Effecting Change and Good Governance in Local Administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina Final Survey of the Project Our

Town, Our Future Editors: Nenad ebek, Corinna Noack-Aetopulos and Devdet Tuzli Publishers: CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND RECONCILIATION IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE (CDRSEE), Thessaloniki and Izdavako-graka kua Planjax, Bobare 22, Teanj, 74264 Jelah, BiH Copyright: BBC World Service Trust, Bush House, PO Box 76, Strand, London WC2B 4PH ; tel: +44 20 7557-0 ; www.bbcworldservicetrust.org and CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND RECONCILIATION IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE, KRISPOU 9, THESSALONIKI 546 34, GREECE, tel: +30 2310 960820-1 fax: +30 2310 960822 e-mail: info@cdsee.org, web: www.cdsee.org, Printer: Planjax Jelah DTP and Design: Planjax and Edin Mevi Publishing Date: April 2006 Print run: 1700 copies
CIP - Katalogizacija u publikaciji Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka Bosne i Hercegovine, Sarajevo 352.07(497.6)(047.3) UTICAJ na promjene dobrog upravljanja u lokalnoj administraciji u Bosni i Hercegovini : zavrno istraivanje projekta Nae mjesto nae sutra / urednici Nenad ebek, Corinna Noack-Aetopulos i Devdet Tuzli. - Teanj : Planjax ; Thessaloniki : Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southest Europe, 2006. - 176, 192 str. : ilustr. ; 24 cm Na nasl. str. pritampanog teksta: Effecting change and good governance in Bosnian local administration : nale survey of the project Our Town, our Future ISBN 9958-34-010-0 1. ebek, Nenad COBISS.BH-ID 14967302

Effecting Change and Good Governance in Local Administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina Final Survey of the Project Our Town, Our Future

Edited by Nenad ebek, Corinna Noack-Aetopulos and Devdet Tuzli

Teanj and Thessaloniki 2006

Contents
Acknowledgements .................................................................. 7 Executive Summary .................................................................. 9 Introduction ........................................................................... 11 Part 1 Baseline Research ..................................................... 13 1.1 Aims of the Baseline Research .......................................... 13 1.2 The Baseline Survey Opinion Poll conducted by Dr. Colin Irwin .................................................................. 14
Author: Dr. Colin Irwin

1.3 Secondary Sources ........................................................... 25

Authors: Marika Djolai, Project Manager and ejla Dizdarevi, Researcher, BBC World Service Trust

1.4 Study Tour to Northern Irland .......................................... 40

Report by BBC World Service Trust

Part 2 The Radio Drama ....................................................... 50 2.1 Concept and Production Team .......................................... 50
Authors: Marika Djolai, Project Manager and Renata Cigler, Project/Broadcast Assistant, BBC World Service Trust

2.2 Selected Episodes ............................................................. 55 2.2.1 Episode One First Day ............................................. 55
Author: Fea Isovi, Script Writer, BBC World Service Trust

2.2.2 Episode Four Hotel Belvi .......................................... 67

Author: Aida Pilav, Script Writer, BBC World Service Trust

2.3 The Pilot Programme Testing by Mediacentar Sarajevo ..... 82

Report compiled by: Mediacentar Sarajevo, Author: Ratko oki

2.4 Results of the Audience Research ..................................... 89

Author: Prof. Dr. Svetlana Logar, Strategic Marketing, Belgrade

2.5 Analysis of the Phone-Ins ................................................102

Author: Devdet Tuzli, CDRSEE, Thessaloniki

Part 3 The Local Authority Conference ................................120 3.1 Concept and Objectives of the Event ................................120 3.1.1 Welcome Address ................................................121
Nenad ebek, Executive Director, CDRSEE, Thessalonki

3.1.2 Keynote Address ..................................................122

Michael Docherty, Head of Democratic Stabilisation and Social Development, Delegation of the European Commission to Bosnia and Herzegovina

3.2 Municipal Workers Are Citizens Too .................................125 3.2.1 Municipal Administration as a Gatekeeper of Development Contributions: ......................................................125
Devad Beirevi, Head of the Municipality Centar Sarajevo Jasmin Komi, Deputy Head of the Municipality of Banja Luka Ljubo Beli, Head of the Municipality of Mostar

3.2.2 Professional Skills, De-politicising and Improving Local Administration, Reforming the System of Local Autonomy Contributions: ......................................................137
Adnan Belagi, Association of Municipalities and Cities of FBiH Anton titi, General Secretary, Association of Municipalities and Cities of FBiH Ranko Karapetrovi, Former Head of the Municipality of Laktai

3.2.3 Accountability Contributions: ......................................................149

Mustafa Kurtovi, Head of Municipality Gorade Dr Milan Blagojevi, Secretary of District Court in Banja Luka Kimeta Ljeljak, Secretary of the Municipal Court in Mostar

3.3 Challenges for Municipal Administration in BiH ................153 3.3.1 Economic Development and the Role of Municipal Administration .....................................153
Ljiljana imunovi, The Foundation for Sustainable Development FSD Zdravko Prka, Head of the Municipality of Tomislavgrad

3.3.2 Participative Governance, the Dissemination and Exchange of Best Practices among Municipalities; the Swiss Model ...........................156
Alma Zukorli, Slavia uri, Swiss Development Cooperation, Sarajevo

3.3.3 Article 19 Freedom of Access to Information Implications for Public Authorities .......................162
Mehmed Halilovi, Deputy Media Ombudsman FBiH

3.4 Case Studies ....................................................................166

Zvonko Mari, Journalist FTV; Saa avrag, Journalist Nezavisne novine

3.5 Results of the Moderated Working Group Sessions ..........169

Moderators Team

3.5.1 Hiring Procedures and Promotion ..............................170 3.5.2 Efciency and Citizen Oriented Services .....................171 3.5.3 Transparency ..........................................................174 3.5.4 Summary of Recommendations .................................176 Part 4 Summary of Conclusions ..........................................179 Appendix I Contributors and Participants of the Conference ........182

Acknowledgements
The editors rst and foremost want to express their gratitude to the European Commission and the Charles Stuart Mott Foundation, who through their grants made the project Our Town, Our Future and this publication possible. More than 200 people of various professions directly participated in this project and contributed to its success. The Bosnian media covered the project continuously and widely disseminated information about the aims, objectives and achievements. 30 radio stations broadcasted the popular radio drama all over Bosnia and Herzegovina and numerous citizens participated in phone-ins. More than 2600 citizens took part in the projects three opinion polls, which allowed us to compile valid research on attitudes in the country. This book, which documents the results of Our Town, Our Future, is the collective work of many excellent colleagues, we want to thank the whole BBC World Service Trust (BBCWST) team, the local project manager Marika Djolai, the project assistant Renata Cigler, the researcher ejla Dizdarevi, the creative team1 and the radio dramas actors2 for delivering an excellent production and creating the basis to facilitate dialogue and raise awareness. Many thanks to the BBC WST team in London, especially to Keith Ricketts and Leila Dedi for supporting all our activities. We are also very grateful to Ms Sheila Cannon, Director of Programmes at the CDRSEE, who greatly contributed to the success of the project with her great experience and her creativity. Particularly we want to thank the team of BORAM Marketing for their excellent work, the directors Samra Lukin and Amra Haimi and their highly skilled staff Sanja Ki-Bali, Nerma urulija, Namik Merzi and Amira Gacki for facilitating the local research activities, providing contacts for key persons and organising the conference in Neum. We are especially thankful to Dr. Colin Irwin for sharing his expertise in opinion polling and his thorough research on the attitudes of the citizens
script writers: Fedja Isovic, Nenad Velickovic and Aida Pilav; script editors: Mladen Ovadija, drama editor: Zlatko Ivanisevic, directors: Miralem Ovcina and Benjamin Filipovic
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Main characters: Jasna Zalica, Admir Glamocak, Mirsad Tuka, Izudin Bajrovic, Gordana Boban, Zan Marolt, Serif Aljic, Belma Lizde Kurt, Sead Bejtovic, Alena Dzebo and Dzenita Imamovic. Supporting roles: Milan Pavlovic, Jasna Diklic, Radenka Seva, Mirza Tanovic, Aleksandar Seksan, Zoran Becic, Semir Krivic, Robert Krajinovic, Alban Ukaj, Drago Buka, Aleksandar Blanic, Dusko Mazalica, Boris Savija, Alen Muratovic, Alija Aljovic, Halima Music, Vanesa Glodjo, Mehmed Porca, Dzana Pinjo, Ejla Bavcic and Moamer Kasumovic.
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of BiH, which formed the basis of all subsequent endeavours. In this context we also want to mention Dino ipa from PRISM Research, who implemented the data collection and analysis. Thanks also to the team of the Mediacentar Sarajevo for the implementation of the Focus Group Testing, and in this context we especially want to mention Ratko oki. For the nal research analysing the audience feedback we want to thank Prof. Dr. Svetlana Logar of Strategic Marketing. We also want to express gratitude to the contributors and participants of the conference. Especially, we want to thank Devad Beirevi, Mayor of Sarajevo, Ljubo Beli, Mayor of Mostar and Jasmin Komi, Deputy Head of the Municipality of Banja Luka for their kind support in our activities. Last but not least, we thank the moderators of the working group sessions, Gildana Tanovi, Alma Bubri, Aida Kalender, evko Baji, Nikoleta Milaevi, Helena Okuka, Belma Ahmedovi, Alisa Buimki and Amela Rebac for their enthusiasm in facilitating discussions and compiling ndings and recommendations. Thanks also to Nicola Jamieson and Ruth Sutton for their thorough proof reading of the English version and to Denisi Buimki for her proof reading of the Bosnian version, and to Alma Bubri, for transcribing the conference recordings, and to Vlado Mikuli, Duka Tomanovi and Alma Bubri for translating work.

The editors, Sarajevo-Thessaloniki 2006

Executive Summary
The fall of the Iron Curtain left many countries in transition from an authoritarian regime to democracy. Experiences have been manifold, but similarities exist. In a disordered period of nding your own way abuse of duty is common practice and seems inevitable. The sensitive issue of corruption in public authorities is not only an open secret in the societies of Central and Southeast Europe, but also one of the most severe obstacles towards development. In Bosnia and Herzegovina a new state was established on the battleeld of a war, which not only brought the disorder of transition, but was complicated by many more factors. The Dayton Peace Agreement offered a contested set of solutions based on compromises to satisfy all three ethnic groups. It established a system with the most complicated division of power on all levels of public administration to serve the most urgent purpose: to put an end to violence and open the dialogue for peace. Ten years after Dayton, the country still struggles to become what every one of its citizens highly desires to be: a modern state and on the list of countries nominated for EU accession. The international community invested many Euros and Dollars for a diversity of development projects, but international presence is still needed to govern the country. Bosnia and Herzegovina might still be one or more steps away from being a self sustainable ourishing country, but the citizens of BiH through many projects have learned about their rights and about democracy. This publication documents a project, which aims to further empower the citizens of BiH and more specically the municipal workers as the authority closest to the citizen. The main topic of the project was the issue of corruption and malpractice, and the aim was to highlight the importance of a reliable public service and point to good practices and success stories. The project intended to change the attitudes of municipal workers by providing education, using two interrelated approaches. 15 episodes of popular radio drama and phone ins tackled the issue in an entertaining way and a conference in Neum facilitated debate amongst 170 representatives of municipalities in the country, who will act as goodwill ambassadors and take the message to their colleagues. The educational activities were based on comprehensive high quality research. An opinion poll, designed by a well-know expert from Northern Ireland, made clear that people in BiH basically agree on what problems need to be solved and how. There is a shared will to look into a common future and put the past aside in order to build up the economy and reliable state institutions. The research itself provided a valuable source to change

attitudes in terms of breaking with a common stereotype showing the municipal worker as simply inefcient and unresponsive to the citizens needs. Looking at the attitudes explored in three opinion polls municipal workers highly welcome reform, and are aware of the fact that they are responsible to provide good governance, which will not only benet the citizen, but also themselves. In the end every municipal worker, above all, is a citizen. Municipalities in the country are not homogeneous, but range from ISO certied to still using typewriters. Municipal workers also feel that at the moment there is a wide gap between where they want to go and where they stand. Training was on top of recommendations formulated on the conference, but also the wish to have a more effective internal control system. Corruption is an open secret and everybody in BiH can list well known examples, but actual criminal proceedings are rare. Municipal workers themselves explicitly stated that they wish to have an effective legal tool which would allow separating the wheat from the chaff. The project Our Town, Our Future reached the population of BiH with the popular radio drama A gdje sam tu ja and extensive outreach work. It highlighted the multiple perspectives through which to view the complex issue of corruption, defusing stereotypical attitudes, promoting dialogue and pointing to shared values. The editors, Sarajevo-Thessaloniki 2006

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Introduction
The Our Town, Our Future Project used radio drama, along with extensive outreach work, to strengthen democratisation, good governance, and the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The BBC World Service Trust conducted this project from 2004 to 2006 in partnership with the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe. This project aims to change the attitude of staff in municipal authorities by raising awareness of poor governance issues and by highlighting best practice and malpractice through popular radio drama. The outreach work encourages local communities to stand up for their individual citizens rights and to present their own needs more effectively. The radio drama series, set in a Bosnian local authority, was targeted to attract an audience of 250,000 municipal workers, their families, local politicians and citizens on all sides of the ethnic divides. The series was designed to raise awareness of the current weaknesses of municipal authorities. The project encouraged community involvement in the development of the radio series with local consultative testing and focus groups. The fragmentation of power and complexity of structure of local government in the country3 is fertile ground not only for inefciency but also for widespread corruption. The project targeted municipal authorities with the aim of raising awareness and improving mutual understanding at the level where public administration is in direct interchange with the citizen. Since 1992 the BBC has developed similar educational drama series in Albania, Romania, Russia and Afghanistan. In this project 30 radio stations all over BiH broadcasted 15 episodes of the series. Each station produced its own radio phone-in to debate the issues raised in the drama series. Our Town, Our Future storylines formed the cornerstone of a broad range of outreach work, which was organised by the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe. The outreach work aimed to improve

Bosnia and Herzegovina is country in a state of recovery after a three and a half year war from 1992 to 1995. The country consists of two entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and the Republika Srpska (RS). Each entity has its own government. Overarching these entities is a central government and a rotating presidency. Local government in the FBiH is divided into 10 cantons which are further subdivided into 81 municipalities. The RS is subdivided into 63 administrative municipalities and does not have a cantonal system.
3

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the quality of 144 municipal authorities and included 3 opinion polls. The results and methodology are published in this book. A conference for municipal workers in Neum, November 2005 further informed low and middle-ranking municipal workers, of best practice and malpractice. The conference was designed to encourage constructive debate of obstacles in municipal daily work. Delegates from municipalities all over BiH participated in working groups and developed recommendations of how to improve the civil service sector. Part 3 of this publication is a transcript of the conference and gives insight into the problematic issues of municipal institution development in the country. All activities of the project were accompanied by extensive public relations work, which included a regular newsletter. The project received considerable feedback in the local media and a list of articles is included in the appendices. A ve-day study-tour to Northern Ireland allowed Bosnian media managers and drama professionals and members of municipalities to share experiences with those in another country which is equally politically complex with deep religious tensions. The project paid special attention to utilising local talent and developing local partnerships with broadcasters. The soap opera was produced using Bosnian directors, writers and actors. The project was made possible with a grant of 835,142 Euro from the European Commission under The European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights: Support for Democratisation, Good Governance and the Rule of Law and was co-nanced by the Charles Mott foundation. The editors, Sarajevo-Thessaloniki 2006

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Part 1 Baseline Research

1.1 Aims of the Baseline Survey
The baseline survey was commissioned to provide information on the development of the radio drama in order to reect perceptions, attitudes and beliefs held by Bosnian and Herzegovinian citizens from all ethnic groups, with a special focus on municipal workers and what is required to strengthen their social, economic and political situation. It was designed to provide the creative team with material to produce a radio drama, which would be relevant and reect the concerns of the citizens in BiH with the municipal administration of the country. The ndings of the baseline survey were also utilised to facilitate debate among the municipal workers at the conference, which was organised in Neum in November 2005. The methodology of the research has been developed over nine surveys of public opinion, which were conducted in support of the Northern Ireland peace process between April 1996 and February 2003. All parties in the conict have been involved in the development of the questions. The eld research in Bosnia and Herzegovina proted from the experiences in Northern Ireland. The design of the questionnaire was based on an interdisciplinary research, covering all major aspects of social and political life affected by municipal institutions and government departments, as the people and their political and municipal representatives often have very different views (and interests) about the nature of the problem and its resolution. All serious parties were included in the research, as it is most helpful to test support for mainstream opinion, centre party compromises and radical reforms together. Valid results have been achieved by developing appropriate questions in order to rank the major problems in a conict, followed by a set of questions which rank potential solutions to the identied problems. Experience has shown that the elimination of extreme positions and views is important as they usually share little cross community support and are therefore irrelevant.

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1.2 Baseline Survey for Our Town, Our Future: A project about democratisation, good governance and the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina
by Dr. Colin Irwin
The research for the baseline survey was undertaken by Dr. Colin Irwin of the Queens University of Belfast. The coordination was provided by the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe, Thessaloniki, with the assistance of BORAM, Sarajevo. The public opinion survey work was conducted by Prism Research, BiH between July 9 and July 23 to produce 1200 face to face interviews of citizens and 300 interviews of municipal employees that represented a cross section of the adult population of Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of age, gender, social background, political views, nationality and geographical area. Background: Furthering democratisation, good governance and the rule of law Negotiating peace agreements that can stand the test of time is very difcult. But recent experience tells us that when the people and the politicians can bring a peace process and political process together, as one common enterprise, then the possibilities for success are greatly increased. In Northern Ireland most people believe the war is over and although the Belfast Agreement has its problems it was endorsed by the people in a referendum and is accepted as the basis for any future political accommodation. In Bosnia and Herzegovina the Dayton Agreement brought an end to the war but the presence of an international force is still required to maintain the peace. The international community want to disengage but may not be able to do so until the peace process and political process are as one and to do that they need policies and agreements that have wide popular support and legitimacy. So what do the people believe are the most important issues that need to be addressed to overcome the devastating effects of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina? What are the most critical social, political and economic problems facing the people today? What could happen if these problems are not properly addressed and what do the people believe needs to be done to help achieve reconciliation, economic independence and effective government in the future? Nine public opinion polls were run in support of the Northern Ireland peace process so that the people of Northern Ireland would have an opportunity to tell their politicians what they thought should be done. This public opinion poll uses the same methods as those used there so that the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina can have an opportunity to express their views

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on the way ahead. The results are reviewed below and full comprehensive reports were sent to all the parties who have been elected to government in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to the international community, their organisations, NGOs, IGOs, civil society and broadcasters. The problems People from different communities often hold very different views about who was to blame for the war and the problems it has created. Firstly, with regards to blame and responsibility everyone interviewed was asked to indicate whose role they considered to be Very Signicant, Signicant, Of Some Signicance, Of Little Signicance or Of No Signicance at all. Out of 12 possible options predictably Bosniaks placed Serbs at the top of their list at 68 per cent Very Signicant. After that they tended to blame the international community and placed themselves at the bottom of their list at only 8 per cent Very Signicant. Serbs blamed the US most of all at 66 per cent, then NATO at 64 per cent and themselves, predictably at the bottom of their list, at 23 per cent Very Signicant. Croats seemed to blame the Serbs (60 per cent) and the international community (57 per cent) almost equally but then they also place themselves at the bottom of their list at only 14 per cent Very Signicant. So everyone blames everyone else more than they blame themselves. It was ever so and in Northern Ireland we call this the blame game. No one ever seems to win but still the game remains very popular. It is sometimes difcult to understand why. But when it comes to the devastating effects of the war everyone agrees that the death of so many people should be placed at the top of the list at 84 per cent Very Signicant followed by 2 million refugees and displaced persons at 82 per cent and then the Destruction of the country at 78 per cent. With regards to politics and elections, again there is much agreement with Nepotism coming in rst at 53 per cent Very Signicant followed by Young people turned off by politics at 52 per cent and Political corruption of nationalists at 5 per cent. So problems of devastation and political failure are considered the most signicant followed by the fact that the Dayton Agreement stopped the war but imposed a political structure without consensus at 47 per cent Very Signicant. After that, problems of inter-ethnic relations become issues of some importance with the top three issues being Lack of nancial support for returnees at 4 per cent Very Signicant, Ethnic stereotypes and prejudices are still very strong at 40 per cent and Signicant numbers of people do not feel BiH is their state or homeland at 39 per cent. Problems of corruption are considered no less signicant than other political and electoral problems with Corruption of politicians rst at 57 per cent Very Signicant followed by hiring at 55 per cent, judges at 54 per cent, nepotism at 53 per cent, the police at 52 per cent and so on. The related topic of police, courts and the law brings in very similar

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results with Hardly any corruption investigations and prosecutions rst on everyones list at 57 per cent Very Signicant followed by No sanctions for mistakes made by the international community at 51 per cent. Third in this list is Slow implementation of court decisions at 48 per cent and fourth is Ineffective law at 46 per cent. Clearly the people of Bosnia Herzegovina have serious misgivings about the quality of their criminal justice system, not only in terms of its effectiveness but also in terms of treating everyone the same including the international community. The desperate state of the economy is considered to be the most serious problem that needs to be addressed second only to the devastating effects of the war. The fact that the War destroyed the economy comes in rst on this list at 80 per cent Very Signicant followed by High unemployment at 77 per cent, Young people have few opportunities at 76 per cent and then Best young people leaving BiH at 74 per cent. There is, perhaps, a serious Catch 22 here. Unless the economy picks up the Best young people will not stay, but if they do not stay then what are the prospects for the economy? With regards to education the rst concern is that there is No vision for the future at 47 per cent Very Signicant followed by Low standards of education at 43 per cent, No common curriculum for school at 40 per cent and the Quality of university faculty at 38 per cent. Problems relating to the costs of segregated schools and ethnic division in schools are also considered important at 33 and 32 per cent Very signicant respectively but questions of quality in education are clearly matters of greater concern. Tragically The continuing effects of rape during the war is considered to be the most difcult problem for women at 54 per cent Very Signicant. This breaks down at 61 per cent for Bosniaks, 54 per cent for Croats and 40 per cent for Serbs. After that the very practical issue that Society does not provide for child care comes in at 53 per cent and No effective equality commission at 38 per cent. The devastating effects of the war and economic considerations seem to effect womens issues just as much as any other matter reviewed here. A Lack of professional standards at 38 per cent Very Signicant and the Media segregated on ethnic lines are considered to be the top two problems for journalism and the media in Bosnia Herzegovina followed by Too much gossip and unchecked stories at 36 per cent and Not enough investigative journalism at 34 per cent. People clearly want and can reasonably expect an effective, professional and impartial free press. Out of a list of 26 items in the Government and Municipalities question the top six problems were: High welfare costs and low employment rst at 64 per cent Very Signicant, followed by a Lack of justice at 63 per cent,

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then No one takes responsibility at 60 per cent, and With 280 ministries and staff the constitution does not work, the Infrastructure requires repair and Too many levels of government all at 58 per cent. The list goes on but perhaps what is important to note here is that the war has not only done harm to the economy and various state services it has also done harm to the way in which the country now has to be run. Signicantly these problems are considered more serious than the seventh item on the list, a Very wasteful and expensive civil service. The civil service needs reform but without economic growth and constitutional reform such efforts may not produce the positive changes so many are hoping for. Although Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a colony the relationship between the state, her people and the Ofce of the High Representative (OHR) is not all that different. Predictably then the problems that the people have with the international community and OHR are as follows: Paid very much more than local staff, 57 per cent Very Signicant; They do not pay tax, 53 per cent; Do not understand local issues, 52 per cent; Lack of accountability, also 52 per cent; Inappropriate use of resources 50 per cent, and so on, and so on. The people of Bosnia and Herzegovina want to run their own state. That is very clear. Fortunately the international community share this ambition. But how can this be done? Do the people know? However, before people were invited to say what they thought needed to be done all those interviewed were asked what might happen if the people of Bosnia and the international community fail to take the necessary steps needed to help secure reconciliation, economic independence and effective government? Seventy six per cent thought it Very Probable that the country would become a Source of very cheap labour although 67 per cent still thought they Will join the EU. Withdrawal of international support came in at 65 per cent, European black hole at 60 per cent and the EU will give up and go elsewhere at 59 per cent. The prospects of Bosnia and Herzegovina becoming a failed state seem very real indeed but the possibility that there might be a Return to war or that the Serb entity and Croat cantons might join Serbia and Croatia leaving a residual Bosnia for the Bosniaks all came in at the bottom of this list at only 34 per cent Very Probable. This is reassuring but how can the status of failed state be avoided? The solutions As steps needed to help secure a stable and better future, people were asked to indicate which options they considered Essential, Desirable, Acceptable, Tolerable or Unacceptable. With regards to the devastating effects of the war the top priority was Develop the economy at 89 per cent Essential or Desirable followed by Remove wealth of war criminals at 84 per cent and Involve everyone in their future at 85 per cent. Amnesty for telling the truth came in at the bottom of this list at only 40 per cent Essential or Desirable and 22 per cent Unacceptable which

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broke down to 26 per cent for Bosniaks, 11 per cent for Sebs and 38 per cent for Croats. Amnesty remains a sensitive issue. Separate politics and religion at 79 per cent Essential or Desirable and Political leadership based on successful government at 80 per cent were almost joint rst on the Politics and Elections list followed by Politicians should stay out of religious affairs and Religious leaders should stay out of politics both at 77 per cent Essential or Desirable. With regard to the related topic of inter-ethnic relations Become equal citizens of Bosnia was rst on this list at 90 per cent Essential or Desirable followed by Religious leaders should work for peace at 87 per cent and Become citizens of Europe at 84 per cent. More positive suggestions were made on both of these lists and there was no signicant disagreement over any of them. Politics came in again at the top of the Public Corruption list with Prosecute and jail corrupt politicians at 87 per cent Essential or Desirable followed by Prosecution of all corruption also at 87 per cent and Build an efcient state to end corruption at 86 per cent. The list went on in the same way through various types of corruption in various public services but at the bottom of this list the proposal for Better salaries for public ofcials only received support at the 44 per cent level and 23 per cent found this proposal Unacceptable. On the related topic of Police, courts and the law the top two items were Public ofcials who take bribes should be prosecuted and People who pay bribes should be prosecuted at 87 and 88 per cent Essential or Desirable respectively. Clearly, when it comes to problems of corruption and the law prosecutions are what people want to see. Of course everyone wants to develop the economy and here are the top items from this list: Develop agriculture 89 per cent Essential or Desirable, Invest in education 90 per cent, small business 88 per cent, heavy industry 84 per cent, EU standards of pollution control 83 per cent, All social care responsibility of the state 82 per cent, Organise state along economic not ethnic regions 80 per cent and so on. Any good idea for economic development seems to be a good idea for everyone. Education, however, is not quite so simple. Given peoples views on nationalist politics it is not surprising that End upbringing in nationalist way through school programmes comes in at the top of this list at 75 per cent Essential or Desirable with Teach respect for own and other community at 79 per cent and Curriculum for peace and reconciliation at 73 per cent. A Common curriculum for universities comes in at 69 per cent with EU standards for university education and Student exchange both at 79 per cent. However, at the bottom of this list is No state funding for religious schools at only 54 per cent Essential or Desirable. Fifteen per cent of the adult population nd this option Unacceptable and it breaks down at 9 per cent for Bosniaks, 16 per cent for Serbs and 35 per cent for Croats. This is clearly a sensitive issue for some Croats but they, and everyone else, also want high standards of education that do not promote narrow forms of nationalism.

