BETTER LOCAL DEVELOPMENT IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA IN THE NEXT THREE YEARS
23/10/2007
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The Minister for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Safet Halilović has signed today the project document for the Integrated Local Development Programme (ILDP) with the UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in BiH, Mr. Stefan Priesner.
In the next three years, this project will promote socially integrative and inclusive local development through building of a more responsive and efficient municipal governance. The activities planned will aim to modernize and professionalize the local development planning and management processes within the group of 20 municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The foundational goal is to align the domain of public sector services with the standards of the European Union, as well as to build the crucial capacities that are required for management of the EU pre-accession funds.
“Interested municipalities will be required to ensure their commitment to human rights and gender equality, as articulated in the human rights treaties applicable to BiH, and to the Social Inclusion agenda of the European Union; to a certain local co-funding proportion regarding the technical assistance (TA), training and the seed funding offered by the project; and to linking in a transparent, effective and realistic way the local plans established within the project with the available municipal budgetary allocations” said the UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in BiH, Mr. Stefan Priesner.
The activities of the Integrated Local Development Programme will be organized around three complementary components:
a) Introduction and development of the best practices of the integrated and inclusive development planning;
b) Enhancement of the management capacities for programming and implementation of projects, including introduction of the innovative service providing models;
c) Strengthening of the mechanisms of cooperation through which citizens and civil society organizations can participate in the selection processes for the development solutions and practices as the “external controllers”.
The Minister for Human Rights and Refugees of BiH, Mr. Safet Halilović said that the implementation of this project represents an important contribution to modernization and professionalism in local development planning and management. „I would like to emphasize our support both to the project and the participants in its creation and implementation that will, as I hope, bring us a step closer to the standards of the European Union in the domain of public sector services and building of the key capacities for management of the pre-accession funds“, said Minister Halilović.
The project will be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the selected municipalities and unions of municipalities and cities in BiH, with the financial support of the Swiss Development Cooperation and the UNDP – between which a cost-sharing agreement was also signed today. The project will last from October 2007 to September 2010, with the total budget of 3.13 million US$.
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