An opening conference marked the official commencement of the EU-funded project ‘Training in Administrative Procedures’ in Bosnia & Herzegovina held February 5th at the Parliamentary Assembly in Sarajevo. The aim of the project is to contribute to building an efficient, transparent and service oriented public administration through training of public officials who manage administrative procedures and public administration inspectors at all levels in Bosnia & Herzegovina.

The main beneficiaries of the project are the Ministry of Justice of B&H, the Federation Ministry of Justice of B&H, the Ministry of Administration and Local Self-Governance of RS, as well as the Office of the Mayor of Brcko District of B&H. The purpose of this contract is to utilize training in order to improve the knowledge of Managers of administrative procedures and inspectors in public administration at all four administrative levels in BiH (State, Entities and District) about effective supervision of administrative procedures and administrative decision-making processes. The project also foresees indirect involvement of 41 Ministries throughout Bosnia & Herzegovina and training on the efficient supervision of administrative procedures and decision making process within the public administration for up to 1500 managers of administrative procedures and inspectors at BiH, BiH Federation, Republika Srpska and Brčko District BiH levels.

Mr. Severin Strohal, Head of Operations Section for Justice and Home Affairs and Public Administration at the EU Delegation to Bosnia & Herzegovina said on this occasion: “Countries aspiring to become a member of the EU must demonstrate that they have an administrative and judicial system that is capable of ensuring the implementation of EU rules and regulations. These include the separation between politics and administration, the existence of a professional and impartial civil service, and an effective management of public funds. BiH has a long way to go in this regard. It is for this reason that the EU remains strongly committed in working together with BiH in improving the quality of its civil service.”

The project is funded by the EU and implemented from October 2013 until March 2015 by ECG in partnership with Human Dynamics.