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It should also be emphasised that education that seeks to overcome the problems of nationalism was also suggested as being one of the best ways to deal with The continuing effects of rape during the war. Other womens issues place Full state support for maternity leave at the top of their list at 83 per cent Essential or Desirable followed by Regular access to gynaecologists at 81 per cent, Full state support for day care 77 per cent and after school care 73 per cent and so on down the list. There were no signicant objections to any reasonable suggestions for improving the position of women in society. With regards to the media Courts must pursue corruption at 73 per cent Essential or Desirable, a Degree in journalism and qualications at 78 per cent and a Code of good practice for journalists at 77 per cent were all at the top of this list. People see effective journalists working to professional standards as the solution to the problems in the media. In looking over the options for reform of Government and Municipalities and relations with the International Community there seem to be two very distinctive groups of common concerns. One set of issues relate to better efciency and management while the other focuses on constitutional reform and international relations. We will look at the efciency and management options rst. High on the government and municipalities list are Hire top professionals for projects at 85 per cent Essential or Desirable, Give money to good projects at 81 per cent, Civil service responsible to public at 83 per cent, Clear lines of responsibility also at 83 per cent and Ask the users of Municipal services about improvements that could be made at 84 per cent. In addition to wanting the international community to Give hope to the people at a high of 91 per cent Essential or Desirable, the people also want the international community to Restrict activities to key issues at 84 per cent, Maximum per cent to solving problems at 85 per cent, Give resources for economic and not ethnic reasons 81 per cent and Independent auditing at 79 per cent. The list goes on with Respond to local needs at 78 per cent and Include local people in key positions at 74 per cent. A consistent theme clearly runs through all these examples. People want greater efciency and transparency and to be more involved in the decision making process at all levels of government and, equally, in all their dealings with the international community and Ofce of the High Representative (OHR). Double standards are not acceptable. With regard to constitutional reform people want the government to Spend money on projects not levels of government at 83 per cent Essential or Desirable, Smaller and effective system of government 81 per cent, Fewer levels of government 78 per cent and Do not duplicate services in entities, cantons and municipalities also at 78 per cent. To resolve these questions the people would like the government or perhaps the OHR to Establish a Constitutional Commission to advise on reform at 77 per cent Essential or Desirable and Reform the Constitution through Parliament at 73 per cent. On the international front the people do not want Belgrade or Zagreb to interfere in BiH affairs at 74 per cent Essential

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or Desirable but rather Zagreb, Belgrade and Sarajevo should cooperate to join the EU together at 78 per cent and to this end they want an EU programme to explain the 16 entry criteria to the people of BiH at 74 per cent Essential or Desirable. A number of constitutional proposals were then tested against public opinion. Consistent with other questions asked in this poll, and suggestions that Bosnia and Herzegovina should be broken up had the least support. The status quo established by the Dayton Agreement only came in fourth on the list and this option was preceded by a return to the way things were before the war, more powers to the municipalities and Bosnia and Herzegovina with decentralised regions in accordance with European standards. If this proposal, or something like it, could be combined more clearly with proposals for a simplied system of government and membership of the EU in partnership with her neighbours then, perhaps, the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina could nd again the sense of vision and hope they so much desire - a peace process and political process that they could call their own. Finally then, with this point in mind, everyone interviewed was asked Do you want the people of Bosnia and the international community to negotiate, agree and implement a programme of political, social and economic reform from all the options reviewed here? Ninety four per cent said Yes. Municipal workers are citizens too Municipal workers are citizens too and, for the most part, the concerns and important issues, the problems and their solutions that can make Bosnia and Herzegovina a better place tomorrow than it is today are the same for them as they are for their fellow countrymen and women. But they do feel more or less strongly about certain options put on offer in this poll. Here are some interesting examples. When it comes to responsibility for the war they strongly feel The international community did not act impartially at 59 per cent Very Signicant compared to 49 per cent for citizens in general, a difference of +11 points. They also take a stronger view that the Dayton agreement stopped the war but imposed a political structure without consensus at 57 per cent Very Signicant compared to 47 per cent for citizens, a difference of +10 points. They do not think political corruption at -5 points and nepotism at 7 points is quite as bad as their fellow citizens. Municipal employees take a more serious view of the lack of nancial support for returnees at +6 points and less serious view of the idea that they are not allowed to return to their homes at 8 points. When it comes to public corruption they do not believe they are nearly so bad as the general public think (Table 1) and they also believe the poor salary for the police is a part of the problem at +16 points.

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Table 1. Citizens and municipal employees views on problems of public corruption

Per cent Very Signicant Corruption of international community Corruption of international donor nations Newspapers connected to corrupt politicians Donors inuence on the media No professional standards for jobs Corrupt journalists paid for stories Politicians pay news papers, magazines, journalists and editors Corruption is not considered wrong Local and state political inuence on the international community Promotion not on merit Corruption in the health service Media can not remove corrupt politicians Corruption is a part of life Corruption of politicians Corruption of judges Corruption of public services No transparent hiring Corruption in education Nepotism Corruption of police Municipal ofcials giving jobs Municipal ofcials giving documents Municipal ofcials giving licenses Citizens 36 34 34 31 46 35 33 53 31 47 48 38 46 57 54 46 55 44 53 52 44 45 44 Municipal Difference Employees 38 31 29 26 41 29 28 46 24 39 40 30 37 48 46 36 44 32 39 35 25 24 22 2 -3 -5 -5 -6 -6 -6 -7 -7 -8 -8 -8 -9 -9 -9 -10 -11 -12 -14 -16 -19 -21 -22

With regards to the economy municipal employees place more emphasis on a lack of investment at +10 points and old industry at +6 points. They also place less blame on the international community for introducing religious schools than do their fellow citizens at 8 points and think young women have better access to contraception also at 8 points. They are more sceptical about journalists not checking their facts at +5 points and there are, as would be expected, considerable differences of strength of opinion when it comes to the problems of government and the municipalities and how well they think they are doing their job. Here differences run as high as 22 points for Very slow service and 23 points for The citizens are not considered more important (Table 2).

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Table 2. Citizens and municipal employees views on problems of government

Per cent Very Signicant No ecological responsibility Infrastructure requires repair High welfare costs and low employment No information about the state locally Top managers poorly paid Income not distributed Welfare costs for veterans and families of deceased soldiers Very centralised control State level of government not properly developed Poor expertise Too many levels of government Slow to implement laws of municipal self management Poor management of projects With 280 ministries and staff the constitution does not work Municipal workers opposed to reform Some issues fall between levels Lack of transparency No one takes responsibility Arrogant civil service Very wasteful and expensive civil service Poor use of international resources No culture of public service Lack of justice Too complicated Very slow service The citizens are not considered more important Citizens 51 58 64 38 30 52 56 35 47 40 58 43 44 58 34 56 40 60 48 57 53 50 63 52 52 54 Municipal Difference Employees 59 65 66 40 31 52 55 34 42 34 50 36 36 50 23 45 25 45 31 41 36 31 43 32 31 32 8 7 2 2 1 0 -1 -1 -5 -7 -8 -8 -8 -9 -10 -11 -14 -15 -17 -17 -17 -18 -19 -20 -22 -23

When it comes to the work of the international community and international relations they are slightly less critical than the average citizen, for example, -8 points for Too much spent on donors and also 8 points for Zagreb and Belgrade politicians still wanting a greater Croatia and Serbia. But municipal employees are more concerned about the future

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than the average citizen. They are more inclined to believe Bosnia will break up at +5 points Very Probable and that the prospects of joining the EU are less at 6 points Very Probable. When it comes to the solutions municipal employees are harder on the international community not taking sides and developing the economy at +10 points more Essential and less inclined to offer amnesty at 9 points less Essential. Municipal employees are stronger on matters of political and electoral reform at +12 points for Minimum standards for political candidates and +9 points for Political leadership based on successful government. They are also much stronger on all measures needed to deal with the problems of corruption. For example Computerise public services comes in at +22 points and Transparency at +15 points (Table 3). Table 3. Citizens and municipal employees views of public corruption and reform
Per cent Essential Better salaries for public ofcials Computerise public services Transparency Promotion on merit not just time in job Hiring on merit Better salaries for managers Universities responsible for honest degrees Build an efcient state to end corruption Prosecution of all corruption Cut funding from corrupt faculties Reform of public administration End corruption of donor states Use employees better - better managers Student unions expose corrupt professors Prosecute and jail corrupt politicians Citizens 20 41 39 35 37 28 56 57 61 51 45 54 36 49 62 Municipal Employees 50 63 54 48 48 38 65 66 66 57 49 58 40 53 64 Difference 30 22 15 13 10 10 9 9 6 6 5 5 4 4 2

Similarly the municipal employees are stronger on reforming the police, courts and law at +13 points for Establish condence in the rule of law and Effective tax collection at +17 points. Municipal employees also want stronger incentives for the economy than the average citizen at +10 points for Stimulate international partnerships with tax breaks and +9 points for Develop small businesses. When it comes to education they want the State to monitor and set standards at +8 points, Train teachers in reconciliation at +9 points and Education programmes for teachers at +12 points. Municipal employees are more proactive than the average citizen when it comes to all of the womens issues and suggestions for improving the media. For example they are +14 points up on citizens for

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Effective regulatory body for the print media and Code of good practice for journalists. They are also more proactive when it comes to reform of government and the municipalities (Table 4). Table 4. Citizens and municipal employees views of government and reform
Per cent Essential Give more jurisdiction locally Give more money locally Professional qualications for managers Head of municipality should delegate Civil service responsible to public Transparency in decisions Good managers should be rewarded Re-education of civil service Clear lines of responsibility Explain new freedom of information laws Hire top professionals for projects Ask citizens what projects they want Do not duplicate services in entities, cantons and municipalities Ask the users of municipal services about improvements that could be made State laws for local management Give money to good projects Simplify government services to municipal level Spend money on projects not levels of government State laws for local budgets Implement EU standards for state and municipal responsibilities and control Smaller and effective system of government Fewer levels of government Reform the constitution through parliament Establish a constitutional commission to advise on reform Move entity functions to the state level like other EU states Citizens 37 43 34 44 49 44 30 34 49 40 52 45 44 48 38 51 44 53 38 41 49 47 41 45 44 Municipal Employees 52 55 46 56 61 54 38 44 58 47 59 52 51 55 42 55 48 56 41 43 50 46 41 44 41 Difference 15 13 12 12 12 10 9 9 9 7 7 7 7 6 4 4 4 3 2 2 1 -1 -1 -1 -3

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Similarly they want more Transparency for the international community at +11 points, Independent auditing of the international community at +9 points and Train local people to be part of management at +5 points. Finally when it comes to constitutional reform they are far less inclined to want to go back to the way things were before the war at only 14 per cent Essential for municipal employees compared with 31 per cent Essential for all other citizens. Perhaps the simple conclusion to draw from all of this is that municipal employees welcome opportunities for reform but they do not think they are as bad as most citizens believe they are. And then, again, they are citizens too. Summary of ndings Perhaps the most signicant conclusion that can be drawn from this poll is that most people in Bosnia and Herzegovina share a common understanding of what the major problems are and what needs to be done to achieve a better future. There are some exceptions. Who was to blame for the war but then most people also agree that this issue needs to be put to one side so that the economy can be rebuilt, corruption brought to an end, standards of education improved and the institutions of the state made more effective. Although municipal employees are often thought of as inefcient and unresponsive to the publics needs they share these same ambitions for the future and welcome the prospect of reforms that can help them achieve these goals. Reaching a consensus on constitutional change is not going to be easy but most people want it simplied and want to join the EU along with their neighbours. With strong leadership and a sense of vision all of this has the prospect of restoring a sense of hope and this, above all else, is the peoples greatest desire.

1.3 Secondary Sources

by Marika Djolai, Project Manager and ejla Dizdarevi, Researcher, BBC World Service Trust
Information on Governance Issues within Municipal Authorities When it comes to program making the BBC always aims to be the worlds most famous and trusted broadcaster and program maker, seeking to satisfy all our audiences with services that inform, educate and enrich their lives in ways that the market alone will not. We aim to be guided by our public purposes; to encourage the most innovative talents; to act independently of all interests, and to aspire to the highest ethical standards. In order to achieve the above in producing A gdje sam tu ja? drama series, we have taken a dedicated approach and, as always, decided to base our program on real facts and gures. Our Town, Our Future research team, has worked closely with the drama series creative team in obtaining relevant information.

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The research process included numerous meetings with local community representatives, NGOs and international organisations, as well as visits to a large number of towns and places throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and participation at various conferences and meetings. It was conducted from August 2004 to August 2005. Extensive data through research was collected through the internet and the daily newspapers, and a focus on various issues was tackled in fteen episodes of the drama series A gdje sam tu ja?. Due to the variety of issues in the series, research has consequently been very diverse. This approach to the making of A gdje sam tu ja? radio drama series provided the entertaining and educational character of the dramas plotline that was easily accessible and true to real life. In addition, the BBCs editorial values were applied, ensuring impartiality, fairness and accuracy of the information. Methodology Visits to cities in BIH and meetings with government and municipality ofcials Visit to Tuzla and meeting with a representative of Tuzla Municipality (August 2004) Visit to Mostar and meeting with the Local Government representatives (August 2004) Meeting with representatives of Novi Grad (Sarajevo) Municipality (September 2004) Meeting with a member of Mostar City Government (December 2004) Meeting with a representative of the Department for Education, Culture and Sport of Centar (Sarajevo) Municipality (February 2005) Meeting with BiH Election Committee member for the purpose of gathering information on the Conict of Interests Law and its application to the municipality employees Gathering information on municipality Councillors and their performance. Visit to Novi Grad (Sarajevo) Municipality and meeting with the PR ofcer, who informed us about the city Councillors activities (February 2005) Contacting Education Department of Centar (Sarajevo) Municipality with the aim of collecting information on implementation of the Youth Centre and Youth Parliament projects (March 2005) Meeting with a representative of Capljina City Council. Emphasis of this meeting was on the rubbish disposal problem and other issues (April 2005) Meeting with a representative of Ljubuski City Council, who

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supplied us with information on the activities and problems of Ljubuski municipality (April 2005) Meeting with a representative of Siroki Brijeg Municipality, who talked about sewage and water supply problems in the town (April 2005) Meeting with a representative of Livno City Council. Conversation about the public administration reform and other problems in this town (April 2005) Meeting with a representative of Trebinje Municipality, who informed us about activities and projects being carried out in the town, the issue of Alijagic family and their compensation claim and other important topics (April 2005) Meeting with representatives of Odraz (Federal Government Foundation for Sustainable Development) in search for information about their local community development projects (grants, credits etc.). The Foundation closely cooperates with municipalities during the implementation of projects. Meeting with representative of the Public Administration and Social Care Department in Tuzla. Talk about the department activities and problems (May 2005) Meeting with a representative of Brcko municipality about the town issues and presentation of a detailed town development report (May 2005) Meeting with representative of Gradacac municipality with the emphasis on most important issues in this greatly developed town (May 2005) Meeting with a representative of the Public Affairs Department and a representative of the Housing and Public Utilities Department in Doboj.(May 2005) Visit to Novi Grad (Sarajevo) Municipality and meeting with some employees (May 2005) Meeting with representatives of Gorazde municipality. (May 2005) Meeting with representatives of Foca municipality. (May 2005) Meeting with representatives of Konjic municipality regarding the water supply issues and other problems this city is facing. (June 2005) Meeting with a representative of Drvar municipality (June 2005) Meeting with PR ofcer in municipality of Bihac and one of the Councilors (June 2005) Meeting with a representative of Mayors cabinet in Cazin municipality (June 2005) Meeting with a representative of Prijedor Municipality and PR ofcer (June 2005) Meeting with a representative of Centar municipality, Sarajevo (July 2005) Meeting with the coordinator of Local Environment Action Plan

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in Novi Grad municipality in order to obtain detailed information. (June 2005) Meeting with a representative of Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Economy, on the subject of reconstruction of the Youth House Skenderija. (June 2005) Meeting with a representative of Federal Civil Service Agency that monitors public administration reform in FBiH and implements Civil Service Law.

Meetings with representatives of NGO sector in BiH Meeting with a representative from NGO Forma F to discus their project dedicated to women in municipal administration structures. (December 2004) Meeting with a representative of the Association of Civil Victims of War. (January 2005) Meeting with representatives of NGO Vasa Prava which is providing free legal assistance to the citizens. Many of their clients problems are linked to the issues in jurisdiction of the local administration. (March 2005) Meeting with representative of TALDI, Tuzlas Regional Economic Development Agency. We discussed economic situation in Tuzla and their joint projects with Tuzla and some other municipal administrations. (May 2005) Meeting with a representative of Tuzla Citizen Forum. Their projects are carried out in cooperation with Tuzla Municipality and other local authorities. Meeting with a representative of Bijeljina Youth Centre to discuss their project One volunteer, one Councillor . (May 2005) Meeting with activist of Youth Information Agency regarding Revival Festival and other activities aimed at returning Skenderija Youth House back to young people. (June 2005) Visit to women NGO Zene Une (June 2005)

Meetings with representatives of international institutions Meeting with the World Banks Local Community Development Program representative, obtaining information on programs directed at municipalities and aimed at strengthening municipal credit capabilities. (February 2005) Meeting with the representatives of the OSCE to track information about the local administration reform. (May 2005) Meeting with OSCE Regional Ofce Public Finances Advisor representative. (June 2005)

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Field trips and visits to different organisations and institutions, individuals and participation at conferences Attending Women Forum Work and Pregnancy organized by the Stability Pact Gender Task Force. (November 2004) Participation in the II Conference of Mayors and Civil Society in Brcko District, organized by the Council of Europe and International Peace Centre. During the Conference we has meetings with several Mayors and representatives of different NGOs, such as Danish Refugee Council, Youth Informative Agency, FBiH and RS Gender Centers, UNHCR, International Peace Centre etc. (April 2005) Attending workshop for Una river basin development, funded by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) with several municipal representatives attending the workshop. (June 2005) Visiting the house owner in Sarajevo, whose property is directly affected by illegal construction of Hotel Italija, a disabled veteran deprived of his rights for protection of private property. (November 2004) Visit to Second Gymnasium in Sarajevo. (February 2005) Visit to Business Centre of the Centar Municipality, gathering detailed information. (February 2005) Visit to Centre for Support of Agricultural Producers, gathering information related to farmer association and credits for agricultural development. (March 2005) Field trip to agricultural association Sarajevsko polje. (March 2005)

Building Permits For the purpose of carrying out in-depth research of illegal construction, the legal aspect of this matter was taken into consideration. One of the relevant documents is Cantonal Planning Policy Law published in the Ofcial Gazette of Sarajevo Canton (issue 13, 1999). As an example, we also used Tender for building apartments in the municipality of Vogosca, also published in Cantons Ofcial Gazette. When it comes to Cantonal Planning Policy Law, we were especially interested in municipality authorities as concerns planning policies. Conict of Interest The Creative team was presented with the Law on Conict of Interests, applicable to municipal ofcials in the following way: As neither of the two entities ratied their laws, municipalities fall under jurisdiction of the State Law, and it is used on elected Mayors, and Councillors i.e. everyone with a political function. In the former call of local governments, 394 resignations were made as a result of a conict of interests. As a result

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of the last elections in October 2004, the Electoral committee appointed 3,281 council seats: 203 out of the appointed number couldnt verify their mandate due to the conict of interest. Sanctions for disrespecting the Law are as follows: a candidate is banned from running in the elections for the next 4 years; the automatic loss of mandate: this practically leads to the political death of the candidate. There is also the possibility of imposing a ne, the amount of which is in the region of 1,000 to 10,000 KM and, depending on the case, a ban on working in Government Service. However, the loss of seat is always the case. The Electoral Committee is monitoring the implementation of this Law by creating a database of all elected ofcials and also by monitoring the Ofcial Gazette, which publicises calls made for members of various Governing Boards. Every citizen or institutions can also report cases involving a conict of interest. However, cases of mock reports are not unknown as well, and they are quite often committed by political rivals in the attempt to get rid of their competitors. Electoral Committee says it is still necessary to raise awareness of the importance of the Law on Conict of Interest and its implementation. Renting of school premises Licences for the renting of educational institutional (kindergartens, high schools, higher education faculties) are approved by Cantonal Authorities in Federation of BH and by the Ministry for Education in Republic Srpska. When a school is granted this License, in Federation BH Cantonal Commission has to give its consent for renting given facilities. Next in the line is the municipality, which has to approve the purpose for using this facility, but the municipality cannot act without the other two licences. The process is simpler to a certain degree in Republic Srpska. After the licence is approved by the Ministry of Education, the approval is made by municipal authorities. On a more positive note, municipalities support schools even though they are not legally obliged to. Together with Cantons, municipalities get involved in paying bills, investing in school reconstructions, donating school equipment, providing scholarships etc. This help falls under the jurisdiction of Municipality Departments for Education, Sport and Culture, and their senior staff take on a consultancy role, advising School Heads and members of the Governing Board in case of a dispute. The Mayor approves the appointments of School Heads and members of the Governing Board.

