At the second annual conference of the Local Government Training System in B&H, entitled: “Good training-better governance”, the results of the Training System in 2013 were presented. The conference was organized in Banja Luka, by the RS Ministry of Administration and Local Self-Governance and the Federal Ministry of Justice with support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Since 2008, with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), over 4,500 local government employees and about 800 elected officials were trained in a number of priority training areas.
“The project is trying to build a system to effectively identify and respond to the training needs of employees in local governments, with a focus on the increase of efficiency in their work, which ultimately improves service delivery at the local level” said Pelle Person, Director of Sida, and pointed out that this Agency provided financial support for the project in the amount of 2.2 million USD.
The Head of the UNDP Regional Office in Banja Luka Goran Vukmir said that this year the domestic Training System institutions took over a large part of the activities related to the preparation and delivery of training, which is a big step towards future sustainability of the System.
Apart from the representatives of UNDP and Sida, the event was attended by the Minister of Administration and Local Self-Governance RS Lejla Rešić, Director of the Public Administration Institute within the FBiH Ministry of Justice FBiH Enver Išerić, President of the FBiH Association of Municipalities and Cities Husejin Smajlović, Secretary General of the RS Association of the Municipalities and Cities Aco Pantić, and over a hundred representatives of partner institutions, cities and municipalities, international organizations and the media.
While initially spearheaded by UNDP and supported by Sida, the System is being gradually taken over by domestic institutions now primarily charged with its management. In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Civil Service Agency shares ownership of the system with the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Association of Municipalities and Cities. In the Republika Srpska the System is jointly managed by the Ministry of Administration and Local Self-Government and the Association of Municipalities and Cities.
(Source: UNDP communications)
