Workshop on proactive transparency in public administration

The Agency for statistics of BiH, at the workshop on proactive transparency in public administration, presented its new website representatives of state institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The new website, available at www.bhas.gov.ba, empowers the download of statistics in a "user-friendly" way in various formats, and at the same time makes information available to users about the work of the Agency.

A workshop on proactive transparency in public administration, organized by the Public Administration Reform Coordinator's Office and the German GIZ, was held in Sarajevo on 19th and 20th February 2019, with the aim of improving proactive disclosure of information through the inter-institutional exchange of experiences and practices. During the workshop, representatives of institutions had the opportunity to learn more about proactive transparency in general, but also to get more specifically acquainted with the standards of proactive transparency in practice. Based on practical examples from the experience of four institutions that have been implementing the standards since 2015, workshop participants had the opportunity to get answers to their own questions and concerns regarding improving the transparency of their own institution.

Within the Program of Strengthening Public Institutions in BiH implemented by GIZ, four beneficiary institutions, the Agency for Statistics of BiH, the Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance, the Public Administration Reform Coordinator's Office and the Directorate for European Integration, launched the initiative to improve transparency in public administration. The initiative is based on the commitment of BiH authorities to implement reforms, such as public administration reform and the fight against corruption, but also on international initiatives, such as the Open Government Partnership. The institutions, together with civil society organizations, Transparency International BiH, the Center for Social Research Analitika and the Center for Investigative Journalism, drafted the documents Proactive Transparency in Public Administration in BiH [BS, HR, SR] and Standards for Proactive Transparency in Public Administration in BiH [BS, HR, SR] which defines the standards for proactive publication of information of public importance on the websites of institutions.

At the beginning of December 2018, the Council of Ministers of BiH, at its 160th session, adopted the Policy and Standards of Proactive Transparency and in this regard instructed all institutions of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina to regularly update documents and information published on their official websites.