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Return A positive example of cooperation between the State and local authorities is the return of displaced persons and refugees. In the State Ministry for Human Rights and Returnees we received information about Strengthening local administration in the eld of return, reconstruction, development and accommodation policy project, which is funded by the Swedish Development Agency SIDA, with 700,000 KM. It provides technical and personnel support for municipalities. The Ministry has chosen 30, mainly undeveloped municipalities for this project. Analysing the situation, the Ministry pinpointed the most problematic areas and based on this, some municipalities will receive computers, printers and other equipment, while others will employ professionals from different elds. Namely, it has been established that some municipalities do not possess appropriate departments for support of return, and that qualied professionals such as architects, economists, and jurists are being employed in this sector. The Ministry was in charge of the project planning and providing nances, whereas implementation, which is just starting, and planning rest on local authorities. As for the issue of computerisation, all these municipalities are being networked, as they all need to have access to the Ministrys database. The long-term goal is for these municipalities to take over responsibilities in return, reconstruction and housing areas, supporting and creating departments for acquisition, reconstruction, return, housing policy and development. For the purposes of this project we investigated procedures of registering birth and citizenship, deadlines and the application procedure for reinstating properties with rights to abode. Problems with reinstating property are present, with cases of litigation as well, and many of them are at the law court. Sometimes obstruction by municipalities may occur, mostly in cases when municipal ofcials are in possession of particular property. There are bigger problems too, when something is built on someone elses property: A mosque in Bradina is built on a Serb familys property, and near Prijedor a church is built on a Muslim familys property. Decree for the mosques removal was issued in 1998 but the actual removal only started seven years later. The fact remains that private property has to be returned to its rightful owners or compensated for, but this process can take several years, which is still a serious problem. This situation will probably remain the same in coming years, as the justice system is slow. Municipalities, at least in the Federation of BH are in charge of ensuring that private properties are reinstated. On the other hand, reinstating apartments which have not yet been privatised was never under the municipalities authority. Public Services Reform The Federal Agency for Public Service is in charge of public administration reform in all state bodies in the Federation BH, including municipalities. All

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the state bodies in the Federation BH were under obligation to implement the Law on Public Administration, by July 2005. According to this law, all the municipality ofcials who do not have the required qualication will be made redundant. The agencys task is to revise and monitor law implementation on a municipal level. A signicant number of civil servants in all of the municipalities do not have the required qualication, and they fear the Agency Commission. The Agency revised 69 managing bodies and 639 posts in 2005 and have discovered as a result that 143 government ofcials do not full legal requirements and should be dismissed. A Positive example The City library in Grbavica, part of Sarajevo City Library, was destroyed during the war and has now been rebuilt partly with the nancial help of the Novo Sarajevo municipality, amounting to 10,000KM. This is the third library which has been rebuilt in this municipality, which consists of 75, 000 inhabitants. At the opening ceremony, the Deputy Mayor announced that the municipality will try to enrich library funding as it holds only about 5,000 books at the moment. To whom to complain The Institution of Ombudsman for Human Rights in BiH is an independent institution established in February 1996 in accordance with the Dayton peace agreement, in order to promote human rights, good governance and law enforcement in BiH. This institution monitors the activities of public administration bodies in BiH, based on complaints or its own initiative. A new legal framework for the institution was established on 3 January 2001. In accordance with the Law on Ombudsman for human rights in BiH, and upon suggestion of the Presidency of BiH and both Houses of Parliament, BiH appointed Mr. Safet Pasic, Mr. Mariool Ljubic and Mr. Vitomir Popovic to be Ombudsmen for Human Rights. Another organisation citizens can turn to is the Vasa Prava (Your Rights) organisation, which provides free legal advice in the organizations ofces throughout BiH. On Councillors The activity plan for the Municipality Council of Novi Grad, Sarajevo states that Councillors should meet often, but in reality meetings are held once a month. This is in contrast to various Municipality Council Committees, which meet once or twice a month. Moreover, we checked whether the topics under discussion at these meetings have been included in our research. All BH municipalities have development strategies, and we took the Breza municipality Development Plan as an example for our work. Municipality Councillors ought to receive materials for discussion

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at least 8 days before the meeting. These materials can be more or less comprehensive depending on the topic. Application of the research results Many of these meetings, visits and trips were used as specic ideas for some of the series episodes. One of Aida Pilavs episodes deals with the problem of illegal construction. The plot is based on a true story from the Sarajevo Canton. Namely, the hotel Italia in Pofalici is illegally built. In addition to breaking the law, this building is also causing damage to the private property of other citizens, in this case- a disabled war invalid. We also contacted relevant municipal ofcials to obtain all the necessary information and make this episode as realistic as possible. The nal result of this effort is a beautifully emotional and dramatic episode entitled Hotel Belvi. Gender equality and women rights are talked about in the episode entitled Gdje e ensko poroditi kravu, which very objectively presents the situation of this aspect of life in BiH society. The episode is a result of thorough research of this problem using indirect sources and direct contacts with representatives of women NGOs, international institutions working in BiH and local commissions dealing with this problem. Meeting with representatives of NGO Zene Une not only provided a wealth of information when considering the status of women in BiH society but also of womens actions aimed at improving their position. A visit to a womens forum Work and Pregnancy gave us an insight into the delicate matter of gender discrimination in the process of employment, present in various institutions. The problems of young people in BiH were the focus of three episodes in the drama series A gdje sam tu ja?. Episodes entitled Pobuna u gimnaziji, Vijee mladih and Koncert tackle problems from different perspectives. A number of contacts with the representatives of youth associations and municipality departments provided basic information about the problems of young people and pointed research in the right direction. Meeting with a young activist from the Youth Informative Centre gave us information about the status of youths in BiH society. Revival Festival is their direct endeavour to reconstruct the premises of the Youth House Skenderija which were given back for use to the Sarajevo youth. This case was used as the main idea for one of the episodes named Koncert. A visit to the Second Gymnasium in Sarajevo helped to develop one of the drama series episodes highlighting the problem of renting school premises for commercial purposes. This very popular and common practice in a large number of municipalities in BiH often doesnt return investments to the improvement of school premises or some other benet to pupils. This topic was portrayed in a very interesting way, in the episode Pobuna u

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gimnaziji. Appropriate Ministries in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Srpska provided necessary information about the laws covering this eld as well as legal procedures related to this issue. Last but not least, local consultative testing was used as a starting point when reconsidering whether to include these topics in the drama series. Visits and eld trips to different parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina yielded fruitful results for the development of the drama series. One such example is the visit to the Sarajevo Agricultural Association Sarajevsko polje, joined by one of the Script Writers. We discovered many facts about the situation in agriculture in BiH, investments, support from the state and local community. We could see to what extent municipalities and higher levels of Government help private entrepreneurs and farmers. Everything mentioned above is presented both objectively and effectively in the episode Podvala u prahu. Keeping in mind that the drama series is aimed at tackling some of the most high prole topics, it was impossible not to discus the issue of local administration reform. This process is present in every municipality in BiH and it was crucial to collect the most relevant information regarding this issue. OSCE, which has had a long term presence in BiH, proved to be the most reliable information source with the most relevant and abundant information on this topic. From the Federal Agency for Public Service we found out more information about the problems, faced not only by the employees of this agency but also the employees of BiH municipalities in the whole of BiH, the local administration reform process and other relevant information on this subject. All these issues are portrayed in the episode named U registraturi. These are just some examples of our research that was aiming to retrieve relevant information about the situation in municipalities in both parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Federation of Bosnia and Republic of Srpska. Every visit to some of the municipalities in BiH, and meetings with their representatives to local consultative testing, proved to be a great source of information for the realisation of this project. Daily media monitoring Beginning in August 2004, research included gathering press articles about relevant issues regarding local administration work and local community, municipal services, the public good, relationships and people. Daily media monitoring proves to have given a clear picture about the general situation in BiH and on the local level. Research included gathering articles from more than ten daily and weekly newspapers appearing in Bosnia and Herzegovina:

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1. Dani (Sarajevo) 2. Slobodna Bosna (Sarajevo) 3. Start (Sarajevo) 4. Dnevni List (Mostar) 5. Oslobodjenje (Sarajevo) 6. Avaz (Sarajevo) 7. San (Sarajevo) 8. Nezavisne Novine (Banja Luka) 9. VIP (Sarajevo) 10. Slobodna Dalmacija (Split) 11. Glas Srpske (Banja Luka) 12. Blic Republike Srpske (Banja Luka) 13. Jutarnje Novine (Mostar) The researcher had a good cooperation with the project PR department and regularly met with media representatives such as the Daily Avaz Sarajevo, eFM Radio which also produces radio series, Centre for Investigative journalism and many others. Internet Research A large amount of information was collected from various web sites; primarily from ofcial municipality web sites. Most of BiH municipalities have very good web sites that provide detailed information on municipal activities, staff, legal matters and everything else of interest to the citizens. It should be also mentioned that topics vary from municipality to municipality so it is difcult to emphasise one particular common topic or problem. It is fair to say that about one fth of the information used for the project came from various local and international websites. Vox pops A necessary part of every research process is talking directly to people as this is one of the most relevant and objective approaches, i.e. local consultative testing. To enhance the plot of the radio drama, this testing was used in the radio drama series in the format known as voxpops; recorded in different towns in the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina and on different topics. People included in the vox-pops were selected randomly in order to attain a random sample and consequently, they belonged to different age, gender, economic and educational groups. In the following part of this document you can nd the answers to our vox pops. Transparentnost (Q: What is transparency?) 1. 2. Im thrilled with their information, I have no words to describe their service to public inquiries (municipal authorities) I have no idea about transparency, I dont know where

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3. 4. 5.

I can nd the information, and I dont know what you mean exactly by this term. Now you have to take your place in the line, to wait for fteen minutes only to nd out that you have to buy some form, it just happened to me Municipality has the right to keep information in the small circle of municipal authorities in case it is not veried and in case it can produce confusion among citizens If TV stations and other media are talking about something, it is transparent It should not happen in any case unless it is not forbidden by law to publish the information which can be classied as secret on this or that level

Hotel Belvi (Q: What do you think about illegal construction?) 1. Dear God, they erected it into the sky but illegally, but I dont know what to tell you about that. Someone says it is ok and someone says it is not. I dont think it right to erect such a monster. Those illegal constructions should be legalised or removed; some nances are set aside for that. How could they build them at all? To destroy one hotelif it isnt an obstacle to anyone it is better to legalize it. Society will gain some prot and also the one who constructed it. There are more humorous things than that, believe me. No jobs, a hundred and one things are not in order and you are talking about illegal construction. Generally I think that it is not right, landslips are emerging, and the water supply system is being damaged. I have a friend; it (water) almost ooded his house. This depends on our government and how corrupted it is.

2.

3. 4.

udo u provinciji (Q: Why did you become a Councillor?) 1. 2. 3. There are a lot of things that I couldnt solve as a citizen, I bumped into the walls. Mostly because of that reason, Im here to serve the public. Ill dedicate myself to the young here; I will help to improve the standard of the youths in the local community. I became (a Councillor) because I thought and I still think that I can contribute to the development of society, the local community etc. However, the deeper you go, the more you can see how far it goes, that is that everything comes down to party level, personal interest and somewhere there is contact with maa.

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 Podvala u prahu (Q: Do farmers expect help from the municipality, and if yes what kind of help?) 1. 2. 3. It wouldnt be so bad if it would work out for the people who took cows, there is no money; these people who took cows are paying for them by selling milk. I have no resources for agriculture; the municipality could help by giving me credit with minimal interest rate. How to say this, people who want to work should be motivated by receiving credit in order to buy some equipment, there are people who dont want to work and the things they already have are more than enough.

Vijee Mladih (Q: What would young people do if they had the power?) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. First of all providing our students with a future here is the answer, not us nding the opportunity to go abroad to have a better future. Most probably these young people nish their education to improve their prospects of leaving the country and only that leaving the country. I think that this is their only homeland, if they have lasted until now I think that they should continue persisting. I would recommend to all politicians to ght for their youth, to ght for their children; they are their children. Youth council? I think that there is no such thing as a youth council in BH. Perhaps they could slightly inuence these parties in BH, maybe something will change (as a result), I simply dont know. I think that youths should make more decisions, because this World and this city remain in the hands of young. Thats great! I would insist on employing young people, reducing the number of young people leaving the country which is a dominant trend at the moment. I sincerely hope that they can do something for the sake of all of us, including myself - as a graduate law school student with no opportunity to get employment.

6. 7. 8.

Povratak sa sedam kora (Q: When did you return, who helped you the most, what was the turning point for your decision to return, what is the biggest issue for returnees, compare your life of returnee/displaced person and that of today?) 1. In 96 we returned, we had no windows or doors, no one helped us. We got one door that didnt t and some small things, we struggled on our own, no one helped us.

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2. 3.

4. 5.

6. 7.

No one helped me. Whatever I do I do it by myself. No one helped me. I returned eight years ago. The process of rebuilding was hard, no one helped me, we have had to repair everything by ourselves, the houses were totally ruined, not only mine but the entire neighbourhood. We had just a couple of small donations but no one managed to help more that that. The ones living abroad received (help). They got roofs, repairs, we got nothing. One month ago they came again, asked what we needed, what kind of help was needed, what needed to be changed; they made a list in any case it is too late now, people have managed without them. It seems to me that nothing is functioning, Im telling you this honestly, we continue like this. My daughter is not here, she would like to come back, do you know what I mean? What would the government do? The government helps itself and the average citizen should drop dead, just like before.

Kutija za podvale (Q: What do you think about services provided in counter halls?) 1. Everybody comes to counter service and listens to what everyone says, there is no privacy. For example when they come to register a marriage or birth they have no basic privacy, they cant tell someone everything because of people standing around, listening carefully. We had a case a few days ago when a man said some nasty things to us, but we are so professional, we never addressed a citizen, whether a gentleman or a teenager. We always treat everybody with respect. We have many problems. Sometimes I ask myself how they can respect that yellow line in the bank or post ofce and here they cant, and we have the highest circulation of citizens. Im trying to full their requests, to help them, to point them in the right direction, to ll in some forms for them because there are so many people who dont know how to do that and older people with a bad eyesight.

2.

3.

U registraturi (Q: What is your opinion on customer services in municipality?) 1. 2. 3. There are persons working there without an appropriate qualication, I thinkwhen you go to the municipality you can see that some people are not fullling the requirements. It should not happen that a medical technician is working in the place of a surveyor. No one can persuade me, there are no arguments against

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4.

5.

6. 7.

reducing the number of employees. There are problems in counter halls; people wait too long for an answer and the answers turn out to be below-standard. I dont feel that the problem is more or fewer employees, I feel the bigger problems are lack of regulations for specic situations, situations that occur because the regulations are not synchronized, that we do not have any regulations at all for certain elds or that the existing ones are incomplete. When you come to the municipality sometimes they are very kind and sometimes they are not. Perhaps some revisions of their professional skills is needed and people be employed based on that. The rate of redundancy is high for a country such as ours. Because of this a reform should be made on every level of administration, but in what way? No one should be left on the street, but some way should be found in order for them not to come back into the service, urge them to retirement, for the sick ones-suggest early retirement as invalids.

Mi smo ampioni (Q: What do you think about corruption?) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Corruption is not properly dened in the world either. What is corruption? It means a monetary bribe of some kind, in order to achieve something what cant be achieved in legal way. Unfortunately it has to be done. If someone wants to achieve something he is forced to do that. We can nd high and low corruption everywhere in the east and in the west. My heart is weakened because of the level of corruption which exists, feel free to publish that. Its an ordinary robbery in one word. Corruption, everyone talks about corruption. It exists in every segment of our society, we have that kind of mentality, those kinds of services were always used and always will be, a favour for a favour. Bosnia is such a country: Win or pay, there is no third option. We have no instruments, thank God, to reveal that, only maybe if the law and legislation is strictly enforced- just like in any normal legal state. The worst corruption is that which stems from those in the highest ranks .

7. 8.

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 Svako svoje smee ima (Q: How satised are you with communal services in your municipality, how important is recycling for you, should the municipality do more work on that issue?) 1. 2. It is generally known that waste disposal places are located where they shouldnt be, that they produce many problems, infections etc, so this is the something to be worked on. Four or ve years ago there was an agency that dealt with the problem of waste disposal, they asked city administration to take on their own municipal services in our city, to employ our people, to organise collection and transport of waste in the city, to improve sanitary conditions, to make a factory for trash recycling. Our authorities said yes, thats ok but that they would have to pay tax for export of the waste, after which the men left this country and we still have the waste disposal area. It is huge, unresolved, inadequately built, constantly burning, people living near are in great danger, but thats not bothering the city authorities. The majority of us take the rubbish to containers where it is left to decompose for two or three days until the communal service remembers to collect it. So I ask myself why I pay 3 KM monthly when there is no daily collection of rubbish in front of my house. I have lived in Switzerland for six years and I know that a big ne is imposed if they catch you leaving the bag where you are not allowed to. But we still have a long way to go.

3.

4.

1.4 Study Tour to Northern Ireland

The following report gives an overview of the experiences and impressions of 15 Bosnians who in October 2004 went on a study tour to Belfast organised by the BBC WST. Six radio drama specialists from Sarajevo, Mostar and Banja Luka, six middle managers from three local administrations and two directors and the script editor working on the radio series joined the tour. The idea was to inform delegates of possible achievements and failures in another severely divided society. The report in the rst part describes the experiences of the places visited by the group, while the second part summarises personal impressions of the country and its society. Report compiled by participants We visited Belfast City Council, one of the largest in Northern Ireland and learned about the responsibility for delivery of key services such us those relating to refuse collection and disposal, street cleansing, health and environmental services, community development, indoor and outdoor

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leisure, parks and recreational facilities, support for the arts, tourism and economic development. What was interesting for us was to discover that the City Council has taken an increasingly proactive role in relation to the development of the City and is actively involved in a number of strategic partnerships designed to improve the quality of life for the people in Belfast. We had a tour of the City Council and met members of the Councils Good Relations Unit and also met Councillor Eoin OBroin. Linen Hall Library was an interesting introduction to Northern Irish politics and the tour of the Northern Ireland Political Collection. NIPC is a unique resource, having systematically collected material from all sides in the NI conict. Much of this has been done in the eld, and often literally across the barricades. The Collection documents the activities and views of all parties in the conict, from paramilitaries to government, and is one of the major resources for study of The Troubles. We also met Yvonne Murphy, a librarian, who took us through the collection and explained and answered our questions. We also visited the Northern Media Centre led by David Hyndman, Community Media Development Ofcer. We became aware that the members of this organisation have been involved in community media and arts projects since 1972. Today they operate in the media centre situated in the heart of Belfast. It was fascinating to discover that because of their independence, this organisation has been able to develop long term working relationships with local people and communities. One of the fascinating tours of this Study Tour was Belfast Safaris. This was a visit to a neighbourhood in North Belfast. We had an opportunity to meet a local community group, their leaders and talk to them about their experience. This was the real Belfast. We had fully trained local tour guides with diverse interests who took us to parts of Belfast that do not exist on the tourist map, but were teeming with living history the stories of peoples lives. This Study Tour was a great opportunity to visit BBC Northern Ireland. The main thing was to meet with the radio drama department and to understand how they operate. This was a fantastic opportunity for our creative team who had a chance to experience topics like: forms, protocols, Scheduling, procedures, issues of balance in a divided community, pitfalls/ troubleshooting, costs. It was also interesting to learn and see how the News Room was run and to understand the work of Reporters, News Readers and live broadcasting. Tour of Conict: The Irish at War exhibition at Ulster Museum, led by Jane Leonard, Community Outreach History Ofcer. This exhibition presented the history of war and conict in Ireland. It

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showed us how people fought and the technology they applied to the art of killing, but it also considers the consequences of warfare on society and on the innocent. Drama and cultural context in Ulster. In this session we learned how radio drama is created out of the context of a theatre community in Ulster comprising actors, writers, directors etc., and tradition which has had a chequered past. This also gave us some idea of the artistic resources on which radio drama draws, as well as the interactions that exist and have existed between that community and Northern Ireland society, particularly in regards to difcult or sensitive topics. We had interesting speakers during this session: Mark Phelan, lecturer, Queens University Belfast general background, riots, difculties with political issues historically Ophelia Byrne, current Guest Editor, Irish theatre magazine twentieth century: general concerns and themes on topics of cultural identity and politics Hugh Odling-Smee, Curator, Theatre and Performing Arts Archive issues today. What kinds of themes are being addressed in drama/ theatre from NI at present? Question and Answer session

JUST DOING IT: THE PRACTITIONERS We also had an opportunity to meet and hear from practitioners who have been heavily involved in creative work which has sought to address issues of cultural/ political signicance in Northern Ireland. This was chaired by David Johnston, Queens University Belfast, with speakers: Paula McFetridge, Artistic Director, Lyric Theatre/ actress The Lyric Theatre is Northern Irelands only producing house in theatre, while actress/ AD Paula McFetridge has also worked on some of the most signicant large-scale productions in Northern Ireland to dealing with issues like mixed marriage (The Wedding Community Play) or justice (Convictions) Michael Duke, Artistic Director Tinderbox Theatre/ writer Michael Duke wrote Revenge, a play attracting signicant interest and addressing themes of peace, reconciliation, and the lack of such things. He is also AD of Tinderbox, a leading independent company in Northern Ireland which in its recent work has addressed the themes of refugees, justice and voting amongst others. Dan Gordon/ Carol Moore, actors Both Dan Gordon and Carol Moore have appeared in some of the most signicant works from Northern Ireland to address themes

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which have resonated strongly with Northern Irish society. Carol was a founding member of Charabanc Theatre, a company of tremendous importance in NI; most recently, she has also been instrumental in founding Red Lead Arts. Dan Gordon is one of Northern Irelands best-known actors, having appeared in massively successful shows including A Night in November, which has toured internationally and locally. All in all, it was a very interesting tour of West and East Belfast. The main aim of which was to give us a sense of greater Belfast, particularly in areas outside the city centre in which there is a strong sense of cultural identity. Personal impressions of the participants Mediha Dizdarevi, Novi Grad Sarajevo Municipality General impressions? The travel arrangements went like clockwork. The programme was somewhat overly ambitious because there was so much to be seen. Congratulations to the organiser for attaining perfect organisation. How does the situation differ from ours? Our hosts were surprised we were a mixed group and that we managed to make the trip together. That came as a surprise to them and I think we are ahead of them in that respect, at least when co-operation is an issue. I think this attitude depends a lot on the mentality of a nation. Their conicts last for centuries, while we quarrel easily and make up easily. What particularly impressed you during the visit? Ill always remember the drawings of 4-6 year olds I saw during a visit to a school. Although the children are so young, the drawings were really amazing. The techniques they used were really advanced and they had many ideas. I think you can compose an image of a persons character on the basis of every child drawing and the ones I saw really said a lot. I cant tell whether those children have drawing skills because they have access to better resources or because of a special teaching and learning technique. I was always impressed by the Irish Language Learning Centre. Josip Jakovac, Mostar City Administration General impressions? It was perfect in Belfast. The division is unusual. Everything functions in the centre, while the outskirts are an altogether different world. The same people who would ght each other in the suburbs meet the next day in the centre of the city. Both sides are extremely radical.

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In what ways are they ahead of us? They use all institutions to address those problems. They fund NGOs which focus on multi ethnic society. The city employs young, educated, capable people. Six years have passed since the Friday Agreement and all is functioning well. Divisions always rst appear in the mind and then are reected in the material world. Everything is easier when you have no problems on your mind. Also, in Mostar, the mayors dont go to the other parts of town to see how the people there live, each sticks to his own area. In what ways are we ahead of them? The roots of our conict are much more supercial than the roots of theirs. We can step out of those roles much more easily. Ive often made similar trips and I never saw such a good group. Roots of our conict are not that deep. Thats why I think Bosnia and Herzegovina could make good headway if it had new politicians. In Belfast, at rst glance, it seems everything has been resolved, but when you hear the radical views of each side, you realise that is not true. Our form of nationalist madness is somewhat different. Maybe this was because we had lived together for such a long time. The outskirts of Belfast are covered with murals, each costs 2,500 pounds. Almost every other house has a mural on its facade. If we view them objectively, both sides were terrorists. We asked them how it affected others awareness, i.e. the children? Memories and toying with them can be extremely dangerous, but they dont see it that way. Thats how you get the never-ending chain what you did to me and what I did to you. The only positive thing is that the murals are used as a tourist attraction. IRA and ULSTER army members are now tourist guides in the suburbs and they charge for the tours. Half the people on the murals were not killed by the enemy, so really some murals make no sense. For instance, the mural that struck me had only women on it, and one of them, for instance, fell off the roof of the house during the clashes. Another was devoted to two young women who were killed by an explosion while they were working on explosives, i.e. making a bomb. And they qualied as victims of the British Army. How were you received in the Embassy? There was a speech and we spoke about the most interesting topic, the process of unifying Belfast and Mostar and we drew parallels. When all the guests left, we had an informal chat over a cup of coffee. What positive example do you remember? I was impressed by teams of young people working in the administration. I met no one there who was over thirty. No wonder they work so well, they think in such a mature and modern way. Conicts were more frequent at times of economic recession. They realised they could make progress only if they become more economically stable and thats what they devoted themselves to.

