Organise Trainings for CSO in Connection with Application of the Guidelines on Inclusion of Civil Society Organisations in the Process of Passing Regulations (RS0016)

THEME: Improve the consultative process with the civil sector at the local level when adopting public policy documents; COMMITMENT 3: Organise trainings for CSO in connection with application of the Guidelines on Inclusion of Civil Society Organisations in the Process of Passing Regulations; Status quo or problem addressed by the commitment: The consultative process which preceded the drafting of the Strategy for an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development included 10 consultative meetings that were held in 10 cities across Serbia and were attended by 433 participants, who gave their suggestions and proposals in connection with the proposed measures and activities included in the Strategy. According to the Report on the Consultative Process, CSO representatives were very actively involved in the discussion and highlighted the issue of insufficient knowledge of applicable legislation, including in particular secondary legislation which sets out the powers and functioning arrangements of state administration bodies. The overall conclusion was therefore that provisions should be made for activities that would inform and educate CSOs, with a view to increasing their capacities in connection with the institutional and legal framework for cooperation between public authorities and the civil society. As part of the project “Creating an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development” implemented by the Office with USAID support, an assessment was made of the capacities and needs of CSOs for the purpose of developing a long-term training plan to increase CSO capacities, which is implemented by the Office within its remit. The findings presented in the Office’s Strategic Framework for Increasing the Capacities of CSOs in the Period 2016-2018 point to a need for improved dialogue between civil and public sectors. In this context, we have recognised a need to improve the capacities of public and private sector actors and, to that end, a need for trainings that would increase the capacity of CSOs for cooperation with public administration institutions and involvement in the legislative process. Main objective: Improved capacities of civil society organisations for cooperation with public administration institutions and involvement in the drafting and implementation of public policy documents. Brief description of commitment (140-character limit): The plan is to collaborate with Civic Initiatives to make a public call for interested CSOs and hold 4 training events for CSO staff in connection with application of the Guidelines on Inclusion of Civil Society Organisations in the Process of Passing Regulations in several cities in the Republic of Serbia. Minimum 30 representatives of CSOs are expected to undergo this training. OGP challenge addressed by the commitment: Improving public services, Strengthening public integrity; Relevance: Increased capacity of CSOs to participate in the process of passing regulations, in connection with application of the Guidelines on Inclusion of Civil Society Organisations in the Process of Passing Regulations, will contribute to greater understanding of the role and importance of cooperation between public administration bodies and CSOs, which in turn will contribute to greater civic participation in the work of public administration bodies and consequently to an improved quality of operations. This will bring about to greater transparency and accountability in the work of public authorities. Ambition: Improved capacity of CSOs to cooperate with public administration bodies will lead to more effective use of the already established cooperation mechanisms and thus contribute to greater and sounder civic participation in the drafting and implementation of regulations and public policies, which in turn will increase the quality of newly-passed regulations and contribute to their effective implementation.

For Commitment details, please see Serbia Mid-Term Report 2016-2018 (Year 1).

For commitment details, see Serbia End-of-Term Report 2016–2018.