Katarina Cvikl (group editor) mirela Hodović
6. The Involvement of nGos in Civic Education
− Require police and judicial authorities to investigate and combat these forms of crimes through research and monitoring. Strengthen CSOs’
role in monitoring and following up on cases during the investigation and court proceedings.
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− Provide training for law enforcement officials responsible for investigation of corruption.
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− Focus more on monitoring the implementation of anti-corruption laws, e.g., Whistleblower Act, Law on Confiscation of Illegally Acquired Property, Law on Combating Corruption and Organised Crime as well as the Criminal Code.
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− Advocate coordinating mechanisms amongst the four judicial systems in order to ensure adoption of best practices from countries such as Slovakia, and for building on their experience from transition.
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− Make efforts to increase awareness and draw public attention to corruption in the judiciary itself.
6. The Involvement of nGos in Civic Education
All of the numerous NGOs that exist in BiH, generally speaking and depending on the areas in which they operate, have an important role in educating the wider BiH public. However, as has been pointed out above, there is no reliable data on how many out of the approximately 12,000 NGOs registered in BiH are actually operational, and in particular how many of them are focusing their activities on civil education. Certainly, only a number of them, thanks to diligent work and good cooperation with the government sector, are recognised as successful or as leaders in the country, region and beyond.
Also, Bosnian civil society, within the scope of providing civil education, lacks the material and technical capacities that would allow them to position themselves at the desired level. Due to unclear funding structures of NGOs, some of these organisations, in the absence of overall resources, voluntarily end up in the service of politics and political interests,15 and thus lose legitimacy in the eyes of the broader society.
15 “The NGO Sector in BiH,” Centre for the Promotion of Civil Society, 2004.
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Katarina Cvikl, Mirela Hodović, Dragan Vujanović
Increased funding for the NGO sector in BiH seems additionally useful since the previous grants that have been in circulation for the financing of specific projects by local authorities have proven insufficient for the sustainability or independence of the NGO sector. It is similar with grants that come from international donors, which often support CSOs to the extent and in the manner that suits their interests. As a consequence, a number of NGOs have pushed their original objectives, including continuously communicating with the general society or being constantly present at the lowest, local levels, to the background and adapted to the interests and objectives of either domestic policies or some third countries’ foreign policy.
recommendations To the government
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− Develop educational programmes aimed at raising awareness about democratic values and citizenship, regardless of ethnicity.
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− Plan a budget that supports the NGO sector, the activities of which will contribute to solving some of the priority issues in the local community and beyond.
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− With the EU’s support, create and strengthen mechanisms for information exchange and dialogue at the local and national levels in order to systematically improve the participation of the NGO sector in the construction of political and social processes in BiH, which would ensure that they effectively participate in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of specific policies and programmes at various levels.
To civil society
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− Intensively raise awareness about improving the state of the NGO sector in BiH, primarily by improving coordination.
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− Avoid addressing large-scale political issues, and instead focus on more practical, small-scale concrete issues that can lead building sufficient momentum that would indeed allow them to gradually take their proper place in society.
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− Take a step back and reassess each CSO’s image, as well as civic education efforts and their connectedness to the society in general, so that in the future they are able to better echo the general public’s needs and mobilise citizens to action.
59 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Conclusion
By providing an overview of the state of play regarding the dialogue and cooperation between the public administration and CSOs within the context of acquis chapters 23 and 24, the preceding sections demonstrate that the level of cooperation between the two sectors in BiH so far remains underdeveloped and underutilised. Despite their growing importance, CSOs in BiH remain only partially understood. Even basic information that exists about these organisations, such as number, size, area of activity, sources of revenue and policy framework within which they operate, is not available in any systematic way. In addition, the civil society sector, as it is officially defined, embraces entities as diverse as village associations, grassroots development organisations, agricultural extension services, self-help cooperatives, religious institutions, schools, hospitals, sport clubs and associations, human rights organisations, and business and professional associations. As such, a comprehensive and representative understanding of the role and significance of the civil society sector continues to be a major stumbling point, particularly in the context of cooperation with public administration.
However, with a more orchestrated approach of CSOs towards public administration, civil society in BiH could further good governance. The government should establish a comprehensive operational framework and thus provide the foundation for continuous cooperation with civil society and CSO engagement in tackling key policy issues related to good governance; first, by policy analysis and advocacy; second, by regulation and monitoring of state performance and the actions and behaviour of public officials; third, by building social capital and enabling citizens to identify and articulate their values, beliefs, civic norms and democratic practices; fourth, by mobilising particular constituencies, particularly the vulnerable and marginalised sections of masses, to participate more fully in politics and public affairs; and fifth, by development work to improve the well-being of their own and other communities. In order to bring that about, public administration should begin genuinely engaging with CSOs that possess the relevant expertise or know-how in a certain topic area.
The CSOs should communicate better with the general public as well as among themselves and thus increase their leverage, improve their image, and recover their legitimacy. Finally, these processes should be accelerated, not to tick off boxes in the EU integration process, but with an awareness of what fruitful cooperation can bring to the country as a whole, especially in areas as vital as fighting corruption or building judicial independence.