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Whats also interesting is that the local authorities fund informal groups. For instance, a group of women spent months preparing a musical based on a story about a ctitious marriage between a Protestant woman and Catholic man. This was done back in 1998, when the situation was still tense. Alma Pamuki, Brko District What impressed you the most? The last day in Belfast was the best, when we saw local communities working together. Everything we had seen until then was leading to the conclusion that all of them were living in the past. The last day, we saw a theatre performance that was the loveliest example. It was the glimmer of light after everything we had seen until then. Much about Northern Ireland could be seen and heard here in BosniaHerzegovina, but all of that was someone elses view and the only way to really get to know it is to see it personally. When youre there, when you experience it and feel it, when you hear the stories, your initial opinion changes. What can we learn from Northern Ireland? What our region can learn is the importance the citizens of Northern Ireland attach to the local authorities, their continual emphasis on the fact that the local administration exists to serve the citizens and not per se. Their use of the local authorities in order to realise their goals sets an excellent example to us. The relationship between the citizens and the local authorities is actually a relationship that signies their survival, their fullment of needs and their future. What we can adopt from them is the Good Relations Committee that exists in the city administration; it is an extremely positive example. The Committee was set up to focus on their relations and co-operation. We met a gentleman who is a member of the Committee, and also a member of their Congress/City Council/Parliament. He explained to us that the Committee allocates grants to their cultural institutions. The public frequently asks who the money is allocated to, which community got what, etc. It is sometimes difcult to answer such questions, especially when they concern cultural projects on which Catholics and Protestants work together, for instance, the joint theatre productions. Thats a problem this Committee faces frequently. We agreed cultural institutions could play the greatest role in building a life together. And what can Northern Ireland learn from us? Things in which we show that we are in some way ahead of them, for instance, the fact they conrmed to us that 95 per cent of their children go to separate schools. The separate schools were a major shock, especially to me coming from Brcko, where the schools were united back in 2001, children go to mixed schools, and sit in mixed classes. I told a gentleman that and he

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was impressed. I think they lack information about us, just as we lack information about them. We have no physical barriers separating people, but in Northern Ireland, we saw walls and fences between people. In any case, I think a better economy is the basis for a better life, because people then pay less attention to politics and what divides them. In my opinion, the murals in Belfast do not contribute to reconciliation. I dont mean to say the past should be forgotten, but one should turn to the future and to building condence between the different communities. A person passing the murals every day is shown too much violence and will have a difcult time breaking from the past and turning to the future and reconciliation. Just imagine a child growing up in such an environment. It is for this reason I was so glad to see communities working together, where both communities meet. That gives rise to hope that the multi-religious environment will persist, as an asset not as a liability of the country. I hope that we in the Bosnia-Herzegovina Brcko District are an example of a multi-ethnic community that has managed to rise above our politics. Maybe we should have seen more on how citizens are serviced by the city council, but, in any case, it was a wonderful experience and a memorable visit. Amna Popovac, Radio Studio 88 General impression? The trip was great. It exceeded all my expectations. Northern Ireland is totally different from anything weve read about so far. Theyre similar to us, but not the same as us. I felt at home in Northern Ireland. People live relatively normal lives there. We asked them why they did not try to tell the world more about that, but they told us they were focusing on themselves, not on their image. What can we learn from them? As far as administration is concerned, they started from the top of the hierarchy cleaning up here rst. They forbade people to talk about politics at work. They created such an environment that it is not possible to hear anything about what happened, which is a bit sterile. What is good is that relations between people are seen as the basis for the rest i.e. that people have to work together, regardless of their backgrounds. They banned religious symbols and party insignia, so that no one feels threatened in any of their ofces. In what ways are we at an advantage? Our advantage lies in the fact that, regardless of the horric war, our cities still have a soul. The shops here are open from 09:30 to 17:30 and after that, everyone shuts

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themselves up in their homes. We lead a more normal life in a way, although we have undergone a greater plight than they have. And in what ways are they at an advantage? Their advantage is that their buildings were not destroyed because they hurled stones and sniped at people. Theirs was classic terrorism, for example, blowing up of cafes, and they tried to kill as many people as they could during such operations. We have similar attacks, but they happen at night, to avoid casualties. Thats how our situations differ. We live a much better life than they do. We are freer, which may seem ridiculous, but it really is freedom compared to how they live. The working class lives in ghettos, cultural and art societies stage performances only in their parts of town. People with money, those who are richer and living in South and North Belfast, have more freedom, they co-operate. An advantage of Northern Ireland is that its people speak publicly and articulately about their past. They call the time of conict troubles and display both sides in their museums. We met a man who said he had been an IRA member and in jail. He publicly talks about his past. The people have somewhat broader views and they say its important to know what happened to prevent it from happening again. General impression of how the visit was organised? Logistically it was OK. However, I think the organisers tried too hard to please everyone. As a journalist, I found meeting colleagues from other media extremely interesting. That was my greatest gain. BH Radio 1, RTRS, Studio 88. For instance, I also met Josip Jakovec in Sarajevo, and wed been living and working in the same town for years. Azra Odobai, Banja Luka City Administration How was the visit organised? Its difcult to sum everything up after gaining so much experience. I was fascinated by the organisation of the visit, because everything worked like clockwork, no time was wasted. The organisers did their best and everything was done extremely professionally. What did you learn during the visit? We got a lot of information on how local communities and authorities operate when we visited them. We saw the great potentials of the media during our visit to the library and the Northern Vision Media Centre. We had a chance to express our views, and address individual problems. We got a lot of written information, which I then shared with my colleagues. Our administration was extremely pleased to receive such material. The administration should be at the service of the citizens. This project of yours will help improve the work of the municipalities. What can we learn from the example of Northern Ireland? When we directly spoke to the people, I found it very difcult to listen because

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there was still so much pain there. The wounds are still fresh. The main point is that violence is never the way to resolve any problem. Each community in Northern Ireland has its own pain and much remains to be resolved. I was pleased to hear the Bosnia-Herzegovina Embassy is trying to advocate our interests abroad and how well informed they are about everything happening here. The economy is the cause of conicts there. Stratication of the society happened there, and, in a way, its taking place here too. You can change the economic system if your political system is OK. You cant change both at once. Lack of income and a bad economy, there is no need to dwell on how adversely that affects relations between people. General impression? It was a great pleasure to travel with my colleagues from other municipalities. I learned from them how their municipalities operate. Most conicts arise from our lack of knowledge about each other, both at personal and collective levels. It is the fear of the unknown. In Northern Ireland there are a large number of programmes aimed at uniting those people, teaching them about others and those different from them. Some of the ways we are used to addressing problems cannot be applied in Northern Ireland. If you do not have a sound economic basis, you cannot build on other relations. We saw how a unit for good relations in a community was set up. People leave their political opinions outside and work on their specic work related duties. What is the issue is the development of a person, who sties his feelings of violence and hatred, but the job has to be done professionally. Interests of all parties are involved, but the work is done professionally and those interests are not reected in it. Maja Hadiosmanovi, Media Centar Sarajevo I rate the organisational aspect of the study tour 10 out of 10. To me, personally, it was extremely interesting because I hadnt viewed their conict in this way before. Visiting NI gave me a new angle to look at our situation because sometimes you have to step away from your surroundings to see where you are actually standing. With regards to the work I do at Mediacentar Sarajevo, I have seen and learned a lot, and I have also developed excellent contacts with the staff at Northern Vision Media Centre.

48

What I have concluded from this trip is that conict and reconciliation cannot be generalised as they are very specic to a certain nation and region. If something has worked over there, it doesnt mean it will work over here, and vice versa. It is, however, important to be aware that there are other conicts in the world and that someone is working on trying to prevent them. Selma Smajki, Centar Municipality Sarajevo The good relations strategy employed by the Belfast City Council, which aims to develop a stable, tolerant and rightful society, is the main sign that NI is aware that a problem exists and it is taking steps to deal with it. This is a universal practice which can be implemented almost everywhere.

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Part 2 The Radio Drama

2.1 Concept and Production Team
by Marika Djolai, Project Manager and Renata Cigler, Project/ Broadcast Assistant, BBC World Service Trust
Production of A gdje sam tu ja? radio drama series Introduction The famous pre-war tradition of radio drama production in Bosnia and Herzegovina prompted the BBC World Service Trust to initiate the Our Town, Our Future project, whose main output is a radio drama series A gdje sam tu ja?. This project aims to change attitudes of local municipal administration by raising awareness of poor governance issues, highlighting the best working practices, and underscoring malpractice. In order for the series to appeal to a wide audience and to be funny and educational, satire and humour were woven into a drama plot, set in a ctional local authority in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this project the BBC World Service Trust made use of its vast experience, expertise and skills from similar projects successfully carried out throughout the world. And by doing so, a new concept of radio drama production was introduced in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Development of radio drama series Thorough primary research into municipal employees, their attitudes towards working practices and problematic issues in BIH society, served as a starting point for developing the radio drama plot. Such an approach is very unlike the traditional one where a script writer, using his or her own imagination, decides on a topic for the radio drama. A devoted researcher worked closely with script writers, constantly feeding in information, researching current problems and issues of interest. Particular attention was paid to the everyday life of citizens and the functioning of the local administration. In order to make a comparison with the similar post-conict environment, a study tour to Northern Ireland was organised in October 2004 for the projects creative team, media representatives and municipal ofcers. This was an outstanding opportunity to gain insight into the Northern Ireland conict resolution, visit various artist groups, libraries, theatre practitioners, and meet with BBC Northern Ireland radio drama professionals. Over seven days, creative team members also had an

50

opportunity to learn of and discuss important issues with municipal employees, and to talk about the daily routines of municipalities. This relationship was maintained throughout the project, to the benet of the drama series. In addition to the challenge of obtaining results from the research to use as a starting point for script writing, script writers had to get used to working as part of a team, which proved to be an unusual working environment for them. However, it did enrich the drama plot. The radio drama series A gdje sam tu ja? was developed and produced by a creative team of 3 script writers Fea Isovi, Nenad Velikovi and Aida Pilav; and coordinated by script editor Mladen Ovadija, who was in consultation with and gained professional support from drama editor Zlatko Ivanievi, as well as 2 directors Miralem Ovina and Benjamin Filipovi, who ensured scripts were well translated into radio drama format. The BBC is an equal opportunities employer; and thus the standard recruitment procedures had to be applied for all project staff, including the creative team. A public announcement for creative people was published in local newspapers and sent to various cultural institutions, radio and TV stations. Upon reviewing all of the received applications, the Selection Committee interviewed short-listed candidates. However, the selection process for the script writers was a bit different. As a rst step, writers selected in the rst round were invited to take part in a workshop where they were introduced to the project and given a task to write a scene of a radio drama me. Upon reviewing their work, Selection Committee made a nal selection of three writers who were appointed as a team of Script Writers, lead by the Script Editor. In addition to the interviews, Directors were asked to provide a show reel of their work and the nal selection was made upon reviewing these. Team work was maintained throughout the project and meetings for the creative team were held often. They were also at times joined by the researcher and Project Manager, to discuss, develop and improve the dramas plot. As a result of twelve-months of intensive work and consultations, 15 episodes of A gdje sam tu ja? were produced. The three Script Writers rst delivered one episode each, and they were rst piloted to a sample audience. This was in accordance with the BBCs usual practice, which is to test rst by piloting episodes to a target audience, and in addition, media professionals were invited to join the review in order to ensure that the issues dealt with were relevant to the target audience. After the 3 episodes were written it was time for the rst round of recording cycle to begin.

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Production of radio drama series Casting for actors was publicised nationwide. The project team visited cultural institutions in Mostar, Banjaluka and Sarajevo. Posters were put up in theatres, the Academy of Drama and Acting and the Academy of Fine Arts as well as several other venues in Sarajevo. The announcement calling for actors was circulated to the Academy of Drama and Acting, theatres and other venues in Banjaluka and Tuzla. Actors were asked to send in a written application with a CV and this was quite an innovative and new approach for them. There were over 100 applications from actors from BH, many of whom were already established and famous in the country and region. Castings were organised during 3 days in December 2004 and around 80 per cent of those who applied were invited to test their vocal and acting skills in the RTRS studio in Banjaluka and in BiH Radio 1 drama studio in Sarajevo. The creative team selected actors for 9 lead characters, as well as for supporting roles. Many famous and experienced BH actors took part in the A gdje sam tu ja? radio series. The main characters were played by Jasna alica, Admir Glamoak, Mirsad Tuka, Izudin Bajrovi, Gordana Boban, an Marolt, erif Alji, Belma Lizde Kurt, Sead Bejtovi, Alena Debo and Denita Imamovi. Supporting roles were played by Milan Pavlovi, Jasna Dikli, Radenka eva, Mirza Tanovi, Aleksandar Seksan, Zoran Bei, Semir Krivi, Robert Krajinovi, Alban Ukaj, Drago Buka, Aleksandar Blani, Duko Mazalica, Boris avija, Alen Muratovi, Alija Aljovi, Halima Mui, Vanesa Gloo, Mehmed Pora, Dana Pinjo, Ejla Bavi and Moamer Kasumovi. Altogether, a total of 32 actors took part in the production of A gdje sam tu ja? radio drama series which, together with creative team members, made this project the largest group of artistic talent in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the past 10 years. The recording of the rst three episodes with 17 actors from the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina and 4 drama students took place in February 2005 in BH Radio 1 radio drama studio. Recorded material was edited in the RTRS studio in Banjaluka, and the three pilot episodes were ready for rst review by mid-February 2005. In preparation for this testing, the three pilots were listened to by the BBC WST team and agencies in charge of implementing focus group testing, BORAM and Mediacentar Sarajevo. Focus group testing was organised in March 2005 with 6 groups of from the general public and 6 groups of municipal employees from both BH entities. Middle managers from municipalities Centar Sarajevo, Novi Grad Sarajevo, Mostar, Banja Luka, Ilidza and Kasindo were asked to give their opinion about the three pilot programmes, and suggest topics to be included in the series. You can read more about the focus group testing results in a separate chapter of this survey.

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In addition to focus group testing to attain the opinions of the audience, the BBC World Service Trust has to ensure that all produced programmes are in accordance with the BBC editorial standards and that all the main BBC values such as impartiality, correctness and fairness are respected. Moreover, programmes must be relevant for target audiences. In Our Town, Our Future project we used a Programme Review Group to ensure this was the case. The Programme Review Group included senior BBC staff and regional experts (from BiH and the Balkans), a range of individuals from media and production, cultural and public life of Bosnia and Herzegovina. All 16 members of the Programme Review Group listened to the three pilot episodes, testing programmes against the goals of the project. Their feedback included recommendations about focus, content, and presentation, learning support, production values, coherence and diversity of the three episodes. Upon receiving professional comments and suggestions from the Programme Review Group together with the results of the focus groups, the creative team made amendments to the scripts and the radio dramas plot, and then, everything was in place for the nal production process. The next recording session of the next nine episodes was organised for 6 full days in May 2005, in BiH Radio 1 drama studio in Sarajevo. The second round of recording involved an incredible number of 31 actors from Bosnia and Herzegovina and 6 drama students. Recorded material was prepared for editing in BiH Radio 1 studio and edited in the RTRS drama studio in Banjaluka during 3 weeks in May 2005. To enhance the content of the radio drama episodes, vox pops with ordinary citizens and municipal employees were introduced. BBC World Service Trust team visited a number of municipalities and radio stations throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina from April to June 2005, and the Researcher used these visits to record vox-pops, getting opinions on topics covered in the radio drama episodes. These opinions found their way to the radio drama series as vox-pop clips, included in each of 15 the episodes. Scripts of the new episodes were again translated into English for another review by the BBC World Service Trust UK team, and script writers continued their work on the remaining episodes. In the meantime, the creative team worked on a theme tune for the radio series. Music was composed by Nedim Babovic, text was written by script writer Nenad Velickovic, and two versions of the song were interpreted by Branko uric uro and eljka Katavi Pilj. We were very fortunate to have the legendary member of the famous drama Surrealists take part in the project, Branko uri uro, now actor and director, as he was very

53

kind to sing the theme tune. Vocals were recorded and produced in a studio in Slovenia. Production of live radio phone-in programmes A nationwide public announcement was made for BiH radio stations to join the BBC World Service Trust network to broadcast the series. An Independent Selection Committee of ve members carefully examined over 60 applications and selected 28 radio stations to form the network. Selected radio stations agreed to broadcast 15 episodes of the series, and each would be followed by a live-phone in programme. Radio phonein programmes are a great opportunity for the audience to share their opinions on air, and give their comments about the radio drama episodes and topics it covered. Radio producers know the local situation best and thus can moderate constructive debate about important issues in their society with listeners. Production training was organised with a senior BBC expert for producers and editors from 28 radio stations throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, who will produce half-hour phone-in programmes for 4 days during August 2005 in the Media Centar Sarajevo. They were presented with a number of ideas and approaches from the rich experience of the BBC, and they also had an opportunity to talk to their colleagues and as a result come up with the best concept for the live phone-in programmes. The broadcast of the rst episode was planned for mid-September, timing it with when people in Bosnia and Herzegovina are usually back from their summer holidays for starting work, schools and universities. At this time they are more ready to absorb interesting, witty and educational radio drama and comment on it, stating their experience and suggesting solutions to common everyday problems related to their municipalities. While 30 radio stations started broadcasting A gdje sam tu ja? drama series on 12th September 2005, the creative team continued with the third round of recording. Six episodes featuring 20 BH actors were recorded during 4 full days in the BiH Radio 1 drama studio in Sarajevo. These nal episodes were edited in the BiH Radio 1 and RTRS drama studio in Banjaluka for 12 days in September 2005. The production of all 15 episodes was completed by October 2005, and after twelve-months of intensive work on the radio drama series, the creative team could nally tune in to listen and nd out what listeners thought about their work. The citizens of BiH had 15 weeks to comment live and talk about their problems on air on 28 radio stations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a result, Our Town, Our Future Project comprises a fantastic database of more than 100 hours of citizens comments about the present situation in BiH today.

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2.2

Selected Episodes

2.2.1 Episode One First Day Author: Fea Isovi

CHARACTERS: MAYOR, TAXI DRIVER, EDO, SABINA, FENKARELI, MARIJA NUNE, SHERIF, BUZO, KIMETA, NISVET SCENE 1 STREET/TAXI EXTERIOR/INTERIOR 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. SFX FILIPOVIC SFX TAXI DRIVER FILIPOVIC SFX TAXI DRIVER TRAFFIC JAM, CITY AMBIENCE Taxi!! CAR BRAKES, TAXI DOOR OPENS, MAYOR GETS INSIDE AND CLOSES THE DOOR. Good morning, where to? To the municipality, please. CAR STARTS. Look at him, look how hes driving. Just look at him. (car horn) And he has a drivers licence? (after a shorter break) So, youre going to the municipality? Eh, God be with you. I dont understand? Phew, you know what a wreck they are: When you go in, you never know when youll get out. Buddy of mine, we work together at the taxi stand, he packs himself a backpack: a bit of sausages, cheese, bread, just in case. You never know how long youre going to queue in there. Is it really so bad? Well, Im telling you. You need to have a sleeping bag with you, theyre so slow! Heres my case; Im after them for six months to sort out my apartment privatisation. Six months! They say: Weve lost your documents. And I handed it all to them: proof of ownership, an application, that contract for apartment use all of it. All that is a pile of papers this big. Thats not possible? Just like that, they lost them

8. 9.

FILIPOVIC TAXI DRIVER

10. FILIPOVIC 11. TAXI DRIVER

12. FILIPOVIC

55

13. TAXI DRIVER

I wouldnt believe it either if someone told me. You will see it for yourself when you go in. You wont manage to get out before tonight even if you were even if you just came to get tax stamps. So help me God. (squeaking and car horn) Eh, look at how that one is driving, no indicators!

SCENE 2 BARBER SHOP INTERIOR 14. EDO Alright, Sabina, my love: I told you not to worry without reason, I can shave some more heads before Im to be thrown away. I only think you need an assistant, someone to help you out. DOOR OPENS, BELL HANGING FROM THE DOOR, CITY AMBIANCE. Dont you worry about me, thats all. Do you know where youre going? Im off to the programme radio station , Im making a

15. SABINA 16. SFX 17. EDO 18. SABINA 19. EDO 20. SABINA 21. SFX 22. EDO

Stop wasting your time, Sabina my love, you would be better off (interrupts him) OK, bye bye, ciao. Kiss KISSES HER, THEN THE DOOR CLOSES. Ciao, ciao. (for himself) Check that out, to have someone helping me out? To watch them hanging around my shop. Well Im not mad.... DOOR OPENS Maestro Edo, one can go around the whole globe, but hardly can one nd barbers shop as this one, anywhere on Earth! Well, Fenkareli, is that really you? Head and beard and haircut, Maestro Edo. Was this wee Sabina at the door just now? Thats her Fenkareli, thats her. Well, she grew up to be a girlie. Real beauty. Is she married? Shes far away from that, my Fenkareli. Sometimes it seems to me she doesnt even think of it. Pretty girl, thats for sure. It would be a pity

23. SFX 24. FENKARELI

25. EDO 26. FENKARELI 27. EDO 28. FENKARELI 29. EDO 30. FENKARELI

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31. EDO 32. FENKARELI

Eh, Im really glad to see you. How long since Since I left? More than ten years passed Such a pretty girl Really, we should nd Sabina a boyfriend Ten years! Thats right Ten years passed since you left to Italy. Yep, Rome, Genova, Marseilles After that I went around the whole world. Seen the whole world, and came back with the same haircut. Just a similar one, Maestro Edo, just a similar one. Of all the hairdressers whose chairs I sat on, and I swear to God there were who knows how many of them out of all of them, none of them can match you none of them comes even close to your virtues. And I used to say to all of them: There is no real fencarre haircut without Maestro Edo styling it. Come on, come on, Fenkareli. Sit down, well call Marija to bring us coffee each. First coffee then haircut. Ha, ha... Its things like this that make it wonderful to come home: rst coffee then haircut

33. EDO 34. FENKARELI 35. EDO 36. FENKARELI

37. EDO

38. FENKARELI

SCENE 3 MUNICIPALITY YARD EXTERIOR 39. SFX 40. NUNE (Sings) CITY AMBIANCE, BENJO PLAYING SOFTLY. WILL FREEDOM KNOW TO SING AS NUNE SANG ABOUT IT Whats up Nune, our legend? Whats up with Nune, Sherif? Where would Nune be? If youre singing those songs, you could sing one about me, really! Something along the lines of: Sherif, security, like, Im guarding the municipality, my head in the bag, always in a battle. Get it, something like that? I get it, I get it, Nune gets everything. (sings) FASTER THAN WYATT EARP HE IS EVERYONE KNOWS HES GIFTED FAST HAND, CLEAR HEAD FOR A FRAUD ALWAYS PREPARED

41. SHERIF 42. NUNE 43. SHERIF

44. NUNE

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45. SHERIF 46. SFX 47. SHERIF

Get lost from here! Come on, get out of my municipality, you fool! CAR STOPS, DOOR OPENS, CLOSES, CAR LEAVES. (For himself) Bloody fool I let him in, treat him ne, like a human, and he (Yells) Hello, hello! Move that taxi away from here, this is not your fathers property! And you Sir, hello you, where do you think you are going? Can we have some order around here? Good morning. I would like to go to the Mayors ofce To the Mayors ofce? Hmmm, a nice plan you have there: straight to the Mayors ofce, worse even through the ofcial entrance. Eh, you wont be watching that lm today. Back you go, around there, straight to the Clients entrance. First you nicely appoint a meeting, and then to the Mayors. Besides, the authority is being changed, theres no Mayor in the ofce, the old one left, and the new one is not coming before tomorrow. I know, but tomorrow is just the ofcial (Interrupts him) Ofcial and unofcial - he is coming tomorrow. Do you understand: tomorrow, domani! Capisco? I know, I know, I understand you completely? I am just trying to say that it could happen, lets say, that he comes even today. Come on! Who on Earth comes to work a day early? Its more likely he will be late, rather than early. Well, maybe its time for me to introduce myself. I am Filipovic, new Mayor. And you are? Auuhh... I am a fool, so it seems. Total fool, Mr. Mayor. (desolately)

48. FILIPOVIC 49. SHERIF

50. FILIPOVIC 51. SHERIF

52. FILIPOVIC

53. SHERIF 54. FILIPOVIC 55. SHERIF

SCENE 4 BARBERS INTERIOR 56. SFX 57. MARIJA 58. EDO DOOR OPENS, BELL SOUNDS ON THE DOOR. And here comes the coffee two, just as you said, Master Edo. Do you see, Marija, whos back?

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59. MARIJA

I cant believe it Do I really have to be the last to know something? My Fenkareli ... When did you come back? Wow, Fenkareli, I missed these these gentleman manners of yours.

60. FENKARELI How do you do, Mrs. Marija? Give me your hand to kiss 61. MARIJA

62. FENKARELI Mrs. Marija, being a gentleman is based on false display, dressing up, exaggerating What Im saying, and this is the pure truth: I am looking at you; you havent changed a bit for all these years. Even more! You look fresh somehow, glowing. 63. MARIJA 64. EDO 66. MARIJA 67. EDO 68. MARIJA Same old Fenkareli Come on, we should drink the coffee. Eh, Sherif hasnt changed Hes like the sun to me: I cant look at either of them for too long! Come on, Marija, for Christs sake Then, when I think about it, what would I do without him? He sort of grew close to my heart, sometimes I really wish to marry him again.

65. FENKARELI Sir Sherif, how is he?

69. FENKARELI Come on, please!... You havent divorced again, have you? 70. EDO 71. MARIJA 72. EDO Leave that be, Fenkareli, please. The coffeewith milk or black? Since you left, remember, we have got divorced and remarried every now and then Its crazy, if you ask me. Speak up, which one do you want?

73. FENKARELI Ill have that one, with milk did it really have to be that way Marija? 74. MARIJA Well, rst we divorced to privatise our apartment more easily, then because municipality employees and their close relatives can not apply for municipal ofce space, then to get separate life allowances then who can remember it all My Fenkareli, you see, they dont know themselves anymore if they are married or divorced. Divorced, my friend, divorced. More of a woman than a free one. (everyone laughs)

75. EDO 76. MARIJA 78. MARIJA

77. FENKARELI Mrs. Marija, that means you are a free woman?

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SCENE 5 MUNICIPALITY HALL INTERIOR 79. SFX 80. KIMETA ECHO IN CONVERSATIONS, PRINTERS, OPENING AND CLOSING DOORS There, Mr. Mayor, we have now seen the legal and urban planning department would you like to see something else? No Kimeta. I am satised with what Ive seen. You know, if you hadnt surprised us like this Tell me, Kimeta, in general, how are things going in the municipality? Do people have to wait a long time to get their cases resolved? As far as that goes, Mr. Mayor, I think we are one of well, I think we are the best municipality in the country. So there is no delay? What delay?.....Cases get processed earlier than the deadline. Whatever it is about. And what about these misplaced cases? What cases? Misplaced ones, Kimeta, apartment privatisation cases What about that? Oh, that everything is okay, Mr. Mayor. That will be sorted without any problems whatsoever. So, they are misplaced, is that right? They have been located, Mr. Mayor, found. One of the employees took them home by mistake: she went on sick leave, had a huge workload, she thought she would nish it all off at home, and when she got back to work, she forgot shed taken them home. But no harm was done. That means clients will not have to submit their applications all over again? No way. They will be processed as a matter of urgency. To make it up to the people who waited. Good, but things like that ought not to happen. Shall we go to the counter hall? Straight ahead, Mr. Mayor, through the corridor and then left. The Counter hall is there.

81. FILIPOVIC 82. KIMETA 83. FILIPOVIC

84. KIMETA

85. FILIPOVIC 86. KIMETA 87. FILIPOVIC 88. KIMETA 89. FILIPOVIC 90. KIMETA 91. FILIPOVIC 92. KIMETA

93. FILIPOVIC 94. KIMETA 95. FILIPOVIC 96. KIMETA

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SCENE 6 COUNTER HALL INTERIOR 97. 98. SFX SHERIF CLAMOUR, PRINTER Uh, Im such a fool! Well, the whole town is full of his posters I really made a proper fool of myself. I almost arrested the man. Do you understand? Alright Sherif, but the queue? Do I have to stand in line for this citizenship certicate, or should I take special care of you? Uh, you Come on, as if you are here for the rst time. Give me a tenner and the certicate will be here in two minutes. Here, a tenner two vers. Oh God, the Mayor is coming Put that tenner back in your pocket and rush to the queue! These queues are a bit big, Kimeta. We will have to do something about that. Mayor, you think we havent tried Here, we put up number dispensing machines No use, our people are not made for that. Some smart guy comes every day, pulls out all the numbers and takes them home. Takes the numbers home? Yes home, Mr. Mayor, home. Good morning Kimeta, how are you? Then he comes back here with the numbers and sells them. These small ones sell particularly well. That is why we told Sherif to spend some more time here in the counter hall. What they wont come up with Filipovic, how are you, Filipovic? (Confused) Good morning how are you? You dont remember me, Filipovic, right? Nisvet, you remember Nisvet, Shishich. We were together in the army: Eighty one, JNA, Karaula? Nisvet, Nisvet, how could I forget you How is life, how are you? Well, I came for a citizenship certicate. I need it to apply for a job. I have no job, Ive been working without a salary for ve years Are you serious?

99.

NISVET

100. SHERIF

101. NISVET 102. SHERIF 103. FILIPOVIC 104. KIMETA

105. FILIPOVIC 106. SHERIF

107. KIMETA 108. FILIPOVIC 109. NISVET 110. FILIPOVIC 111. NISVET

112. FILIPOVIC 113. NISVET

114. FILIPOVIC

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115. NISVET 116. FILIPOVIC 117. NISVET

Five years itll be soon! And you, youve made it quite big huh?. Mayor, right? Well, I cant complain Listen, I would like to ask you If you could call this Agropool director, put some pressure on him to take me back, know what I mean? You are a big name now, its not easy to turn you down. Nisvet, I apologize, but I am in a real hurry. Make an appointment with Kimeta and come by one day. I will do my best.

118. FILIPOVIC

SCENE 7 BARBERS INTERIOR 119. FENKARELI ....and then from Denmark I came back to France, Paris: Montmartre, Champs Elysees, Louvre In my opinion one can not be a complete person unless he visits these places. 120. EDO I know, I know, Fenkareli. I know it all. There, you see, up on the wall, all the postcards I received from you. You know me, I havent travelled a lot, its always difcult to leave the shop. But that is why I have these postcards, I take a look at them, and its somehow the same as if I travelled, as if I saw the whole world from this barber shop of mine. (with longing) Leave that be, please, Fenkareli. Im too old for that. But, just sit down so we can get you styled.

121. FENKARELI And maybe you should sometimes 122. EDO

123. FENKARELI Youre right, indeed, Maestro Edo! Im going on and on, and look what time it is, I have to see the Mayor, this new one We arranged to have a coffee. 124. EDO We will trim this a bit, okay? And so, you know this new guy eh, whats his name? SCISSORS. Filipovic.

125. FENKARELI Filipovic. 126. SFX 127. EDO

128. FENKARELI I know him yes, of course I know him. He used to be a kid from the street. 129. EDO No kidding? 130. FENKARELI Yep...We used to send him to bring us beer. But he is a good guy. He was always diligent. I knew he was going to be successful.

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131. EDO

Im going to nish it off, okay? Have I trimmed it enough?

132. FENKARELI Yes, thats ne. And just style it, master Edo. That would be great. 133. SFX HAIRDRYER.

SCENE 8 MAYORS OFFICE INTERIOR 134. BUZO (on the phone) ...of course you are right, I agree, all straight by the book, Filipovic do you know how you got to the position of Mayor? People elected me, Mr. Buzo. People voted for me! (on the phone) People would vote for my aunt too if we put that many posters up of her. You know very well how much we supported your campaign? Mr. Buzo, thats all true and Im not denying it. (on the phone) Then this thing of mine will be sorted, right? You are in a respected position, Filipovic... aim high. Remember your predecessor? (on the interphone) Mr. Mayor, there is a gentleman here; he says he has an appointment. Just a moment, Kimeta. And please order two coffees. (switches interphone off) I apologize, Mr. Buzo. It will be ne, dont you worry. (over the phone) I havent doubted that, Filipovic. Good bye. Good bye, Mr. Buzo. (sighs with relief) DOORS OPEN, MAYOR FENKARELI COMES IN. HANGS THE PHONE,

135. FILIPOVIC 136. BUZO

137. FILIPOVIC 138. BUZO

139. KIMETA 140. FILIPOVIC

141. BUZO 142. FILIPOVIC 143. SFX

144. FENKARELI Well look at that ofce true sports hall. Good morning, Filipovic. Or should I say, Mr. Mayor? 145. FILIPOVIC Fenkareli! Long time no see? 146. FENKARELI Maybe too long but you know what the French say: Une fois ami toujours ami. Friends once buddies forever. 147. FILIPOVIC (at the same time as Fenkareli) Buddies forever. Thats right, my dear Fenkareli, thats right. You are back? Is it that bad in the West?

148. FENKARELI Its good, my friend, Im not saying it isnt. Theres even birds milk to be drank! But one thing missing is this this

63

149. SFX 150. MARIJA 151. FILIPOVIC 152. MARIJA

DOORS OPEN. Coffees coming Wow, look, Fenkareli is here. I cant believe it, I cant get used to you being back here. Marija, you know, I was caught by surprise aswell. I dont know whats more difcult to get used to: Fenkareli being back, or you being the new Mayor. That last Mayor was ... awful... I mean, really I couldnt wait to see the back of him. (on interphone) And they cant wait to see the back of you.. Uh, I go on and on, and Kimeta is eavesdropping again. Just like a Doberman. Im on my way, you know, if you need anything I already gured out the way things work around here. So, well see each other a couple of times a day.

153. KIMETA 154. MARIJA

155. FILIPOVIC

156. FENKARELI Good bye, Mrs. Marija. What a lovely day it is when you serve me twice. Lovely. 157. MARIJA 158. SFX 159. FILIPOVIC Come on, Fenkareli, please. DOORS CLOSE, MARIJA LEFT. So what did you want to say: something like the West is good, but something is missing?

160. FENKARELI This is whats missing! Here, this with Marija, a waiter asking you: How are you, whats up? A coffee with a friend, like this. That is whats missing. 161. FILIPOVIC Eh, thats one thing that is not missing here. 162. FENKARELI And, my brother, Ive earned enough. (takes a sip of coffee) You see, thats what I wanted to talk to you about aswell. I have some capital, I would like to invest in business, and youre the Mayor 163. FILIPOVIC Dont start with me, not you too, Fenkareli, in Gods name. I havent taken over the duty yet, and already people are at me from all sides: sort this out, support that, when will the tender be open, when

164. FENKARELI Dont be so defensive. I didnt mean anything no way, everything by the book! But I was thinking, if you have some advice 165. FILIPOVIC I have some advice, Fenkareli: can we drink our coffee, talk about old times well talk about business tomorrow. Is that a deal?

166. FENKARELI Whatever you say, Ficho, whatever you say. You are completely the same, you havent changed a bit.

64

SCENE 9 STREET/TAXI EXTERIOR/INTERIOR 167. SFX 168. FILIPOVIC 169. SFX 170. TAXI DRIVER 171. FILIPOVIC 172. TAXI DRIVER 173. SFX 174. TAXI DRIVER 175. FILIPOVIC 176. TAXI DRIVER TRAFFIC JAM, CITY AMBIENCE. Taxi!! CAR BRAKES, CAR DOOR OPENS, MAYOR GETS IN AND CLOSES THE DOOR. There, what did I tell you this morning: you wont nish before the evening! Good evening. You again? Its on me this time. When a client sits twice in the same day second time is on me. CAR STARTS. I was right, huh?, no end to it? I mean, in the municipality, the reason you went there? Well, I dont know. Thats not really the impression I got. No kidding?! Went in this morning got out just now. And you didnt get that impression? So what have you been doing there the whole (car horn) Hello neighbourhood girl, do you need a ride!? Good one, huh? Its good that I bumped into you again. I checked in the municipality, I asked around a bit about those misplaced applications. What misplaced applications? That one about apartment privatisation. You told me this morning. Aaaaha, that one. And what did they say? They say everything is OK. Documents have been found and will be processed in the next few days. Thats great news it deserves a celebration! (after a shorter break) And how come they gave you that sort of information just like that? These municipality guys? Well, I have to admit, I am not really a typical client Wait a minute I knew it, but I wasnt sure You are that folk singer the one off the posters around town?

177. FILIPOVIC

178. TAXI DRIVER 179. FILIPOVIC 180. TAXI DRIVER 181. FILIPOVIC

182. TAXI DRIVER

183. FILIPOVIC 184. TAXI DRIVER

65

185. FILIPOVIC 186. TAXI DRIVER 187. FILIPOVIC 188. TAXI DRIVER

No, no, Im the new Mayor. Im taking over ofce from tomorrow. Uh, look what a fool I am, I thought you looked like that singer Mayor Filipovic, right? Filipovic, thats right. I thought you looked familiar! There you are, your head is on the poster at our taxi stand, lifesized. What a fool I am, I look at you every day. Well, that ought to have been brought down a long time ago Wow, when I tell my guys from the stand. Really, half of us voted for you. I was the rst one Im Fuke, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too. But, I wanted to ask you something my sisters son if you could do something, I was just thinking, I voted for you after all, and he voted as well an appropriate thing would be to nd him a job. Hes not educated, but that is not important (car horn) Oigh, watch the way you drive! Others have no education as well, and theyre working, right? ... The kid wants a taxi at any price. But you know how it is with the municipality, licences and that sort of silly stuff: Did he ever commit a trafc offence, did he drive for two years, does he have a four-door car, does he have this, did he do that... Really, as if that was important. If you help out a bit, it is bound to get sorted. The kids driving is like no other. I taught him. I tell him: Kiddo, if you want to stay in this job, you drink only if taxi is standing still. Finish off the beer, and then drive. No driving and drinking. Is that right? (voice fading out) Stop here, please. Hello, stop here Ill walk from here Thank you. CAR STOPS, DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES. And hes some edgy guy, my brother and I gave him a ride for free.

189. FILIPOVIC 190. TAXI DRIVER

191. FILIPOVIC 192. TAXI DRIVER

193. FILIPOVIC 194. SFX 195. TAXI DRIVER

The end

66

2.2.2 Episode Four Hotel Belvi

Author: Aida Pilav
CHARACTERS: ZLATAN (45, taxi driver from before the war, lost his legs in war) ALMA (42, municipal employee, Zlatans wife), ERIF, MAYOR, DAMIR BUO (43, new businessman, partner in the municipality businesses, proteer), FENKARELI, NUNE, MARIJA, SPEAKER, GRANDPA, BOY SCENE 1 (INT) ZLATANS HOUSE 196. SFX: 197. SFX: 198. GRANPA: SILENCE. BIRDS TWITTER, DISTANT (ashback of Zlatans childhood) DOG BARKING Slow down, old lady. Now, were going to build you a home. Eh, you will have a good time, right? Dont give up, old lady, no more cold for you. Zlatan, my son, go into the house. Good grief Zlatan, what are you doing? Get up off the ground will you, look how dirty youre! Oh my God, you are a real child! I am measuring how far the front is from our house one meter seventy two! Had I not lost my legs, it would have been just enough for me to stretch out to! Built to suit a man, they say. Right, as if they knew how tall I was? A gang of thieves, thats what they are Zlatan, my love, dont get that nervous calm down Their, municipal architect tells me they were not supposed to build a hotel that is not at least six meters away from a house Hotel Belle Vue! They gave me a good view indeed! Come inside the house Zlatan, please. People are just leaving for work, its not nice... That is where I built the house for the old lady with my grandpa. If only the two of them were here, to see this architectural monster! My grandpa would organise a diversion for them, Im sure! ... My house is falling down, the foundations are sinking He wouldnt be able to just watch and do nothing like I do You are very calm, huh? I can see just how calm you are; you havent slept for nights TRAFFIC.

199. ALMA

200. ZLATAN

201. ALMA 202. ZLATAN

203. ALMA 204. ZLATAN

205. ALMA

67

206. ZLATAN

You remember, Alma, the garden and the old house You remember that view, of the whole town, when you climb up here, a bit higher Alma? I remember it, Zlatan. And now the hotel is there, and what can we do about it? Nothing! Yes we can! I can! When I go and visit them this time Again! ... Please, dont! What is it, are you worrying that I will embarrass you in front of your work colleagues?! I did everything that could be done! What did you do? Read some documents! I told them everything straight to their faces. Threw a tantrum more like! People will never let you inside the municipality again, not even to get your birth certicate! Why dont you go straight to the Mayor? His ofce isnt miles away from your counter hall! Eh, my Zlatan, like the Mayor has nothing better to do! He rarely accepts any appointments except with big investors. I will lose my mind in here, buried alive among these bricks! You go to work, have a drink, talk to people. And so, why dont you go out? Go and visit the association! There are some rumours ying around the municipality about a new job for the Association. Why would they want me at the Association? They already have ten invalids who play cards all day long. Like all they need is me too! Do as you like. I have to go. Ill will be late

207. ALMA 208. ZLATAN 209. ALMA: 210. ZLATAN: 211. ALMA: 212. ZLATAN: 213. ALMA:

214. ZLATAN: 215. ALMA:

216. ZLATAN: 217. ALMA:

218. ZLATAN:

219. ALMA:

SCENE 2 VOX POP ON RADIO 220. VOICE 1: There are many more comical topics than that. No jobs, a million things that dont work properly, and you are talking about illegal buildings! I think thats mad. Indeed, they have built them sky high, but all of them are illegall! I dont know, what can I say. Someone says its right, some that its not. It is not alright, to build such monstrosities.

221. VOICE 2:

68

222. VOICE 3:

Those illegal buildings should be either legalised or ofcially destroyed. What were they thinking in the rst place, how could they build them? But the question now is whether to demolish the hotel ...or not. If it doesnt bother anyone, then it is better to legalise it, surely. Society would benet from it, as well as those that built it. Well I think, that that is not alright - because of the risk of land slides and also, the damage to the water pipes. They almost sneaked one right next to the house of a friend of mine! It depends on our authorities, how corrupt they are! (DOCUMENTARY)

223. GLAS 3:

SCENE 3 (INT) COUNTER HALL 1. 2. 3. SFX: MARIJA ALMA: MUNICIPALITY MURMUR. Whats wrong with you, Alma? Why do you look so down? Here is some coffee, would you like some? I dont feel like coffee or anything else, thank you Zlatan is going to this morning he told me he was going to go to the municipality again. Can you imagine, theyre opening PKZC Belle Vue, its the second phase he cant stand it any more. I know, but what can you do, its like that, everyone does what they have to do But Marija, they dont even have a construction permit, nor did they test the soil properly... the surrounding houses are falling down ... Oh, if only Zlatan wouldnt go hes gonna throw a tantrum again hes gone totally mad. Have some coffee before it gets cold ... Everything will be ne! Well, really, if were honest, Buos Belle Vue really helped when it came to nancing some charity activities. That is why the Mayor must not give up that easily. Eh, if we had some luck, if only I could move my caf over there! Hello, I came for my birth certicate. Thats three marks charge, please. There you go. ALMA TURNS THE RADIO ON.

4. 5.

MARIJA: ALMA:

6.

MARIJA:

7. 8. 9. 10.

CLIENT: ALMA: CLIENT: SFX:

69

11. 12. 13. 14.

MARIJA: ALMA: CLIENT: SPEAKER:

What is it, why are you looking around? Dont look so worried Alma. There you go, your birth certicate, sir. Thank you. In the light of tomorrows opening of the Business Cultural Centre Belle Vue, the Mayor, Mr. Filipovi, said that this complex is of extreme importance for our local community. Around one hundred people will be employed, cultural and artistic events will be organised, and a youth activity area will be provided.

15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

CUSTOMER: Listen to that, since when do you listen to the local (radio)? ALMA: ERIF: ALMA: SPEAKER: Will you turn it up a bit? Hey, ladies, how is it going? Finish your breaks, here comes the Mayor! Shush, I want to hear this! We have come to know, however, that PKZC Belle Vue does not have a construction permit. Is that just one in a line of hospitality shops built on the back of the people who live in this municipality, disguised as a cultural event? Will this municipal initiative also merely turn into a prot making scheme for post-war proteers? Is Belle Vue just one more embezzlement for businessmen with suspicious capital making use of our ineffective and corrupt authority? MAYOR TURNS THE RADIO OFF. Who turned the radio on? SILENCE. I did. Come to my ofce. And I dont want to hear that ever again. (TURBO-FOLK MUSIC AD) Belle Vue! Belle Vue PKZC. Businesslike, cultural, and with entertainment! On top of the world, with the best view, the best service, the most cultural events. A place built to suit everyone. Welcome to Belle Vue!

20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26.

CUSTOMER: As if we didnt know that. SFX: MAYOR: SFX: ALMA: MAYOR: SFX

70

SCENE 4 (INT) MAYORS OFFICE 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. ALMA: SFX: MAYOR: ALMA: MAYOR: You wanted to see me? SILENCE. PAPER TURNING. Have you been employed here for many years, Mrs. Alma ? Yes I have, Mr. Mayor. I have been working here for fteen years I dont know what it was like before, but I personally am not in the mood to listen in my working environment, to some radio programmes spreading lies about the municipality. Especially in a sector dealing with clients. If youve been working in this municipality for such a long time, you shouldve learned some basic rules It wasnt loud I apologize, I didnt know it was such a big problem While we are trying to improve the situation, you are giving customers material to complain about I admit I was wrong. But, I do have evidence that what theyre saying on the radio is true I am struggling to introduce European standards in the municipality, and what do I nd what I nd on the streets! My advice to you is that you dont leave that counter so often in order to look for so-called evidence of yours! It is easy to lose a job these days, even if you have thirty years of working experience! Mr. Mayor, you have got it totally wrong You better be going now. Clustomers are waiting. And if I hear any complaints regarding your work No one has ever complained about my work This conversation is over. Please, go now. ALMA CLOSES THE DOOR.

32. 33. 34. 35.

ALMA: MAYOR: ALMA: MAYOR:

36. 37. 38. 39. 40.

ALMA: MAYOR: ALMA: MAYOR: SFX:

SCENE 5 (EXT) THE STREET 41. 42. SFX: NUNE: VOICES. CARS. STEPS. Where are you going? Whats being given for free? Humanitarian aid? Ha? Youre doing well! Youre glowing, clean, and white. Your forehead is bright, your outt smells nice. Who lured you into a charity group?

71

43. 44.

ERIF NUNE:

Nune, get away from there! People cant get in! What? Because I havent shaved, or is it my haircut which bothers you? Im a good man, erif, but I admit, I have lost a bit of my glow! Nune, dont make me chase you away! Come on, Im telling you nicely. Well, if you put it like that. But, look at them, how pretty they are! As soon as morning breaks, they are already labelled. Lad, are you tired of life, huh? Are you? Go on, Nune, go. Nune. Im going, ying away, on my way

45. 46.

ERIF: NUNE:

47. 48.

ERIF: NUNE:

SCENE 6 (INT) OPENING OF THE SECOND PHASE OF HOTEL 49. SFX: MURMUR OF VOICES. OFFICIAL RECEPTION. EASY LISTENING MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND. GLASSES CLINKING. Today we are opening a second phase of the Belle Vue complex. The name Belle Vue symbolically marks a pretty view of our municipalitys future owing to the fact that this complex is intended for cultural events, as well as providing an area for youth entertainment. The owner of the building, Mr. Buo, has been the municipalitys partner in its charity projects for years and once again his business ethics have been proven today. For a brighter future and better prospects! Thank you. APPLAUSE. VOICES. MUSIC. Congratulations, Mr. Buo. I am glad to see you again. Thank you. It was a very nice speech, Mr Mayor. You are the sort of person this country is in need of! Oh, Fenkareli! Look at your great Gatsby! Well, where are you, my man? Are you leaving or have you just arrived? I havent seen you, wow, since Rome!

50.

MAYOR:

51. 52. 53.

SFX: MAYOR: BUO:

54. 55.

FENKARELI: My congratulations too, senor Buo! BUO:

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56.

FENKARELI: You must mean Milan... Well, Im here now, I have a bit of business, you know whats it like ... Its easy for you! Youre building something grand, right? (LAUGTER) BUO: Well, nothing grand, my Fenkareli! A small hotel, a bit of a culture, a bit of entertainment for people! Everything to peoples fancy and all above board! Isnt that right, Filipovi? Of course, Mr. Buo! But, I called you the other day to talk about PKZC. Well, we can talk now What is it about? Well, you know, several candidates applied for tender for ofces space allocation. But, we should put out a tender for ex war veterans and war invalids. Our policy is to give them opportunity whenever it is possible. For sure. In any case, that is your area. I am a businessman, Mr Mayor. I deal with politics only when something is rocking the boat and balance needs to be restored. But, I think thats a good idea. But you should help me out with this Of course. And I will help, as I always have done so far! But, Mr. Buo, one piece of advice: I kindly ask you once more to nish that business with the construction permit. Understand, things could get complicated Ah, but you know whats its like, Mr Mayor. This is business, there are priorities. In any case we will sort that out. And about citizens complaining explain to them: this is a charity project, and veterans and invalids are citizens as well! All humane and above board! I am glad we talked. I have to go now

57.

58. 59. 60.

MAYOR: BUO: MAYOR:

61.

BUO:

62. 63. 64.

MAYOR: BUO: MAYOR:

65.

BUO:

66. 67.

MAYOR:

FENKARELI: Thats a good one: all legal. Listen, this is no place for major talks. Come on, Ill give you a call later and we will meet up. I have some good propositions for you.

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68.

BUO:

You never change! You came up with so many in the last couple of months and I am fed up! Its not all about business you know! And do give me a call, we should get together, my man! And how come you know Filipovi?

69.

FENKARELI: The Mayor is a kid from my street. When me and his brother were chasing girls, he was kicking a football. A good boy. He has a future.

SCENE 7 (EXT) STREET SFX: STREET. CARS SPEEDING. SOUND OF NUNES ACCORDION IN THE BACKGROUND. BRAKES SQUEAKING AND A WAILING CAR SIREN.

70.

ZLATAN: (shouts) What is it, why are you looking at me?! You in a hurry to get somewhere, are you?! Why are you looking at me that way? Come on, get out of that car, you shmuck.. NUNE: (FROM FAR AWAY) Zlaatan... Zlaja, my brother, you are the only one with no tie! Shall I give you a push? Nune where did you come from? erif chased me away In front of the municipality? No, theres no one in the Municipality! All the crme de la crme is at Belle Vue! At Belle Vue? The Mayor, directors, Buo: they are all there partying. (laughter) They are there, you say Mother fuckers! Im gonna tell them everything straight to their faces? To their faces, to their faces. NUNES ACCORDION IN SLOW GALLOP RHYTHM. THEN, ZLATANS WHEELCHAIR SPEEDING UP They should build on their own doorstep! I can see neither people, nor hill,.. nor sky. (WHEELCHAIR) Hey, wait for me slow down.

71.

72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78.

ZLATAN NUNE ZLATAN: NUNE: ZLATAN: NUNE: ZLATAN:

79. 80.

NUNE: SFX:

81. 82.

ZLATAN NUNE:

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83. 84.

ZLATAN: NUNE:

Dont run after me. Go! Wait, I should push you... (WHEELCHAIR GETTINGAWAY) Dear Lord, look, as if we were naked. Dear Lord knows what fake is. Dear Lord, dear Lord

85.

SFX:

NUNES ACCORDION SLOWS DOWN THE RHYTHM. WHEELCHAIR SOUND IS FADING INTO THE DISTANCE

SCENE 8 (INT) MARIJAS BUFFET THE BASE 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. SFX: MARIJA: BUFFET ATMOSPHERE. VOICES. MUSIC. He got three grenade shells on that hill behind the building hotel. He still carries them. Of course he was, he just didnt get a medal! But he messed something up just before the end. He smuggled cigarettes over the border. He is not that bad a guy, just a bit of a crook occasionally. He always messes up somewhere in the middle or just at the end. In love? ... I thought we were going to discuss business, and this is turning into a marriage counselling session! What happened to PKZC? You told me I almost got the space for my restaurant. What happened with that?

FENKARELI: And that erif of yours, did he ght in the war?

FENKARELI: So, he was on the frontline? MARIJA:

91. 92.

FENKARELI: Really, it is so obvious that you two are in love MARIJA:

93.

FENKARELI: Why are you getting so het up, Marija, for Christs sake? Its no wonder erif needs a break sometimes! That is what I wanted to talk you about now. You would get much more favourable rent if you were a family member of a veteran. MARIJA: I am, so help me God! My grandfather was a rst line veteran, a Partisan

94.

75

95.

FENKARELI: Look, I cant stand around making idle chit chat. But listen, you bring the documents about erif being your husband and about him being in the army when he was hit by those grenade shells, and you will get the space! Buo put aside three shops for that purpose, and I will conrm it with the Mayor. Of course, you wont forget that I did you this favour, huh? MARIJA: I have to marry erif again?! For the third time, my Fenkareli?! I couldnt bear to do it again! We tried it all, we went to see both an Imam and an Orthodox Priest I went to yoga once too

96.

97.

FENKARELI: Why dont you think of it as an investment, if thats gonna make it easier for you. I shall be leaving now. MARIJA: Poor me, just when I could have had it all. But my friend, maybe, the best thing for a woman is to merely sit, with her knitting in one hand, and the other stirring the casserole.

98.

SCENE 9 (INT). ASSOCIATION OF INVALIDS 99. SFX: VOICES. (CHESS AND CARDS TIME SLOTS) Oh, Zlaja, whats up?! Where were you my man!? You havent been around for a long time. Your wife doesnt let you out, or what? No, not the wife, what are you on about? Im in deep shit. I came to see if there are some jobs available. There are some rumours going around the municipality about it. This is the rst time I have heard about it, and from you! Did Alma tell you about it? Yes. The Association signed a contract with the municipality ten days ago for a security guard in the parking area , or something like that. I only know about getting ready for demonstrations. Its about us getting some benets as war invalids. Both you and I, we lost our legs in the war, but on the streets, not on the frontline, and we get nothing Its high time something was done about that. Its like everyone is protesting, but some have gone completely silent

100. VOICE 1:

101. ZLATAN:

102. VOICE 1: 103. ZLATAN:

104. VOICE 2:

105. ZLATAN: 106. VOICE 2:

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107. ZLATAN: 108. VOICE 1: 109. ZLATAN:

I havent heard anything about that, but I will come. So, you dont know anything about that job? Listen, I havent asked around, but if you go to the ofce, they might know something. You are right, I should. See you later. Good luck!

110. VOICE 2:

SCENE 10. THE MAYORS OFFICE 111. SFX: 112. ALMA: 113. MAYOR: 114. ALMA: SLAMMING A PILE OF PAPERS ON THE DESK. Here you go, your papers, Mr. Mayor! What is this?! Complaints from thirty seven citizens regarding the case of a Hotel and Cultural Centre being built in my backyard! Among those are twelve complaints from my husband, it says down at the bottom: Zlatan Nikoli. No construction permit for the hotel, nor was there any ground for construction to start in the rst place, and they are building a second phase already, of a so-called Business Cultural Entertainment centre! Easy, Alma, slow down, I just wanted Yes I did! I voted for you and supported your ideas. And yes I am Im a fool! And yes I did I had a respect for you as a young, ambitious man who will bring prosperity to the municipality. Mrs. Alma, we cant sort all this out nicely We cant solve a thing anymore! I know that because seldom does anything get solved around here! And tell that Buo and all those big charity people led by you - I will not allow my house, my husbands family house to fall down! Because of some PKZC its foundations are crumbling I will not allow it, thats my right! I swear this both before God and before the people. There is a Court of jurisdiction for that too... You wanted to see me? You are disturbed by a radio in the counter hall? Or by the truth you heard? Tell me, what is the problem? So, no problem! Good (alright!)! Good bye! ALMA SLAMS THE DOOR BEHIND HER.

115. MAYOR: 116. ALMA:

117. MAYOR: 118. ALMA:

119. SFX:

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SCENE 11 (INT) ZLATANS HOME. NIGHT 120. ZLATAN: 121. SFX: 122. ZLATAN: 123. SFX: 124. ZLATAN: 125. ALMA: 126. ZLATAN: Are you feeling better now? Headache gone? SILENCE. I got a job. SILENCE. Alma, do you hear me? I got a job! Job? What job? The one you were telling me about, for invalids, security attendant for the parking lot. Ten marks (KM) per day. And, I went to check it out: its a small booth, the same as a guard-house, it has a heater, a small TV A job is not that difcult. Are you alright? Are you sure you can do it? I start tomorrow! Yes, I might be a bit slower; it will take me more time to get out of the booth in the wheelchair. But, thats life, eh! I used to drive a taxi, and now Im guarding someone elses cars! But at least I stayed in the same profession! (LAUGTER) Alma? SILENCE. And what are we going to do about Belle Vue? Even if the house falls down, we will build it again! As long as its ours, we can make it.

127. ALMA: 128. ZLATAN:

129. SFX: 130. ALMA: 131. ZLATAN:

SCENE 12 (INT) MARIJAS BUFFET THE BASE. 132. MARIJA: 133. ERIF: 134. MARIJA: So, where were you, my love? The coffee is getting cold. You said you were gonna be here at twelve. Ah, give me a break woman, whats got into you? Did you suddenly start warming to me? Me, warming to you!? ... You poor sod, look how grumpy you are, one couldnt kiss you even if they wanted! Youre not used to tenderness, but instead ice, rocky ground and a leash! Come on, tell me: What does the Mayor want?! Well, why do you get upset so quickly, he wants a strong one . Fenkareli is there too, he wants Earl Grey tea, or something like that Uh, look at great Mr. Fenkareli, who is nothing but an ordinary crook! Whats good for the goose.

135. ERIF:

136. MARIJA:

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137. ERIF: 138. MARIJA:

What was that? Today a crook, and yesterday you would use him as a healer! I ask him nicely to help me with a space for a restaurant at Belle Vue, and he now he denies it and, on top of everything else, he asks things of me, then you, then me again.Uh, my dear, dear erif, really, you are such a redneck What now?! And youre asking me? You were about to leave, without even kissing me! Oh my god, woman, whats got into you? You were not like this before. (KISS) Eh, go now, and take this with you! Youre no woman, but the Devil himself! (for herself) Eh, my erif, we will never make a decent husband or a man of you

139. ERIF: 140. MARIJA: 141. ERIF: 142. MARIJA: 143. ERIF: 144. MARIJA:

SCENE 13 (INT) MAYORS OFFICE. 145. SFX: 146. ALMA: 147. MAYOR: 148. ALMA: SILENCE. What would you like to know, Mr. Mayor? Well, everything, Mrs. Alma, I am interested in everything you want to tell me. Alright. My husband and I live in the house that is now six feet away from Belle Vue Hotel. We look at one wall and two windows. It is cold, we never get any sunshine. My husband is an invalid, he lost his legs in the war, but not as a result of direct conict. I know it all of this, but you shouldnt have taken it so far. Surely you know that this case is no more under the municipalitys jurisdiction Even when it was within the municipalitys jurisdiction, our complaints were rejected. You are familiar with all those complaints. You should have come to me personally earlier, and not gone to the Court the building has almost been completed and even if all those complaints were taken into consideration, the municipality budget does not have the money to destroy the building You know what they say, one has to move on...

149. MAYOR:

150. ALMA:

151. MAYOR:

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152. ALMA: 153. MAYOR:

We moved on a long time ago, Mr. Mayor, but you see, Belle Vue, has got in our way. I think, considering the conditions you are living under at present, the best thing is to move out. I could help you with that. You see, the municipality has started a new initiative which is allocating council ats to invalids and veterans. I can speed up a procedure for you to get a council at Thank you for your offer, Mr. Mayor, but We will manage to get by somehow The Municipality has never been capable of fullling our requests, not before, not now. My husband and I are not leaving our house. The case will come to Court sooner or later. If our house falls down by then, we will build a new one on the same spot. I can get you approval for the council at by tomorrow This is a good opportunity. Im sorry, but to me it seems like big trouble. Alright, Mrs. Alma, I just wanted to help you out Thank you for that too. Goodbye.

154. ALMA:

155. MAYOR: 156. ALMA:

157. MAYOR: 158. ALMA:

SCENE 14 (INEX) ZLATANS SENTRY BOX. EVENING 159. SFX: TV IS ON. THE VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO FILL A VOTING BALLOT IS ON: You either circle one candidate partys name, or mark a name of one party. You are not allowed to mark names of candidates from two different parties KNOCK ON THE DOOR. Alma, what are you doing here? Here, I came home from work, and I made you something to eat But, you shouldnt have, my sweetie, I took something from home earlier Never mind, I didnt know its not so bad in here! Thanks God, its warm, God forbid you catch some illness. How did it go at work, is the Mayor still bothering you? No way, he cant say a word. When he comes in to work, he only glances at me and waves at us. And, what can he do? I wouldnt like to be in his shoes.

160. ZLATAN: 161. ALMA: 162. ZLATAN: 163. ALMA:

164. ZLATAN: 165. ALMA:

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166. ZLATAN: 167. SFX: 168. ALMA: 169. ZLATAN: 170. ALMA: 171. ZLATAN: 172. ALMA: 173. ZLATAN: 174. ALMA: 175. ZLATAN: 176. ALMA:

Hold on a second, a car is coming. ZLATAN LEAVS THE BOOTH. A SOUND OF A CAR. (for herself) Eh, look at them, bastards...! Two marks (KM)! Thank you. Good bye! Do you know, my Zlatan, who that was? Buo and Fenkareli! Let them be, I have had enough of them How come you didnt say anything to them? Ive said enough. I wouldnt want to lose my job because of them. Just look at his car thieves. Let them be, Alma, they wont take anything to their grave. Well, I dont know what each of them will take to their grave, but the Court will say what they are going to do while theyre alive! Come on; eat, before it gets cold. (ZLATAN EATS FROM THE POT) (ABSTRACTLY): (with accordion, recorded) Dear Lord, dear Lord, look, it was as if we were naked Dear Lord knows whats not for real. Dear Lord, dear Lord

177. NUNE

THE END

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2.3 The Pilot Programme Testing by the Mediacentar Sarajevo

About the Pilot Programme Testing Three pilot episodes of the radio drama were developed by the creative team of the BBC WST using Dr Irwins survey. To get a picture of how the drama would be received by the target audience, we chose to employ the method of focus group testing. The research included a total of 12 focus groups with potential listeners and was conducted from February 23, to March 11, 2004. Six Focus groups were conducted with ofcials coming from six BiH municipalities, and six groups consisted of respondents of the general audience. The Municipalities included in this research were: 1.) Centar Municipality, Sarajevo; 2.) Mostar City Administration; 3.) Banja Luka City Administration; 4.) Kasindo Municipality, Istono Sarajevo; 5.) Novi Grad Municipality, Sarajevo; and 6.) Lukavica Municipality, Istono Sarajevo. Eight focus groups were conducted in Sarajevo (four with municipal ofcials and four with the general audience), while two focus groups (one with municipal ofcials and one with a general audience) were conducted in both Banja Luka and Mostar. The focus groups included a total of 110 respondents.

Summary of Findings
by Ratko oki, Mediacentar Sarajevo
This research had three major objectives: 1. To obtain feedback from potential listeners of the radio drama A gdje sam tu ja? 2. To explore possible similarities and differences in the perception of the radio drama between civil servants and the general radio audience in BiH 3. To obtain comments and suggestions from the potential listeners with the purpose of improving the programme. The following sections provide details on key results of this research, divided by presenting different elements of the programme.

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Programme Content The participants found the topics of the individual episodes of the radio drama to be current and relevant. PPROBLEMS AS PRESENTED IN THE RADIO DRAMA The way in which the radio drama portrayed the performance of BiH municipal authorities (regarding the issue of objectivity) was a point of signicant divergence in opinion, as indicated by the research target group, illustrating substantially different positions. It appeared that the major factor of such discrepancy was the background of participants within the individual focus groups. Generally, the participants can be divided in the three following groups: The First Group consisted of research participants who strongly disliked the content of the episodes presented are the employees of the following local administrations: Centar Municipality Sarajevo, Novi Grad Municipality Sarajevo, and Mostar City Administration. One point on which all of these research participants almost unanimously agreed, was that they felt that their organisations are effective in carrying out their work. With regard to the content of the radio drama, criticism fell into the following categories: The lack of objectivity regarding the portrayal of the way in which municipal employees carry out their jobs. This predominantly concerns the portrayal of the way in which municipal ofcials relate to citizens. A bias portrayal of the relationship between municipal ofcers and citizens in day to day dealings. In other words it was felt that only the misconduct of municipal ofcials was presented and reference was made towards bad behavior on the part of citizens (towards municipal ofcials). The fact that the radio drama only focused on negative issues and ignored anything positive, was also widely criticized. The participants (municipal ofcials from the above local administrations) considered that the programmes failed to address possible reasons which objectively limit municipal administration to improve and achieve better results. The radio drama was criticized for oversimplifying and giving a stereotypical portrayal of the work of the municipal administration. The participants also believed that the radio drama presented a number of issues and related inconveniences which do not fall under the responsibility of every municipality. Additionally, that each BiH municipality was portrayed in the same, negative light.

83

The Second Group consisted of participants from the three focus groups and was made up of municipal ofcials employed with the following local administrations: Kasindo and Lukavica Municipality and Banja Luka City Administration. The general opinion of these three groups was that the programmes provided a fairly realistic reection of the current situation in BiH local administrations. Although the participants in this group voiced certain objections to some of the material- similar to those of the participants in the rst group, those views were not dominant in the discussions. The Third Group consisted of the panelists from the general audience. Most of these participants agreed that the programmes provided an objective portrayal of problems related to the work of the municipal administration. Only a smaller number of participants in these groups shared the opinions of the participants in the rst group. SOLUTIONS OF PROBLEMS AS PRESENTED IN THE PROGRAMME The research population generally felt that programmes which they were presented with failed to offer concrete solutions to specic problems or even if there was an implied solution to the problems, it was not acceptable. The participants also felt that the way in which the radio drama was structured was inadequate. This was most probably due to the fact that all the panelists expected the programmes to provide concrete solutions. The municipal ofcials a potential consequence of what they believed to be inappropriate presentation of problems could further widen the gap between municipal administrations and citizens and lead to increased dissatisfaction on behalf of the citizens. On the other hand, the participants of the group consisting of members of a general audience expected concrete solutions to arise from the episodes, which could be effectively put into practice in reality. A number of participants felt that one of the problems related to the programme was the fact that it promoted an approach which showed the least resistance to dealing with relevant issues. In addition, the radio drama itself did not take any kind of stance with respect to such an approach in dealing with issues. Only a small number of participants felt that that the concept of a programme which does not provide concrete and denitive solutions to the problems raised could inspire the listeners to think for themselves and in turn nd the most appropriate solutions. Thus such an approach to the programmes could be benecial in that it would contribute to an increased sense of awareness in the citizens of BiH.

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Primary Objectives and Target Audience PRIMARY OBJECTIVE In a similar fashion to the disagreement raised with respect to the content of the radio drama, participants from different focus groups also had a different opinion on what was the target audience. The most radical opinion was that the main objective of the programme was seen as something destructive, i.e. the programme was aimed at inducing negative reactions in citizens and further widening the gap between the municipal administration and citizens. Such an opinion was expressed by some participants in the rst group. Another opinion expressed regarding the objective of the programme was that it was not clear, which was held by the participants in the rst group but also by a number of participants from the general audience. On the other hand, participants from Banja Luka City Administration, Kasindo Municipality and Lukavica Municipality, including a number of participants from the general audience considered that the primary objective of the programme was to educate listeners, i.e. increase civic awareness and indirectly inuence municipal administrations with the aim of improving their work. Finally, a number of participants in the groups comprising both municipal ofcials and general audience saw the entertainment of listeners as primarily objective of the programme.

TARGET AUDIENCE The target audience was also an issue on which participants disagreed signicantly. Comments that the programmes were intended for disgruntled citizens who could possibly be further provoked by these programmes reected the grave discontent of participants in the rst group. However, some of these participants felt that municipal ofcials should be included in the target audience but only if the way in which the programme presents the general work of the municipal administration is changed. On the other hand, a number of participants from the second municipal group believed that the radio drama, in its current form, was mainly intended for municipal ofcials. In addition, some of these participants felt that the radio drama was intended to reach out to all population categories. This opinion was supported by a majority of participants in the general audience groups.

85

First Episode versus second and third one / entire programme The majority of respondents felt that rst episode represented a good introduction for the subsequent ones. Furthermore, majority of participants thought that each presented episode ts into a wider, bigger picture.

Presentation ORGANISATION AND PROGRAMME PRODUCTION While a number of participants said that they experienced certain difculties in following the story, other participants noted that keeping their focus on the radio drama was demanding due to sudden jumps from one topic to another, one character to another, or one location to another which were not accompanied by elements to indicate, explain or contextualize such sudden changes. The participants described the programme as sufciently dynamic and balanced in its pace Although several participants explained that the similarity in the voices of certain actors was a source of confusion and that they were not pleased with the way in which the programme combined actors voices and supporting sounds, general assessment was that the production was satisfactory.

DURATION OF INDIVIDUAL EPISODES While some of the participants (municipal ofcials from the second group and some of the general audience participants) considered the duration of individual episodes to be quite satisfactory, the remaining participants felt that the episodes were too long and thus, listeners would have to spend time that they would not normally spend on the radio as a choice of media outlet, listening to the programmes. QUALITY OF ACTING Generally, the quality of acting was considered to be satisfactory. THE CHARACTERS The majority of participants agreed that characterization in the radio drama was effective. LANGUAGE The presence of everyday language in the radio drama was considered by the majority of the participants as positive. However, some of the

86

participants felt that the slang in the radio drama was inappropriate for a radio broadcast. INTRODUCTORY THEME SONG The participants had opposing opinions on the theme song. A number of participants (Kasindo and Lukavica Municipality ofcials and a number of general audience participants) liked the song and its lyrics. On the other hand, ofcials of Mostar City Administration, Centar and Novi Grad Municipality ofcials and the remaining participants form general audience actually did not like the theme song. Municipal ofcials thought that the lyrics are offensive, while the general audience felt that it lacked seriousness (or it was oversimplied) and was not in line with the sentiment of the programme.

SURVEYS The majority of respondents had no major difculties in identifying actual vox pops inserted into the programme. In addition the majority of respondents supported the underscoring of ctional elements with actual opinions from the citizens. Broadcast times and partner radio stations The participants felt that the radio drama should be aired at prime time and on radio stations with the highest ratings. Public broadcast radio stations were indicated as the most suitable to broadcast this kind of programme. This is because they cover a larger territory than the local radio stations. In addition, the programme proles of these radio stations were considered to be serious and this would facilitate the presentation of the radio drama as a programme with a specic, relevant message.

General impressions Most of the participants from the groups consisting of a general audience thought that the way in which the drama was designed would be well received by BiH citizens. Such an opinion was primarily based on the appeal of the satirical tone of the programme. On the other hand, municipal ofcials again stressed their concern that such programmes could fuel the stereotypes which citizens already have regarding the municipal administration. However, they believed that the programme will appeal to the BiH population in general. Suggested common topics which respondents would like covered in the radio drama were: success stories of work done by the municipal administration (suggested by municipal ofcials), the

87

promotion a culture of civilized living and behavior (suggested by general audience respondents). Recommendations for Programme Improvement Suggestions for improvement of the radio drama chiey related to the modication of its content and not the way in which the programme was presented. Suggestions to illustrate this are provided as follows: Municipal ofcials, predominantly those from the rst group, felt that the programme should be more realistic, or in other words, it should reect the actual situation in the municipal administration (which they did not consider to be as depressing as the programme suggested). This could be done by the following changes or additions to the programme: A comparable contrast of both positive as well as negative aspects of the work of the municipal administration. The programmes should show both effective and ineffective municipal administrations, i.e. describe the situation in both the successful and less successful municipal administration; The trivialization of complex issues should be refrained from, i.e. the programme should draw from meticulous research of municipal administration and related problems in order to avoid a bias approach in presenting the actual situation and holding municipal administration responsible for certain matters which do not fall under their authority at all; The informative and educational value of the programmes should be enhanced. The programme should provide solutions to problems addressed. In addition, the programme should include some concrete information on how to successfully deal with problems or to whom to refer in order to solve such problems. Another point to consider would be the combination of radio drama and talk programmes (featuring competent speakers to discuss a topic covered in the individual episode) or a studio discussion on the different legal aspects of presented issues. Alongside with municipal ofcials, this suggestion was supported by participants from the focus groups comprising the general audience. A number of participants, both municipal ofcials and the general audience respondents, thought that the programmes should be proled better in terms of their objective. Furthermore, some of the participants felt that the duration of individual episodes could be shorter. In addition, several respondents in each focus group proposed ways of how to improve the programme with respect to the theme

a. b. c.

d.

88

song (more specically its lyrics), the acting and the language used in the drama.

2.4 Results of the Audience Research

2.4.1 The Audience Survey
Aims of the audience research The audience survey was commissioned by the CDRSEE and implemented by Strategic Marketing between February and April 2006. Two months after the radio drama was broadcasted 1000 citizens of BiH, 500 of which were municipal workers, were interviewed about the drama episodes. The aim was to nd out how the radio drama was perceived by the target group, what impact it left on attitudes and if the creative approach of using radio drama for education succeeded.

Report on Findings
By Prof. Dr. Svetlana Logar, Strategic Marketing
Methodology The survey was conducted as an ad-hoc research with face to face interviews. Prior to implementation the questionnaire was tested. Methodology of the survey with the General Audience: Data collection method: Target population: Sample frame: Face to face with respondents home Population of B&H 18+ Population Census 1991, UNHCR statistics, Ofcial vital statistics and data on migrations, and SMMRI population estimates for 2005. Representative stratied three stage random sample - with listeners boosted Local communities (PPS sample population 18+) Households random walk (simulation of SRSWoR sampling scheme) and Kish scheme (simulation of SRSWoR sampling scheme) Lachirie method

Type of sample: Sample stages: 1st stage: 2nd stage: 3rd stage:

Sample selection:

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Size of sample:

500 responders: 250 listeners of the radio drama A gdje sam to ja, and 250 nonlisteners n=500 n=250 +/- 4.4 +/- 6.2

Margin error

Sample description General Audience: Listening to the drama in the past six months

Total

Gender Female

Age

Stratum Federation BIH 320 52 48 R. Srpska 174 44 56

18-29

30-39

40-49 95 43 57

Male

N sig Yes No Total

494 49,5 50,5

237 51 49

257 48 52

182 53 47

104 51 49

113 47 53

0.58

0.44

50+

0.08

100 per cent

Methodology of the Survey with Municipal workers Target population: Sample frame: Type of sample: Sample stages: 1st stage: 2nd stage: Data collection method: Municipality ofcials Municipalities Quota sample Municipalities Municipal workers Face to Face at respondents working place

90

Sample description Municipal workers: Listening to the drama in the past six months

Total

Gender Female

Age

Stratum Federation BIH 333 42 58 R. Srpska 188 44 56

18-39

40-49 206 0.75 44 56

Male

N sig Yes No Total

521 43.0 57.0

211 46 54

310 41 59

198 44 56

117 40 60

0.22

50+

0.70

100 per cent

Key ndings
Taking into account only declarative statements of the impact the drama had on the listeners, the impact was much stronger on the municipality ofcials than on citizens: 90 per cent of the municipality ofcials stated that the drama had an impact on them, while the same was reported by 42 per cent of the citizens. In comparison to citizens, municipality ofcials are reported to like the drama at a substantially higher percentage, 51 per cent and 71 per cent respectively (83 per cent of more frequent listeners and 59 per cent of less frequent listeners). Most of the municipality ofcials who listened to the drama, 72 per cent, stated that they learned something helpful with regards to work. On the other hand, and in spite of declarative statements from the listeners that drama had made an impact on them, differences between listeners and non listeners among the municipality ofcials in their evaluations of its signicance were less clear and much less striking than in the case of the citizens. The municipality ofcials who listened to the drama, in comparison to non listeners, evaluated the issues of corruption and governance as

91

signicant at a slightly higher percentage, but the differences were quite insignicant and much less striking than in the case of the citizens. The attitudes of citizens towards issues of corruption and governance were found to be different between listeners and non listeners. In spite of the fact that these differences are not substantial from the point of view of evaluating each particular issue, the general picture of the attitudes shows that listeners are more aware of corruption and consider this issue as more signicant for society. In evaluating the impact of the drama just by taking into account differences between listeners and non listeners, caution shoud be taken since the effect of the drama cannot be discerned from the attitudes the citizens had before they listened to it. It is highly probable that people who were more aware and more sensitive to the problems of corruption and governance were more motivated to listen to the drama. In spite of the fact that the effect of the previous attitudes cannot be complitely eliminated, at least three ndings show that listening to the drama had an impact on the listeners from the general audience alone: 42 per cent of the listeners reported that the drama had had an impact on them (beside just entertainment), and the evaluated impact was higher with the frequency of listeners (greater number of episodes listened); 49 per cent of those who listened to three or more episodes stated that the drama had had an impact on them, in comparison to only 34 per cent of those who listened to the drama just once or twice. Listeners who listened to more episodes in comparison to those who listened to just one or two episodes showed a higher awareness of corruption and governance problems and stated more often that the drama made them aware of their citizens rights and inspired them to think about the solutions. Issues related to corruption were far the best remembered parts of the drama, and the most striking and clear cut differences in attitudes between the listeners and non listeners of the drama were also related to corruption issues. Perceptions of the solutions by municipality ofcials who did and did not listen to the drama were also not different. In comparison to citizens, municipality ofcials evaluated corruption issues as well as the governance issues as less signicant. The evaluations of the signicance of the corruption issues between municipal ofcials and citizens were especially striking with regard to issues directly related to the work of municipality ofcials: corruption of public services, municipal ofcials giving jobs, municipal ofcials giving documents. All these issues were evaluated as less signicant by municipality ofcials than by citizens, no matter if they listened or did not listen to the drama.

