EU project supports preparation of anti-corruption strategies and action plans
The Guidelines for Practical Planning of Anti-Corruption Policies and the Model of Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan for lower levels of government were presented on 27 May 2021, at an online training organized by the IPAK project financed by the European Union.
The training brought together more than 30 representatives of anti-corruption bodies at all levels of government.
In his introductory address, Karoly Soos, Program Manager for Internal Affairs at the EU Delegation to BiH, said that more tangible results were needed in the field of prevention and fight against corruption in BiH and reminded that reforms in that area were at the top of EU recommendations for BiH. Due to the administrative organization of BiH, each level of government has the right and obligation to prepare its own anti-corruption strategy and action plan, which must be based on the general principles of the BiH anti-corruption strategy.
BiH Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption (APIK) prepared and submitted for adoption the Draft BiH ACS and AP 2020-2024. In addition to the general principles from the previous strategy, the new draft includes four improvements that should be introduced in new strategies at other levels of government: strengthening the sectoral fight against corruption in areas falling under their competence, improving detecting and combating corruption, improving cooperation and coordination in preventing and fighting corruption and involving self-government units in the fight against corruption.
In order to support the ongoing or planned process of preparing anti-corruption strategies and action plans at other levels of government, APIK has prepared Guidelines for the development of strategic anti-corruption policies, while the IPAK project has prepared a Draft Model for this purpose.
Ilfet Vejo, expert advisor for monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of strategies in APIK, presented the APIK Guidelines for Practical Planning of Anti-Corruption Policies. He reminded that the obligation of strategic planning of anti-corruption policies derives from the Law on APIK. There is an obligation to harmonize strategies at other levels of government with the level of BiH, and compliance with general principles is the minimum standard that should be respected when creating strategies.
IPAK project experts Nermin Kadribašić and Enes Šehić presented the Model of Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan. They pointed out that the Model contains an overview of the components and structure of the Strategy and Action Plan that should be met by other levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to comply with the general principles of the State Strategy, but also to accommodate their own specificities.
A special part of the Model is dedicated, unlike the draft National Strategy, to the sectoral approach to the fight against corruption, bearing in mind the exclusive and shared competencies of other levels of government, and these parts need to be analyzed, considered and supplemented as needed.
Zoran Jachev, the IPAK project leader stated that it is certain that the development of quality strategies and action plans requires political and administrative will, as well as a good starting text. A decision of the government at the appropriate level will be needed to develop a strategy, and it is desirable that governments adopt decisions on the formation of working groups, in order to strengthen obligations and more easily open the doors of institutions whose cooperation is needed in working on these documents.
Jachev called on the anti-corruption bodies, in order to ensure that the strategy is as bold and engaged as possible, to use the following: the APIK's Guidelines, the IPAK's Model and examples of what other anti-corruption bodies have already done.
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You can download the model of the Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan for the needs of drafting anti-corruption strategic documents at the entity level, Brčko District of BiH and the cantonal level of government in BiH from the IPAK project website: