Overview

At-a-Glance

Action Plan: Serbia First Action Plan 2014-2015

Action Plan Cycle: 2014

Status:

Institutions

Lead Institution: Ministry in charge of local self-government

Support Institution(s): Office for cooperation with civil society Civil Society Organizations

Policy Areas

Local Commitments, Public Participation

IRM Review

IRM Report: Serbia End-of-Term Report 2014-2016, Serbia Progress Report 2014-2016

Early Results: Marginal

Design i

Verifiable: Yes

Relevant to OGP Values: Yes

Ambition (see definition): High

Implementation i

Completion:

Description

In terms of strengthening citizens' participation in public authority affairs at local level, the Government has carried out the preparatory tasks for the signing of the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which guarantees the participation of citizens in public authority affairs at local level.

IRM End of Term Status Summary

Commitment 12. Citizen participation in local government affairs

Commitment Text:

1. Signing Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government which guarantees participation of citizens in public authority affairs at local level

a. Preparation of Draft Law on Ratification of the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government

b. Submitting Draft Law to the Government for consideration and formulation of the Bill

2. Strengthening the capacity of local self-governments in the areas of cooperation with civil society and transparent funding of CSOs from the budgets of local governments

a. Organizing training for the local self-government units' employees, on the application of the Guidelines for the inclusion of civil society organizations in the process of adopting regulations and transparent funding of CSOs from the budget funds.

Responsible Institution(s): Ministry of Local Self-Government

Supporting Institution(s): Office for Cooperation with Civil Society; CSOs

Start Date: Quarter I 2015 End Date: Quarter II 2015

Commitment aim:

This commitment intended to strengthen the legal framework by signing the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government. It would increase the capacities of LSUs to consult and collaborate adequately with CSOs by organizing trainings for civil servants working in LSUs.

Status

Midterm: Substantial

This commitment’s level of completion was limited. The Serbian Government carried out only preparatory tasks for signing an additional protocol. The training for LSU employees was completed, although slightly later than the action plan timeline had envisioned the implementation. For more information, see the 2014-2015 Serbian midterm IRM report.

End of term: Substantial

The IRM researchers did not find evidence of progress on the additional protocol, which the government’s self-assessment report indicated would be implemented in Quarter I of 2016. Given that the training for LSU employees was complete in the first year of the implementation cycle, this commitment remains only substantially completed.

Did it open government?

Civic participation: Marginal

Regular civil society participation in local government is restricted to a number of LSUs. The LSUs state that they cooperate with CSOs in their strategic planning processes and that they have developed specific procedures for this type of cooperation. According to research conducted in 2014 by the Center for Equitable Regional Development, only 13 percent of LSUs state that they have a procedure for regulating and enabling the inclusion of CSOs and citizens. Seventy-nine percent indicate that they include civil society representatives as members of working groups for creating strategic documents.^{[Note 49: Vanesa Belkić, Danijela Jović, Petar Đurović, Peđa Martinović, and Dušan Vukajlović, “Učešće Civilnog Sektorau Dosadašnjem Strateškom Planiranju Razvoja na Lokalnom Nivou u Srbiji,” Stalna Konferencija Gradova I Opština (SKGO), October 2014, [Serbian] http://bit.ly/1OCRAVf]} Trainings for 211 LSU employees from 120 LSUs was successfully completed in the first year of the implementation cycle.^{[Note 50: Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society, Toward Further Development and Sustainability of the Civil Society in Serbia by Jovana Timotijević, TIjana Stojiljković Rolović, and Marina Tadić, (Report, September 2016), http://bit.ly/2gbt7hn ]} However, given the limited progress toward a signed additional protocol, and given the fact that evaluating civil society and government cooperation in strategic planning requires a long-term perspective, the effect of this commitment on government openness currently is marginal.

Carried forward?

This commitment was partially carried forward into the 2016-2018 action plan. Namely, commitment 1 aims to “develop a model of job description or part of job description of an officer responsible for cooperation with civil society in local administration,” while commitments 2 and 3 are focused on the provision on trainings for both public administration officers and civil society representatives in order to improve the consultative process when adopting public policy documents.

Citizen Participation in Local Government Affairs (RS0012)