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The same differences between the evaluations of the citizens and municipality ofcials were found concerning governance issues. The points of greatest agreement between the citizens and ofcials in evaluation of the importance of the problems were on the issues which are not directly related to the work (responsibility) of the municipal ofcials: not enough decision making power on municipal level and poor use of international resources, while the differences were much greater on the issues more critical towards the work of the municipality ofcials. The most striking differences were found in the evaluation of the signicance of the issues like arrogant civil service and lack of transparency. Both of these issues were evaluated as more signicant by the citizens. ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE RADIO DRAMA AND THE IMPACT ON THE LISTENER Most of the municipality ofcials who listened to the drama stated to like it 71 per cent (83 per cent of more frequent listeners and 59 per cent of less frequent listeners). In comparison to citizens, municipal ofcials reported to like the drama at a substantially higher percentage (62 per cent and 71 per cent respectively). Most of the municipality ofcials, like the citizens, reported that what they liked the most was that the drama reects the problems of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In comparison to citizens, a substantially higher number of municipality ofcials (49 per cent and 59 per cent respectively), reported this aspect of the drama as the one they liked the most (61 per cent of more frequent listeners, and 57 per cent of less frequent listeners). The second most liked was good humour, reported by 31 per cent of the listeners. Good humour, as in the case of the citizens, was more frequently mentioned by less frequent listeners, 32 per cent, than by more frequent listeners, 29 per cent. In comparison to citizens, municipal ofcials in the higher percentage reported also that the drama made them think (13 per cent and 20 per cent respectively).Each fth of municipality ofcials (20 per cent) stated that they liked the fact that the drama initiated discussions. What did you like the most about the drama?

93

The main criticism was again compatible with perceptions of the citizens; 26 per cent of the municipality ofcials thought that drama did not pay enough attention to young peoples problems, and this was the most often mentioned disliked aspect. Second most disliked aspect was that drama did not pay enough attention to womens problem, 16 per cent, while 10 per cent thought that drama was not reecting the reality and not giving suggestion for their own problems with municipality. What did you dislike the most about the drama?

Issues related to corruption were by far best remembered as the most relevant issue of the drama. In comparison to the citizens municipal ofcials mentioned corruption as the most relevant topic they could remember (a substantially lower percentage). In total, 37 per cent of the municipality ofcials reported corruption as the issue they found the most relevant that they could remember (42 per cent of the more frequent listeners and 32 per cent of the listeners who listened to the drama just once or twice), while 47 per cent of the citizens reported corruption as the most relevant (54 per cent of the more frequent listeners and 39 per cent of the listeners who listened to the drama just once or twice). Only 13 per cent of the work of the municipality could remember (15 per cent of the listeners who municipality ofcials mentioned the quality of administration as the most relevant issue they cent of the more frequent listeners and 11 per listened to the drama just once or twice)

94

Three most relevant issues you remember from the drama? (municipal survey)
In absolute numbers and per cent Total Listened to the drama 3 and more episodes 116 42 15 06 06 07 02 05 04 05 02 03 02 02 02 02 03 02 01 03 02 02 02 02 09 18 09 13 01 02 one-two episodes Nr. of respondents Corruption Work of municipal administration I do not remember anything, I can not remember Relation between citizens and municipal administration General questions from everyday life Good humour Problems of the young Illegal building Employment Discrimination of women Too complicated work of municipal administration Selection of Head of municipality Employment of women Kindness of staff towards the client Nepotism Arrogance of municipal workers Culture and art Work of municipal workers, conscious work Chief Filipovic Disabled veterans Social problems Arrogance of director of municipal services Guest appearance of the Mayor Only Bosniaks are calling in Other < 1 per cent DK\REF 224 37.4 12.9 04.6 04.3 04.2 03.8 03.2 03.1 03.0 02.5 02.5 02.1 02.0 02.0 01.9 01.5 01.5 01.4 01.4 01.3 01.2 01.2 01.0 01.0 09.4 15.5 108 32 11 04 02 01 06 01 03 01 03 01 04 02 02 02 01

95

In general, 90 per cent of the municipality ofcials reported that the drama had made an impact on them; 94 per cent of more frequent listeners and 86 per cent of those who listened to the drama just once or twice. The incidents of impact reported by municipal ofcials were considerably higher than the impact reported by the citizens (42 per cent). One third of the municipality ofcials, 32 per cent, stated that the drama made them think about their work environment, 28 per cent stated that the drama made them aware of the citizens needs, and 25 per cent that the drama made them aware of the problems citizens have with municipalities. Quite a substantial number of the municipality ofcials, 22 per cent, reported also that the drama made them think about what they could change to improve the situation. The most striking difference between the groups of more and less frequent listeners was in reporting the impact of the drama on their awareness of the citizens needs: 38 per cent of more frequent listeners and only 16 per cent of those who listened to the drama just once or twice stated it made them aware of the citizens needs. What impact did the radio drama leave on you as municipal worker?

The majority of the listeners, 72 per cent, stated that they learned something useful for their daily job (77 per cent of more frequent listeners and 66 per cent of those who listened to the drama just once or twice), and 57 per cent that they were inspired to discuss the drama (73 per cent of more frequent listeners, and 40 per cent of those who listened to drama just once or twice).

96

DID YOU LEARN SOMETHING FROM THE RADIO DRAMA WHICH HELPS FOR YOUR DAILY JOB? Base: those who have listened to the drama (43 per cent of total population)
Total Gender Female Age Stratum Federation BIH 141 78 22 Federation BIH 141 49 51 R. Srpska 83 61 39 83 71 29 R. Srpska

18-39

40-49 90 0.80 72 28

Male

N sig Yes No Total

224 71.7 28.3

98 69 31

126 74 26

87 73 27

47 68 32

0.42

50+ 47 55 45 50+

0.01

100 per cent

DID YOU DISCUSS THE RADIO DRAMA? Base: those who have listened to the drama (43 per cent of total population)
Total Gender Female Age Stratum

18-39 87 69 31

N sig Yes No Total

224 57.1 42.9

98 55 45

126 58 42

90 0.02 47 53

0.63

40-49

Male

0.00

100 per cent

DIFFERENCES IN THE ATTITUDES TOWARDS CORRUPTION AND GOVERNANCE ISSUES BETWEEN LISTENERS AND NON LISTENERS OF THE DRAMA Differences in perceptions of corruption and governance issues In general, municipality ofcials evaluated the issue of corruption as a more important issue than that of governance, and as regard this, evaluations of the municipality ofcials are in agreement with citizens evaluations. However, in comparison to the citizens, the municipality ofcials perceived both the problems of corruption and problems of governance as less signicant than the citizens; this difference was found

97

in average estimations between the municipality ofcials and citizens as well as between the listeners. The evaluations of the signicance of the corruption issues between municipal ofcials and citizens were especially striking with regard to issues directly related to the work of municipality ofcials: corruption of public services, municipal ofcials giving jobs, municipal ofcials giving documents. LISTENERS: Corruption issues - per cent answers Signicant and Very signicant

The same differences were found for governance issues. The points of greatest agreement between the citizens and ofcials in the evaluation of the importance of the problems were on the issues which are not directly related to the work (responsibility) of the municipal ofcials: not enough decision making power on municipal level and poor use of international resources, while the differences were much greater on the issues more critical towards the work of the municipality ofcials. The most striking differences were found in the evaluation of the signicance of the issues like arrogant civil servants and lack of transparency. LISTENERS: Governance issues - per cent answers Signicant and Very signicant

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The municipality ofcials who listened to the drama, in comparison to non listeners evaluated the issues of corruption and governance as signicant at a slightly higher percentage, but the differences were less striking than in the case of the citizens. Like the citizens, the municipality ofcials evaluated the problems of corruption as signicant - at a higher percentage than the problems of governance. While most of the 50 per cent of the municipality ofcials evaluated most of the issues related to corruption as very signicant, less than 50 per cent evaluated the issues related to governance as very signicant Differencies in perceptions of solutions Municipality ofcials who listened to the drama evaluated the listed solutions as essential or desirable, at a somewhat higher percentage in comparison to citizens. The differences were especially striking with regard to better salaries for managers and public ofcials. While less than one third of citizens were of the opinion that better salaries for managers and public ofcials (34 per cent and 22 per cent respectively) are essential or desirable, more than 60 per cent of the municipality ofcials thought that this is an essential or desirable solution (68 per cent and 66 per cent respectively). Listeners: Public corruption and reform - per cent answers Essential and Desirable

Differences between citizens and municipal ofcials in evaluation of the solutions related to governance and reform were insignicant except for the following: the head of the municipality should delegate, professional qualications for managers and good managers should be rewarded - all of which were evaluated as more important (essential or desirable) by municipality ofcials.

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Listeners: Governance and reform - per cent answers Essential and Desirable

Perceptions of the solutions related to corruption by municipality ofcials from those who did and did not listen to the drama were the same. All of them, and quite compatible with the citizens perceptions, found in the highest percentage that the essential solutions are: to build an efcient state to ght the corruption, prosecution of all corruption, make the universities responsible for issuing honest degrees, and promotion and hiring conducted on merit. Solutions related to governance issues were evaluated as essential by a substantially smaller percentage of municipality ofcials, as in the case of the citizens. Only three solutions were evaluated as essential by more than 50 per cent: Hire top proffesionals for the project, make civil servants responsible for the public, and provide clear lines of responsibility. Finally, municipality ofcials who listened to the drama expressed more need for further training than non listeners: 39 per cent of non listeners and more than 50 per cent of listeners of the drama reported that they would need more training. How do you evaluate your need for further training?

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Conclusions by the editors

The above report provides the empirical basis of learning the impact the radio drama has had on listeners and compares their views to non listeners and it allows us to draw conclusions on how the drama met the following two central aims of the project: to change the attitude of staff in municipal authorities by raising awareness of poor governance issues and by informing these groups of best practice and malpractice through popular radio drama and extensive outreach work. to empower local communities to take action and better present their needs and demands by encouraging their active involvement in the development of the radio drama and in subsequent debates/ discussions.

The radio drama clearly succeeded in raising awareness for malpractice in municipal administration and contributed to enhancing the public debate on the issue of corruption. 72 per cent of municipal workers listening to the drama, stated that they learned something helpful for their daily job and 57 per cent felt that the drama initiated discussions, which is the rst step and basis of changing attitudes. The citizens were involved in the drama through the baseline research and local consultative testing and 62 per cent of listeners reported that they liked the drama. Although 27 per cent considered the drama mainly as entertainment and only 15 per cent felt that they are now more aware of their needs and rights as citizens. Nevertheless almost 60 per cent of the listeners amongst citizens stated that the drama is useful for raising awareness amongst municipal workers, of which 29 per cent were of the opinion that the drama would also contribute to changing attitudes in municipalities. In comparison to the municipal workers only 34 per cent of citizens discussed the drama, of which 30 per cent discussed their own problems in relation to the plot. Regarding the ndings it is evident that the drama had a far more important impact on the primary target group that of the municipal workers, and succeeded in drawing their attention to practices which have to improve. The drama in its humouress approach to tackling sensitive issues even succeeded in getting a positive resonance from the target group, instead of leaving them insulted, since 72 per cent of listeners amongst municipal workers liked the drama. Therefore the drama met the rst and most important goal of the project and even the citizens considered the drama useful in changing the attitudes of their municipal workers.

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2.5 Analysis of the Phone-Ins

ANALYSIS GOALS This analysis is the product of 53 transcripts (out of 315) of the educational and entertainment shows broadcast by 26 radio stations across BosniaHerzegovina, following the airing of the radio drama series A gdje sam to ja?. Each of the 15 episodes, aired in the September-December 2005 period, was followed by a 30-minute phone-in show, and the listeners had the chance both to comment the episodes, and, notably, to talk about the specic problems bothering them and render their opinions about the work of municipal staff. If the authors had intended to use communication and media for development and to offer the audience (ordinary citizens) content that would educate them and provide them with greater opportunity to address their problems with the municipal administration, then the endeavour was successful. Methodology The analysts applied the method of random selection of radio stations and episodes to arrive at conclusions about how the target group perceived the radio drama and how the latter affected the views of the citizens. The analysis concentrated solely on the opinions of the listeners who had taken part in the live phone-ins of the 26 radio stations. The analysis of this segment was not aimed at comparing the opinions of citizens and municipal staff, although that would have been possible because municipal staff took part in the phone-in shows, on a regular basis, as guests in the studio. Such shows presented the citizens with the opportunity to talk more openly about the everyday problems they face in various areas of their lives. The table below gives an overview of the radio stations included in the analysis of the opinions of listeners who phoned in after the broadcasts of the episodes; the number of phone-ins analysed; and the ordinal number of the episodes followed by the phone-ins. In particular, after the rst episode, the analysts reviewed the transcripts of phone-ins of eight radio stations. They opted for such a high number of samples because they wished to obtain as much information as possible about how the series was initially received, as at the time, it marked a breakthrough in terms of programming of both specic radio stations and media in Bosnia-Herzegovina in general. They analysed the transcripts of phone-ins of between 2 and 5 stations for each of the other episodes.

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Findings
By Devdet Tuzli, CDRSEE Thessaloniki
Episode 1 First Day: 8 Radio Stations BH Radio 1 Seven phone-ins from across Bosnia-Herzegovina, i.e. both entities; most of the listeners, who phoned in, live in Sarajevo, Bugojno and Doboj. The episode focused on the municipal practice of clerks working at municipal counters with clients and the experiences of the citizens. One listener was grateful that the show was an opportunity to hear useful advice from a representative of the Sarajevo NGO Your Rights on how to resolve legal problems related to property.

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While the show host wanted to view to problems globally, without naming the municipal ofcials, whom the questions and criticism were addressed to, a listener from Bugojno insisted on openly naming the people to blame for specic problems. A number of listeners praised the municipal staff (e.g. in the Centar Sarajevo Municipality), while others were of the opinion that some municipalities linked the problems of citizens to their ethnicity although a citizen is a citizen, says Ibrahim Abazovi . Listeners in both entities also phoned Radio Bobar, which broadcasts across Bosnia-Herzegovina, like BiH Radio 1. The rst listener who phoned in (and probably one of the rst two listeners to phone in any of the radio stations after Episode 1 and thus win the BBCWST prize) said the plot of the rst episode seemed like a fairy tale and spoke about the problems her husband faced when he tried to address the problem of water supplies in a refugee camp. She and several others callers believe that they need to pull strings to resolve problems, i.e. that there is corruption. She says that it is obvious, as the leading municipal positions are held by party members, and that fewer and fewer people see the point of voting at elections. The greatest reward for me would be if there wasnt any of that anymore, if we did not talk about it anymore. But the drama series is an excellent opportunity to identify the problems. Maja from Bijeljina says that she liked the show tremendously, although the show is on live in our town every day. The callers also spoke about the problems of unqualied staff in municipalities, noting that the citizens themselves would have to rectify those mistakes by voting for better people. A caller of Federal Radio, who lives in Sarajevo, also thinks the drama episode was extremely realistic, almost documentary and that there should be better control of the staff if the situation in the municipalities is to improve. A listener of Radio Kameleon from Sarajevo recognised himself in one of the characters playing a user at the counter and advises the municipal staff to be more efcient and prompt. A caller from Tuzla rst reacted to the content of the series: It was just like in the drama. Just like that. As the saying goes: You scratch my back, I scratch yours. She went on to say that the services should be organised better, that too many fees are charged, and that many more formalities ought to be dealt with in one place.

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Listener Kristina is an invalid and she thinks it is very important that municipal staff are pleasant to the citizens, even if I dont get what I came for. Radio Kameleon also utilised a public opinion poll of the citizens, who highlighted the positive examples of service provision in the Centar Sarajevo Municipality and noted that although the municipal administrations provision of services was incomparably better than before, it was still far from satisfactory. The show hosts persistence to stimulate the listeners to phone in had signicantly contributed to the excellent response; this also proved to be the case with many other shows on other radio stations. On the other hand, how interesting the topic of a show was, notwithstanding, the audience was not prompted into calling the studio up if the shows hosts, both at rural and urban radio stations, were not persistent and did not urge the citizens to phone them. For instance, not one listener phoned Milii-based Radio Magic, even though, the municipal ofcial charged with repairs of the homes of returnees was in the studio at the time. However, only two listeners called up after the rst episode broadcast on Radio Kladanj although the show host did his best to animate the audience and the series was advertised by jingles. Amela praised the show but criticised the listeners for not phoning in and taking the opportunity to voice their views. A similar thing happened to Episodes 1 and 5 on the Mostar-based Radio Herceg-Bosna. Listener Radoslav from Drinovac kod gruda thinks Episode 1 should have been re-aired at least once during the day because I like it, there is truth in it. He adds that there is corruption in municipalities, that he himself never offered a bribe, but that bribes happened. He also thinks the jobs should go to younger people. Zdenka from Kreevo, a town at the other end of Bosnia-Herzegovina, also called up Radio RH in Mostar, which testies to the broad coverage of that radio station as well. The radio drama left a strong impression on her I havent heard something like that for a long time. She has had a bad experience with the municipal administration. Adnan, who listened to the episode on Radio Slon in Tuzla, best liked the character of Sheriff; he says the drama protagonists do not resemble the administration in his municipality, but that he knows that most of those in power are just like the characters in the drama series, i.e. corrupt. Jusuf says this is the rst time that bribes and corruption have been addressed as real problems, thanks to good acting.

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This is a democratisation of the interpretation of the problem, I think people of all ages and different schooling can understand it; it was impressive and easily digestible audio literature. The other seven listeners also had a favourable opinion of the series, qualifying it as a show illustrating our everyday lives, the series can help improve the situation, if our municipal bodies all get together, the services will be better too. Dijana listened to the show in her car. I was on my way to the registry ofce and the topic coincided with my problem, she said and added: I hope my bad experiences with municipal staff will become a thing of the past. Zijad from the village of Dobonica hopes the shows will help improve the situation, introduce discipline into the administrations systems. It was always like this: wait, wait and then wait. They go into another ofce with our documents, theyre gone for half an hour, resolving their own problems, all they want to do is while their time away, they dont want to be efcient. A Doboj listener who called up ZOS Radio is dissatised with how municipal staff treats the public. No-one will receive you, as if they were sitting in their own homes and I were an unwelcome guest. Rade from Doboj is also dissatised I know our Mayor has several apartments and houses in Doboj, a villa on the Montenegrin coast, it turned out our Obren Petrovi has lived for 200 years and has a monthly salary of 3000 KM, so I wonder, where did he get the money from? I expect the court to its job, although it, too, is under the inuence of the municipality. Stanimir, a refugee from Zenica: I have no-one to turn to in the municipality, I dont believe those authorities. Episode 2: Transparency 4 Radio Stations Transparency of the municipalities and ways in which information reaches the public This episode on BH radio 1 had an audience in both entities and seven callers from Bosanska Dubica, Banja Luka and Sarajevo. All their questions pertained to legal issues related to property because Mrs. Nedmija Kukri, the chief legal ofcer of the NGO Your Rights, was the guest of the show. The discussions focussed least on transparency and the Access to Information Law, despite the show hosts efforts to steer them in that direction. The guest underlined inter alia that more citizens turned to NGOs than to municipalities for help. She thinks the problem lies in the fact that the citizens abandon even the idea of turning to the municipalities for help, discouraged by the experiences of those who have tried and failed, so they do not want to waste time. When a Novi Grad Sarajevo municipal ofcial came on the air of BH radio 1, a caller from Sarajevo took the opportunity to ask how she could schedule

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a meeting with the Mayor. Her question went unanswered because the show guest had already got of the phone and thus off the air. Radio Gradaac joined the project with great ambition and even recorded jingles to support the topic. Although the journalist who hosted the show is eloquent and animates the audience frequently, only one listener, a former municipal councillor, phoned in. The whole show, however, focussed totally on the topic of the radio drama, because one shows guest, a representative of the NGO sector, spoke extremely critically about the municipalities attitude towards the public. The situation in the municipality of Bosanski amac, where Radio Gradaac can be heard, was plastically elaborated by the other show guest, the municipalitys PR ofcer. She described the municipalitys efforts to introduce European standards in terms of equipment and services in the counter hall, and the municipalitys brochures and website. Radio Kameleon again combined phone-ins and the opinion poll its journalists conducted on this specic topic. A regular listener of the radio (she phoned in after the rst episode as well), again praised the show. She thinks the character of Fenkareli was taken from her municipality, although she personally, had never had any bad experience with its transparency because I have never requested something the municipality would want to hide from me. The poll shows the citizens think the municipalities should be more transparent as they exist because of the citizens. A caller, who would not give his name (and the show host did not insist), compared several Sarajevo municipalities and highlighted the Centar Municipality which is working really well. So is Tuzla and the whole Tuzla Canton, their website is full of data, they display the fees for the services, the timeframes, but not all users have access to the Internet. One caller notes the following problem: Our people are still not used to managing what belongs to them, i.e. to seeking information; they continue hearing it through the grapevine. She agrees with the man who phoned in before her - that only a small number of citizens can communicate via the Internet and that mayors should communicate with the citizens much more via the media. Studio N Livno had as its guest, the Mayor of Livno. However, only one citizen phoned in and asked the Mayor to answer the question on the misrepresented nal account. The guest also responded to questions sent to the radio station in writing. The Mayor gave general answers to very specic questions in a small community in which everyone knows everyone. It is surprising that there were not more phone-ins.

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Episode 3: Women arent Birth 4 Radio Stations

Meant

to

Help

Cows

Give

Representatives of the Gender Commission were guests of Radio Brko. None of the listeners phoned in so only the guests spoke about the problems and rights of women and their representation in political bodies. The same happened after the episode was broadcast by Studio N in Livno. Only one question in writing arrived and it concerned womens rights in municipalities and the private sector. The guest, a representative of the Livno Municipal Council, responded to the question. Radio Zenica had 4 phone-ins, both from Zenica and the towns further away, such as Donji Vakuf and Bugojno. The male listeners were critical towards men, voicing the opinion that women are equally capable of performing all kinds of jobs and representing the people in parliament. If someone is a doctor, his or her sex does not matter. Women make excellent doctors, but if you look at the outpatient health clinics, youll see that most directors are men. So I wonder, why cant excellent women doctors also be directors? Another listener cites the example of successful Zenica companies managed by women, and says the Balkan mentality is such that women are loath to apply for directorial positions. A caller from Bugojno lists the example of the female MP in the BiH Parliament and the female director of the Veterinarian Station. The director Mrs. Mlao assists in cow birthing and fertilisation in the drama; that means she is capable of doing that, so why shouldnt other women be? he concludes drolly. Only one listener, a female, phoned Radio ZOS Doboj South during its show discussing participation of women in government, equal employment opportunities, discrimination at work and the difculties pregnant women face when applying for a job. Her name is Ranka Ivi from Doboj. She admitted she was involved in politics, as could have been surmised from her knowledge of the subject. Ms. Ranka Ivi was an extremely useful interlocutor, a source of information, advice and encouragement to women not to stand back, but to actively involve themselves in the shaping of their destinies, win themselves better representation in parliaments and change the current 90 per cent predominance of male members in job recruitment boards. On the other hand, Bijeljina Bobar Radio had less luck with the episode entitled Hotel Bellevue on illegal construction, bribery and corruption.

