Workshop for Civil Society in Serbia on the Principles of Public Administration

 

On 14-15 December 2016 in Belgrade, SIGMA and the EU-funded Western Balkan Enabling Project for Civil Society Monitoring of Public Administration Reform (WeBER) co-organised a workshop for Serbian civil society organisations about the Principles of Public Administration, with particular regard to how they are being applied in Serbia.

SIGMA developed the Principles of Public Administration to support the European Commission's reinforced approach to public administration reform in the EU Enlargement process. As such, they were developed as a tool for public administrations to use in furthering necessary reforms. However, civil society organisations have an important role to play in encouraging and promoting public administration reform. This is recognised in the 2016 Progress Report on Serbia by the European Commission which contains many references to the necessity of enhancing the role of civil society in the democratic process. A key conclusion in the Report is that "some progress was made towards establishing an enabling environment for the development and financing of civil society. However, further efforts are needed to ensure systematic inclusion of civil society in policy dialogue and help develop its full potential".

The key objective of the workshop therefore was to raise awareness among civil society organisations about the Principles and to demonstrate how they could prove useful to civil society in developing its potential for participating in the democratic process.

The SIGMA team gave presentations on each of the core areas of the Principles, focusing on how they are applied in Serbia but also how they could prove useful to civil society. Following each presentation, participants were asked to carry out exercises that would enable them to use what they had learned, thereby enhancing their understanding of the usefulness of the Principles.

WeBER is implemented by the Think for Europe Network (TEN) composed of EU policy oriented think tanks in the Western Balkans, with the European Policy Centre (CEP) from Belgrade as project co-ordinator.

Agenda

Presentation on the Principles of Public Administration (SIGMA)

Set of videos on the SIGMA Principles - Courtesy of Think for Europe Network (TEN) and the Western Balkan Enabling Project for Civil Society Monitoring of Public Administration Reform (WeBER).