LINK 4 Cooperation project, founded by the European Union, promotes principles of good governance with a view to effective and responsive performance of the local government units in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project empowers the capacities of local authorities (elected leaders and civil servants) in implementing participative processes by introducing the ELoGE Program of the Council of Europe. Together they will identify concrete problems of the community that will find best solutions thanks to the participative approach.
In that regard, the following capacity building activities are the crucial part of the agenda:
1. ELoGE training of trainers (ToT)
To ensure the capability of the project Consortium for implementing ELoGE process, a training of trainers (ToT) was organized aimed at giving project consortium representatives the skills and tools for setting up, evaluating and monitoring the system for the performance of the Local Authorities. This training, based on the 12 principles of good governance, is developed by the Council of Europe. The ToT was delivered by external experts delegated by CoE, and the 16 participants, members of the project consortium have gained the Certificate of trainers for implementing the ELoGE programme.
2. Assessment of LAs using ELoGE programe
The project partners aim to raise the awareness on the ELoGE principles in the 12 municipalities and cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The core-project activity is the self-assessment of the local governments using the ELoGE program and capacity building of the municipalities and cities with 12 principles of the Program.
12 municipalities and cities are engaged in the project. Mentored by the certified ELoGE trainers these 12 local governments are assessing the situation in their local governments and will identify better solutions for their own impact thanks to implementation of simple and efficient tools and instruments. Thanks to participative processes, it is possible to find ways to address community problems and challenges.
3. Two Cycles of Leadership Academy Program (LAP) training
Training modules within the Leadership Academy Program (LAP) of the Council of Europe are selected on the basis of a previously performed assessment of the state and needs of the target groups, including a multi-month ELoGE self-assessment process of the 12 local governments included in the project, and a questionnaire sent to representatives of CSOs from the same 12 municipalities/cities. The Leadership Academy Program (LAP) is a training program primarily intended for public authorities at various levels for strategies and capacity building taught in 2 cycles. The purpose of the program is to teach participants better leadership, management and planning skills. The main goal of LAP is to acquire knowledge and tools that will enable participants to better manage responsibility and changes within the institutions they come from. In order to support the democratization process by strengthening of good administration and capacity building of local authorities and civil society, Local Democracy Agency Mostar, in cooperation with project partners, included representatives of civil society in the aforementioned Program.
4. The results of self-assessment publicized and distributed in Bosnia and Herzegovina and EU.
Within the project, a publication entitled “European Label of Governance Excellence (ELoGE) in Bosnia and Herzegovina – Results and Recommendations” was created, published and distributed. The publication is available in Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian and English language.
