websites of certain institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina do not contain even basic information about the main activities, management, structure, competencies, budget or programmes of the institution. Right of the citizens to have basic information about activities of institutions and those who are responsible for those activities is the key public need in building transparency and accountability of the public administration. There are two related issues in the society that we want to address with this obligation: the level of trust and thus the use of public administration services (in terms of the assumption of citizens that information and responsibility do not exist and abandoning the use of public administration services at the very beginning), then, as a related public need, there is the use of public services and information on those responsible for providing these services that is available to the public, thus enabling the feedback effect of monitoring the public administration and feedback on public administration satisfaction.

What is the obligation?
 measuring and tracking progress in the area of proactive transparency
 software upgrade
 advocating and promoting proactive disclosure of information within the civil service  capacity building of civil servants in the area of proactive transparency

How does the obligation contribute to resolving the public issue? Proactive disclosure of information will provide transparent work of institutions. Access to information is thereby made easier for citizens, whereby the application submission on a prescribed form, the legal framework, waiting or possible paying the access fees are replaced by a proactive approach of the institution and disclosure of information before requesting it. Besides that, the proactive disclosure of information ensures that the information held by the institution is available to everyone, not just applicants for access to the information. If they do not have adequate information, citizens are unable to exercise their rights and access the services provided by the public sector. Access to information is one of the basic tools for monitoring the work of elected officials, as well as for ensuring greater accountability for spending taxpayers’ money. Publication of 38 standards of proactive transparency contributes to greater usability of data held by the public sector, and they are a useful basis for investigative journalism, analysis of civil society and academic community. The software upgrade encourages the publication of 38 standards in open formats.

Why is this obligation relevant to the OGP values? Transparency of institutions and citizens’ participation in decision-making is increasing, which directly affects the value of transparency and public accountability of the public administration, given that information is provided and it is clear who is responsible for services and information available to the citizens.

Additional information The following documents refer to the obligation of proactive disclosure of information:
● Universal Declaration of Human Rights
● European Good Governance Principles
● Public Administration Reform Strategy and Action Plan for its implementation (2018-2022)
● Directive 2019/2024 on open data and the re- use of public sector information
● Legislation (Law on Public Procurement of BiH, laws on administration, laws on free access to information...)

Goals/activities with a verifiable deliverable

Increase the involvement of institutions in the survey on implementation of proactive transparency standards 1 January 2023 - 31 August 2024

Improved capacities of civil servants and heads of institutions concerning the proactive transparency 1 January 2023 - 31 August 2024

Conducted two (one in a year) surveys on compliance with the proactive transparency standards (reports prepared and submitted to the Council of Ministers of BiH for consideration and adoption) 1 March 2023 - 31 August 2024

Upgraded software for measuring and examining the proactive transparency 1 January 2023 - 30 June 2023

Action Plan Review

Commitment 2. Improving transparency in the institutions of BiH

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Unclear

Commitment 2 on improving transparency of BiH government institutions has unclear potential for results. While the objective of the commitment continues a relevant commitment in the previous action plan, there are no sanctions for non-compliance. The commitment relies on the use of survey data to encourage institutions to increase their proactive transparency efforts. Representatives from civil society recognize that the situation is improving, but that it is necessary to expand the existing standards, as well as increase institutional capacity and expertise on making more information publicly available.