Development and Functioning of Civil Dialogue in the Western Balkans

The Missing Link? Development and Functioning of Civil Dialogue in the Western Balkans Findings and recommendations 20 th May, 2010 Brussels, Belgium

The Missing Link? Development and Functioning of Civil Dialogue in the WB
Introduction
Building on “ The Successes and Failures of EU Pre accession Policy in the Balkans: Support to Civil Society” policy paper (Sept 2009) & Balkan Civil Practice #5: Guide to Civil Dialogue in the Western Balkans (December 2007)
Not a one-off activity, but part of targeted activities (BCSDN Mid-term Programme 2009-2011) to improve influence of CSOs on the development and functioning of civil dialogue mechanisms in the Balkan countries.
Activities incl. database, monitoring, information-sharing, dissemination and policy workshops with stakeholders

Policy-applied & partnership research
1. Unified Qs for 7 WB + 3 EU NMS
2 sections: general context (legislative framework, funding) & civil dialogue (legislation, practice, stakeholders/institutions)
Date also from CIVICUS CSI Reports (2005-2006) , TACSO Need Assessment Reports (2009) and ECAS Country Reports (2009)
Field in by BCSDN members or partners - civil society development organization working on civil dialogue
2. Regional (secondary) comparative analysis (focus on WB, comparison to EU NMS) on the commonalities, differences & challenges

Framework documents
Include bilateral agreements and strategy documents for cooperation, adopted by public authorities
Lay out a clear basis for the relationship, facilitate ongoing dialogue and mutual understanding between CSOs and public authorities
Development of framework documents
First and most comprehensive and systematic civil dialogue framework in the region: Croatia (2001)
Recent development of a systematic framework: Macedonia (2007), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2007), Montenegro (2009)
Elements/attempts , but no one systematic civil dialogue framework exists yet: Albania, Kosovo, Serbia

Framework documents: Good practices
strategies accompanied by action plans for their implementation (e.g. Montenegro, Macedonia and Croatia)
significant local civil society ownership, i.e. documents developed in close cooperation with CSOs or co-drafted by CSOs and government representatives (e.g. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro)
more comprehensive and inclusive processes supported by donors on more continuous basis
Challenges
need for further legal and practical measures

Acts on Public Access to Information, Policy-making and Consultations
set out the minimum standards for either access to public information as well as participation of CSOs in policy-making
specific documents/bylaws setting out minimum standards: Croatia (2009-10), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2006)
wider legal basis ensuring participation Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia

Acts/Bylaws: Good practices
mandatory participation in the policy- and decision-making process (e.g. Slovenia)
Challenges
rules are often insufficient or are implemented poorly
are ambiguous or may undermine the essence of participation to policy- and decision-making (Macedonian Law on Lobbying)
lack of comprehensive mechanisms for implementation of legal provisions

Coordinating Mechanisms & Joint Structures
government offices for cooperation with CSOs in charge of strengthening cooperation with CSOs and other public authorities (e.g. Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro)
liaison officers in ministries and other central government institutions (e.g. Macedonia, Montenegro)
other joint structures with(in) the Government, Ministries, the Parliament (e.g. councils, multi-stakeholder committees, work groups, expert councils and other advisory bodies ) for the purpose of inclusion of CSOs in the development, implementation and monitoring of policies and programmes (e.g. Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro)

Coordinating Mechanisms & Joint Structures:
General challenges
CSOs:
limited capacities of the CSOs in terms of professional staff or lobbying skills to engage with the Government and respond, organize and monitor the specific legal measures for consultation in the policy-making process
Public authorities :
inadequate administrative capacity to engage with civil society
lack of strong prioritization of civil society participation at the top level
lack of political will

EU Enlargement Policy & Civil Dialogue
Since Enlargement Strategy 2007-2008 , civil dialogue one of the key reform (Political) priorities for accession of Western Balkans countries
Objective: to support better communication of enlargement processes and mutual understanding between EU MS and candidate countries’ societies, but also to strengthen the role of civil society in the democratization and reconciliation process.
No clear definition of what is civil (society) dialogue

EU Enlargement Policy & Civil Dialogue
The benchmarks and Progress Report on civil dialogue incl. assessments of:
existence of mechanisms of dialogue with focus on the Government;
information and financing transparency
while in civil society development :
environment (legal and financial) in which CSOs operate in a country;
capacities of CSOs, esp. advocacy;
networking (e.g. Albania).

From general regional to individual countries’ benchmarks and assessments: Serbia, Kosovo & Macedonia (2007), Albania (2008)
Some positive effect, but no strategic or coherent benchmarking across countries
Assessments are neither longer, tougher language is not used , although in some countries no significant progress is being made
Latest Enlargement Strategy 2009-2010 focus on “new legislation being consulted and properly implemented ”, focus on “tough” reform areas, e.g. rule of law, anticorruption  civil dialogue as horizontal policy measure

EU Funding Support to Civil Dialogue (IPA)
EC is a new-comer , not the only player (USAID, OSCE etc.)
Regional level : CARDS grants 2006-1,95 mil EUR, TACSO-but not focus)
National level : TA to Government (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia), CB to CSOs (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia)
Too early for impact, but lessons-learned: incoherent & scattered , sometimes not linked directly to benchmark fulfillment/situation on the ground

10 Recommendations for Effective Civil Dialogue in the Western Balkans
Guiding principles: coherence, effectiveness, ownership and sustainability
Civil dialogue understood as a horizontal policy measure directly linked to EU Acquis implementation and reforms in key Acquis areas – prioritization or becoming Acquis itself
The EC monitoring focus on implementation/ development of state frameworks and development/full implementation of specific legal acts (bylaws) for access to information and minimum standards for consultation

4. IPA support should be coherent and strategically directed to benchmarks fulfillment, esp.:
implementing existing state framework documents and mechanism with local ownership ;
capacity-building and awareness-raising of the coordination mechanisms and administration for implementation of state frameworks and specific acts (bylaws);
capacity-building of CSOs and their ability to initiate advocacy in policy- and decision-making;
synergy initiatives for exchange of good practices and information between (pre-)accession as well as EU countries .
5. National Governments & local CSOs (esp. platforms/networks) should have the main ownership of the interventions

6. Local CSOs should strengthen regional and national cross-sector cooperation
7. Regional synergies of national Goverments should be identified and linked to regional inter-governmental cooperation forums
8. Development of financial sustainability important indirect measure
9. Understanding/measuring of civil dialogue in a much broader sense , esp. including here the functioning of the Parliament
10. The value of citizens and CSOs contribution is not in representativity to the policy- and decision-making process in the quality of arguments and solutions it brings to the policy- and decision-making process ( correcting , value-adding, expertise)

Development and Functioning of Civil Dialogue in the Western Balkans

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Development and Functioning of Civil Dialogue in the Western Balkans Presentation Transcript