Conference “Challenges of the Open Government Partnership Initiative”

Sarajevo, February 26, 2016 – Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TIBiH), in cooperation with the coalition of non-governmental organizations in charge of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) initiative, is 25. held a conference on the Challenges of the Open Government Partnership initiative in February.

The conference discussed the current situation, but also proposals for measures for the first action plan of BiH, which are in 2015. active work of civil society organizations, in cooperation with institutions. Representatives of the Agency for Statistics of BiH and the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office spoke about the challenges that institutions face when publishing data. The experiences of several institutions that, despite numerous challenges, have made progress in the field of proactive transparency through the development of policies and standards of proactive transparency in public administration were also presented. The participants of the conference were especially interested in the lecture of the visiting expert for online communication with the public, Tomislav Korman, who spoke about mechanisms for improving communication with interest groups and citizens with the aim of opening government, with special focus on social networks.

The participants in the conference concluded that the support of the highest structures of government was completely lacking, and that at that level of government there is not enough interest and will to continue fulfilling the obligations assumed by joining the Open Government Partnership. It called on all civil society institutions and organizations, the media and the academic community to contribute and speed up the process of establishing an Advisory Body and ensure greater citizen participation in the planning process.

TI BiH and other organizations will continue to support the OGP initiative and put pressure on decision makers to speed up compliance.