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The only listener who phoned in wanted an answer to a specic question which the show host could not answer. The whole show boiled down to playing the jingles announcing the series, repeating the stations phone numbers and playing music. Episode 4: Hotel Bellevue 4 Radio Stations In addition to Radio Bobar, the analysis encompassed listening to the phone-ins of three other stations: Radio Slon, Busovaa and Konjic after the episode was aired. Radio Konjic had the most phone-ins, seven in total. The mayor would respond to their questions later, after checking their allegations. This was a good example of how mass media gives citizens the chance to ask their mayor something; it would have been much more difcult for them to go to the Town Hall and seek a meeting with the mayor. The show also dealt with the (lack of) concern for war invalids through a report and the studio had the representative of the war invalids association as a guest on the show. Episode 5: Miracle in the Province 5 Radio Stations This topic, also analysed by listening to the phone-ins of four randomly selected radio stations, was also presented by a combination of comments of the radio drama, discussions with the studio guests, and a special public opinion poll. The Una-Sava Canton Radio in Biha, although covering a large area, mustered little feedback. The only listener, who phoned in, gave a critical review of the subject - investments in small business and corruption. He rst said he was glad to be able to speak about what bothers him as a citizen, then he recognised himself as a kind of miracle in the province because he returned from the city and was contributing to the community by educating youth. He concluded that the fruit is reaped by the uneducated, who will not allow the educated to come to the fore. It seems to me they are working for personal gain, not for the welfare of the community, of all of us, for a better future, that they are ruling in the name of the party they belong to, hiring their own, not giving capable people the chance to get a job. The citizens polled said there was a lot of corruption and that the investments were insufcient, complaining that the state did little to help The Mostar station Dobre vibracije had only two phone-ins; the listeners asked the guest how they could open a business.

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The guest was himself surprised that not more people called. Maybe its all clear to them, lifes all beer and skittles. Zvornik Radio Osvit elaborated the topic through a public opinion poll and by putting a municipal councillor on the air over the phone. The journalist was uninformed about the topic, failed to grasp both the episode and how it applied to everyday life and the relationship between the citizens and the municipal staff. For councillors are not part of municipal administration, they are the elected representatives of the people. Their activities are political in nature, while the series focussed on the work of the municipal administration and its attitude towards citizens and vice versa. The guest of Radio Republika Srpska found the drama episode interesting because Miracle in the Province has many different meanings. Only two listeners phoned in, a negligible number considering that the Radio broadcasts to the whole entity. The show on Mostars Radio Herceg-Bosna did not attract phone-ins either, none actually. But perhaps this is because the owners of smallsized businesses do not wish to talk publicly about their problems, even ones that had been discussed in the episode. The show host called up Marika Djolaj, BBCWST Executive Director in Sarajevo. She spoke about the goal of the series and noted that during the preparations of the series, it had been establsihed that as many as 70 per cent of the citizens polled had never personally led a request with the municipality. She said the series aimed to improve the communication and noted that there were two sides to the problem. Response in some of the phone-ins after the radio dramas weve listened to was excellent, but you are right, people are reluctant to make comments, give their names or talk about their problems. The reason possibly lies in an unstable situation in society, the lack of improvement of the state system, i.e. the local administration system. Ive been living in BiH for 16 months now and I have the impression that the people do not feel safe. Not that they fear for their lives, but that they had difcult experiences, had probably lived through times when it was unwise to express ones opinion, when it was dangerous to call someone corrupt, and they still do not feel safe enough and the society is not providing them with the security to come out and openly relate their experiences. It seems to me there are many people, who phone in and then do not want to express their opinions or give their names, but they are obviously facing many problems and they probably worry what will happen if they identify themselves and speak publicly about their problems.

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Episode 6: High School Rebellion 3 Radio Stations As many as 17 callers from across BiH phoned in Radio Federation BiH. They recognised the former school principals, now senior politicians who have usurped power in the drama characters. The callers also spoke about the need for people to change for the situation to improve.... A listener in Sarajevo thinks the drama series drew on the lessons found in the works of writers Mea Selimovi and Dervi Sui. A caller from Zenica said each episode prompted her to phone in. As far as this specic episode was concerned, she said: I dont condemn the school principals, they are doing what they think is right, the state is letting them, so it is to blame as well; punitive measures are the only answer. A listener from Doboj would sack a principal not doing his job properly. The radio host skilfully drew the callers into a heated discussion. A listener in Bosanska Krupa cited the example of the principal renting out the school gym, whereby the pupils could no longer use it for physical education classes. I think you presented the topic well in the series. Its disgraceful to deprive the children, who are the future. What are the ministers doing while the principals are laying waste, as we here say? One caller wondered about the purpose of such shows, where all the questions ended up and who was to provide the answers to them. This seems to be like a shrinks ofce, helping the citizens vent their anger. The BBC should do something so that these discussions have effect, otherwise you will have wasted money. A listener from Tuzla was very satised with the show. Thank God someone remembered the children, to protect them... so much talent is going to waste while the gym halls are rented out and we have no one to turn to. Radio Kladanj had no callers, while the guest a professor and municipal councillor tried to explain the topic comprehensively and highlight the key problems and how they can be addressed. Studio M in Tesli had two calls, one of them related to the topic. An old man from Blatnica said the drama reminded him of the wrongs done to pupils in Tesli.

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The journalist said there had been a lot of calls but that the callers had not wanted to go on air. This indicates the low level of public awareness of how media can be used to transmit its problems regarding the municipalities, he claims. Episode 7: The Attic in the Basement 4 Radio Stations The radio stations devoted the phone-in show after the episode devoted to the building of additional oors on houses and construction of apartments. While Magic Radio in Milii had no callers, although its guest was an ofcial responsible for the repair and construction of houses and apartments, Radio Foa had nine excellent phone-ins. When the callers omitted to ask about all of the relevant vital issues, the journalists would raise the questions themselves and ask the guests to answer them. The station thus served as the mouthpiece of the citizens. Radio Pegaz in Trebinje had no luck either. Only two listeners phoned in, but the guest, who was to have answered them, did not turn up for the show. The journalist was forced to play jingles and music, entertain the audience and read out the phone numbers so they could call. The Tesli Studio M radio show host skilfully and provocatively criticised the municipal authorities with the intention of inciting the listeners to phone the station up, but only one of them did. The journalist later said that there had been many calls but that the callers had not wanted to go live. Episode 8: Powder Trick 2 Radio Stations The chairman of the Farmers Association was the guest of the radio show on the role of municipalities in investments in agriculture on BH Radio 1. He made critical remarks about the states farm policy and three callers spoke emotionally and critically about the situation in agriculture. Former farmer Habiba, now a refugee in Sarajevo, thinks farming has been sidelined and urges support for the people protesting against the situation in the eld by sleeping in tents in front of the BiH Parliament for months now. Zineta wonders why they do not set up a green market and market locally produced organic food. Trust me, they would sell it in no time, Id rather pay more for local produce. Halil from Ilida thinks that the guest wants to become the minister of agriculture and that the people in the tents are the victims of his ambitions. He wants that ministerial post, I know him personally, he was a meat technologist in the Petrinja company in Gavrilovi. The show host warned the callers not to mention names. No one phoned in Radio Gradaac during the show on the same topic.

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Episode 9: Youth Council 2 Radio Stations Radio Pegaz in Trebinje and Radio Konjic attracted quite a lot of attention of their callers with their guests and reports on youth activities and NGOs focussing on youth. The audience in general found all the discussions constructive and educational. The show focussed on the extent to which the youth dealt with its problems, how well it co-operated with the municipalities, how much help it got from the municipalities and to what extent it itself was to blame for nding itself on the margins of society. The callers in Konjic praised their municipal administration. The callers in Trebinje, all of them women, criticised their own community and said the youth itself was to blame for many of its problems. Episode 10: Return is Difcult 3 Radio Stations The role of the municipality in resolving the problems of returnees and their reintegration into mainstream life was a topic that aroused much attention amongst the audiences of the Una-Sana Canton Radio in Biha, Radio The Best in ipovo, while Radio Magic in Milii had no phone-ins, just like after the episode on the repairs of and building of additional oors on houses. Only the poll conducted in the village of ilii gave the show some colour. The poll and the pre-recorded interview with the chairman of the Milii Municipal Commission for Returns and Development formed a clear and strong link to the episode broadcast before the show. The audience of the ipovo Radio The Best was extremely interested in the guest, Dedo Bahti, a returnee who had in the meantime become a successful sh farmer. His appearance was a perfect add-on to the episode. Many listeners phoned in and the callers praised both Bahtis entrepreneurial and human qualities. The Biha Una-Sava Canton Radio also succeeded in arousing the audiences interest after Episode 10 by its poll and the extremely illustrative comments of its callers. Episode 11: Trick Box 3 Radio Stations While Radio Nevesinje was phoned in by only one listener, Radio Republika Srpska had quality contributions from callers living in Laktai, Srbac and Banja Luka during its show with a guest who spoke about experiences with municipal counter clerks. They succeeded in painting a vivid picture of the horrors of endless waiting in the counter halls, but also cited the excellent headway visible in the Banja Luka Municipality although, as opposed to the Laktai Municipality, it charges extremely high fees. The public opinion poll shed additional light on the positive and negative features of the counter services in the Banja Luka City Administration. The show on ipovo Radio The Best was so interesting, that it went on for 55 minutes. A poet, a veterinarian and an ecologist gave their views of

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the difculties in communicating with the municipal administration. The Mayor was the guest of the show. The most colourful caller was a villager from Vagani who presented his problems in verse. Episode 12: In the Registry Ofce 2 Radio Stations On recruitment and downsizing of the administration, the clerks attitude towards citizens, municipal administration job classication ... Bosnian Podrinje Canton Radio in Gorade had a guest who had not listened to the episode and, consequently, no one phoned in during the show. This indicates the shows host did not do enough to link the episode and the topic of the show or animate the audience. He did so only once, at the beginning of the show, and failed to remind the audience of what numbers they should dial throughout the show. Radio Stari Grad Sarajevo steered the discussion on the topic in a professional manner, as a heated debate about the case of 58 dismissed Centar Sarajevo staff developed between a dismissed employee and the former mayor. This prompted many reactions amongst the audience. Episode 13: We are the Champions 4 Radio Stations Legality of municipal administration operations was a topic that prompted ve listeners of Radio Zenica, three listeners of Radio Foa, two of Sarajevo Radio Stari Grad and two of Mostars Radio Dobre vibracije to go on the air. Like the other stations, Dobre vibracije linked the topic to corruption. Caller eljko thinks the radio drama has similarities with Mostar everyone takes a bribe here, from the cleaning lady to the Mayor. Radio Foas caller is of the opinion that the construction of the town square was an opportunity to launder money, while both listeners of Radio RSG Sarajevo think that corruption is widespread in municipalities. There is corruption in the administration bodies, you set the episode in a municipality, but I think it pertains more to cantons, because they are responsible for projects and targeted by donors. The choice is either to grease someones palm with 200 KM or wait for a document two years. Everyone knows thats how its done in the court in Sarajevo, but no one is willing to talk about it, because you need the document urgently. Two callers from Zenica praised the Mayors openness with the public and efforts to full his election promises. One of them wanted to voice his opinion about corruption and said that there is corruption, in the interest of individuals holding topmost government positions, but praised the

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Zenica administration because they have always been fair, especially the clerks at the counters; we dont have major corruption in the city. Episode 14: Everyone Has Garbage 3 Radio Stations Radio Nevesinjes audience was more active on the topic of waste management and environmental protection than the listeners of Radio Busovaa and the Bosnian Podrinje Canton Radio in Gorade. None called the latter two, although the shows guests - the Mayors of Foa and Gorade and the Director of the Busovaa Public Utility Company harshly criticised the communities for exacerbating the situation in the municipalities by disposing of garbage at sites not intended for waste disposal. Radio Nevesinje received three extremely useful questions on the insufcient number of garbage containers and the safety of drinking water and received satisfactory answers from the Head of the Public Utility Police. Episode 15: Concert 2 Radio Stations The topic on culture prompted only one listener of Radio Foa to call up and ask about the work of the local cultural society Prosvjeta, while Radio Osvit in Zvornik had three live phone-ins and one poll. The calls were extremely critical and focussed on the communitys need for cultural institutions, cinemas and culture halls, above all. A large number of listeners said what they thought about the drama series in a poll conducted by the Zvornik radio. I listen to your show regularly, every week, you have real life topics, regarding the lives of us ordinary people, young and old alike.... Both the people who organised the programme and you who are broadcasting it deserve credit. Unfortunately, its coming to a close. In the drama we listened to, young people organised a concert and the money from the tickets was to be spent on renovating the culture hall. Maybe we should do that, too. Ive listened to your shows several times, they are interesting, Im glad the people can join in and say what they think. Its fantastic, bravo! I like it when everyone can say what they think without someone stopping them. I had the chance to listen to it a couple of times and I think its really great. The topics are excellent, related to the work of the municipal administration and its great the people have the chance to say something they never had the chance to say before. Ive listened to the show; the topics mostly regard everyday lives of

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citizens and reect our reality. It would be good to keep it going because these topics are what interests us. Ive listened to one show, it reected our reality in a humorous way and the citizens really do have a lot to say. I never phoned in because I dont like voicing my opinions publicly, so I didnt call. My friends have listened to the show and think its good. Popular show on Radio Osvit. Extremely instructive, the work of the municipal administration is part of our everyday life. The show on corruption was interesting, the questions and answers were interesting, although I think corruption has been on the decline recently and that the municipal administration is getting better. Ive listened to several episodes, the situations and problems the citizens face are interesting, the topics were presented well and can provoke us into taking a more decisive stand on what we dislike about municipal governance. I was once a guest of the show and I have phoned in, too, and I would like to recommend to the citizens to join in and voice their opinions, not only about the topic of the show, but about their other problems as well. Dont forget to praise, because praise can motivate people to work better, but also criticise what you dont like. My friends discuss the show, not too much, maybe because of the time when it is aired, but they like it. The show is fantastic, I dont know who thought of it rst, Id like to take part in it, I speak Polish, but Id like to ask: who to turn to? Main Findings The radio drama series achieved the main objectives of the project. Most episodes aroused the interest of the listeners, who asked the guests about issues that interested them or voiced their own opinions. Thus, they used the radio to state their opinions without fearing that they would suffer any consequences. The reason why there were not more phone-ins lies in the persisting fears, relics of the past, when such actions were punished and the individuals suffered consequences for speaking their minds. The situations that the heroes of the drama series had found themselves in, caused the reactions of the audience, of both the ordinary citizens and the municipal staff, which were the most frequent guests of the phone-in shows that followed the episodes.

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The higher the position of the guest was, the more interesting the phoneins were. Also, the attractiveness of the show depended on the skill of the host, how well s/he conducted the interview with the guest and linked it to the stories in the episodes. The analysis of the content of 53 shows leads to the conclusion that the series supported learning and that the audience could hear more about the problems plaguing them and whom to turn to. The frequency of phone-ins was mostly proportionate to the efforts the show host invested in urging them to join in the discussion. In their comments, the callers highlighted the importance of humour in the series and the fact that it lled a large gap in radio dramas, which rarely focussed on everyday life. The audience recognised the topics were extremely important, that they reected the complexity and essence of corruption of both municipal staff and ordinary citizens. For, corruption is never unilateral. The audience, i.e. the callers mostly asked about and commented corruption, the municipal staffs attitude towards citizens, transparency, the municipalitys role in education and misuse of school grounds, equality of women, illegal construction, problems of youth; however, response was low when returns were discussed, which is extremely surprising, or when the shows focussed on investments in small businesses, agriculture or culture. Apart from asking questions and making comments, the callers contributed to the phone-in shows with their humorous presentations of the problems, as the quotes in the preceding part of the analysis show. Apart from phone-ins, Studio N Livno and Studio M Tesli also received questions in writing from their audience. The BBCWST teams poll of the editors and show hosts of the radio stations complemented the analysis of the opinions of the audience. Herewith some of the answers to some of the questions the team asked. A total of eighteen radio station staff polled, qualied the series as extremely educational and informative, concluded that it had an excellent reception in the audience and that it was useful because it enabled direct contact between the audience and the municipal ofcials. Draena Vidovi, who works in Radio Busovaa, thinks the series will allow both the citizens and service providers to treat each other with greater consideration in the future. Danko Travar of Radio Zenica, on the other hand, thinks that some callers had totally missed the point of discussion and used the opportunity to criticise the municipal staff they did not like.

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The episodes on corruption and the Mayors rst day at work were the most interesting to the listeners of Studio N in Livno. First Day also aroused the most attention amongst the audience of Radio Nevesinje and Radio Busovaa. Attic in the Basement and Everyone Has Garbage were the most interesting episodes to the audience of Sarajevos Radio Stari Grad. Illegal construction, transparency and corruption were the most interesting topics to the audience of Mostars Radio Herceg Bosna, while municipal governance sparked the most interest amongst the listeners of Radio Kladanj and ipovos Radio The Best. Counter halls generated the most phone calls to Radio Zenica, while Radio BPK Gorade got the most calls when it discussed illegal construction. Youth employment and corruption sparked the greatest interest amongst the audience of Radio Kameleon Tuzla & Sarajevo, while the episode Powder Trick i.e. a revival of farming through cooperatives, was the show that most interested the audience of Radio Republika Srpska. The audience of the Biha Una Sava Canton Radio was the most struck by the episode Hotel Bellevue and the listeners of BH Radio 1 by illegal garbage dumps and construction. The attitude of the municipal staff towards the public and code of conduct of elected municipal councillors aroused the greatest interest of the listeners of Milii-based Magic Radio, while Radio Osvit in Zvornik highlighted We are the Champions as the most attractive episode, which covered issues of bribery, corruption and pressures on municipal authorities. The fewest calls were made with regard to topics the radio stations had focussed on in other programmes before the series A gdje sam to ja?. The BBCWST poll showed that the topics, which had not attracted the attention of the audience, varied from station to station. Apart from Studio N in Livno and Radio Nevesinje editors and show hosts, staff of other stations said in the poll that the listeners had not sent their stations written comments.

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Summary Analysis of Phone-Ins

Total phone-ins First Day (1) Transparency (2) Women arent Meant to Help Cows Give Birth (3) Hotel Bellevue (4) Miracle in the Province (5) High School Rebellion (6) The Attic in the Basement (7) Powder Trick (8) Youth Council (9) Return is Difcult (10) Trick Box (11) In the Registry Ofce (12) We are the Champions (13) Everyone has Garbage (14) Concert (15) 70 79 54 73 34 45 56 40 58 42 84 87 50 81 38 + comment 18 22 22 10 0 2 3 4 8 3 29 28 3 9 5 comment 21 31 17 36 15 25 33 15 24 20 29 31 33 55 11 neutral coment 31 26 15 27 19 18 20 21 26 19 26 28 14 17 22 + 25,7 per cent 27,8 per cent 40,7 per cent 13,7 per cent 0,0 per cent 4,4 per cent 5,4 per cent 10,0 per cent 13,8 per cent 7,1 per cent 34,5 per cent 32,2 per cent 6,0 per cent 11,1 per cent 13,2 per cent 30,0 per cent 39,2 per cent 31,5 per cent 49,3 per cent 44,1 per cent 55,6 per cent 58,9 per cent 37,5 per cent 41,4 per cent 47,6 per cent 34,5 per cent 35,6 per cent 66,0 per cent 67,9 per cent 28,9 per cent

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Part 3 The Local Authority Conference

3.1 Conference Concept and Objectives
The conference was organised to provide additional training to municipal managers in BiH and to create a forum where they could exchange examples of best practice and discuss obstacles, malpractice, corruption and the protection of human rights. The vision was that improved understanding of good practice, particularly in the area of accountability, will help these groups identify corruption at a senior level and will also enhance the capacity of even the most junior municipal staff to promote and protect human rights. The key to the success of the conference was to contribute to improving the co-operation between the three different ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The CDRSEE engaged experienced moderators to steer discussions away from dead-end arguments and instead towards constructive contributions. The moderators were briefed beforehand with a comprehensive moderators guide, which provided them with a clear concept of the sessions involving working groups and discussion topics. The conference was also meant to develop a network of municipal staff trained in good practice and thus, more able to respond to the needs of their local communities. A total of 170 municipal employees in middle management positions participated and discussed current weaknesses in BiH municipalities and formulated recommendations for improvement. The conference was opened by the Mayors of Sarajevo and Mostar and the Deputy Mayor of Banja Luka, thus illustrating the high level of local commitment to the event shown by local authorities. The conference included plenary speakers and working group sessions, which were opened with the popular radio drama episodes in order to facilitate debate on dilemmas. The participants listed major obstacles to good governance, such as, the lack of funding for modernising facilities and providing training for staff. They also identied political differences as an obstacle to a joint approach to installing an efcient administrative body. Despite the many obstacles, some municipalities could act as good examples having installed help desks, put citizen hotlines into place and removed corrupt civil servants. The moderated working group sessions concluded with specic recommendations which municipal workers considered useful in improving the system and themselves. The recommendations clearly indicate that there is high interest in training. The participants found it important to receive further education on the actual meaning of transparency and

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believed that international experts should provide further training in general. They proposed that study trips be organised to municipalities that have been modernised and are functioning well, both in the country and abroad. Municipal staff felt that stricter internal controls are necessary and they encouraged regular opinion polls on municipal service quality in order to receive feedback from citizens.

3.1.1 Welcoming Address

Nenad ebek, Executive Director, CDRSEE, Thessaloniki Before introducing Mr. Michael Docherty, who will open our gathering, Id like to share with you several notes I made after the pleasant dinner our hosts organised for us in the restaurant last night. Sometimes you wait for years to say something, and last night, while I was listening to the music of 20 or 30 years ago, I remembered something and realised I had been waiting for this opportunity for three decades: a chance to address a gathering like this one, to say a few words to the people who represent the rst authorities I personally had to deal with. I was applying for my ID in the municipality and the local police station and I remember well how I had to return to the counter 5 or 6 times since there was always some document I lacked. It was on that particular occasion that I faced the fact that each of the many counters I was to approach in the municipality had a small round window set very, very low; it was through those windows that I addressed those that symbolised the authorities to me, a citizen, I had to stoop, bow my back in order to address the authorities as a citizen for everything. I was only 18, I was not a citizen at the time, we addressed each others as comrade, and, at the time, I was not even aware of what I am telling you about now. I only became aware of it 10 years later, while I was living in England and could not stop wondering about the fact that there were no little round windows which I had to stoop to if I wished to have the honour of being spoken to by authorities, or having them maybe listen to me. I also realised that the procedures for everything under the sun were simplied to suit me a citizen, a taxpayer, and that the person on the other side of the counter was aware of the fact that as a civil servant, s/he received a salary because I, as a citizen, was paying my taxes. I admired the fact that in contrast to my Balkans, a civil servant in Britain is not regarded as authority, but as someone in the service of citizens. And that being a civil servant is not a privilege, but an honour, and above all an obligation. Please do not take offence at what I said, I am reminiscing about what it used to be like once, I am not talking about what it is like today. What it is like today, and more importantly, what it is going to be like tomorrow, that

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is why you are here now. All I can do is ask you to see to it that there is no more bowing, neither physical nor gurative, tomorrow or ever again. On behalf of the organiser, I wish you the will to hear out those whose opinion differs from yours, the strength to critically review your own work and the readiness to change yourselves and your municipalities. In other words, I wish you all the best in your work. And now I would like to introduce Mr Michael Docherty, Head of Democratic Stabilisation and Social Development Section of the European Commission Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

3.1.2 Keynote Address

Michael Docherty, Head of Democratic Stabilisation and Social Development Section, European Commission Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina Thank you. Dear mayors, council chairmen and all distinguished guests, thank you for your invitation to join you this morning. I would like to congratulate the BBC World Service Trust (WST) and their partners for organising this conference within the framework of the project Our Town Our Future. Ambassador Humphreys has asked me to convey his regrets, he was unable to attend this morning as he has other commitments in Brussels today. This project is appropriate for several reasons. First of all, it comes at the time when the transformation of the BiH broadcasting service and system into a genuine public broadcasting service, rather than a state service, is nearing completion. The BBC, DfID and the EU have played an extremely important role in this transformation, and as far as we are concerned, we will continue playing it. I am extremely honoured to have been invited to take part in this gathering of such a cross-section of municipal representatives and Im looking forward to participating in one or two workshops later this morning. The BBC World Service Trust, which I too, used to work for, is no stranger to the challenge; it has trained journalists in programme production and ethical standards in some very difcult places indeed. This gathering addresses issues and problems arising in municipalities and the performance of municipalities, i.e. the lowest level of government closest to the citizens and impacting on peoples daily lives more than state or entity governments do. Our support to this country is not extended only through major infrastructural projects; and Bosnia and Herzegovina will continue to

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benet from the funds of the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights, both this year and next year. We hope that the issues addressed here shall get to the heart of many of the problems the society of Bosnia and Herzegovina faces today and that this noble and unusual way of approaching them will help change attitudes in the country. Before going any further, I should perhaps say that in many respects this country is doing things right with regards to human rights. Legislation is in place, basic UN documents and the CoE conventions have been signed, freedom of expression is respected, the press is free, TV and radio stations are operating, imparting information. Nevertheless, I dont think it would be very controversial to say that there is a major gap between legislation and its implementation. It is often said that the path to Brussels leads through Strasbourg. Although this saying is geographically incorrect, it does indicate that there is much more that needs to be done to join the European Union than just draft a feasibility study. The electronic media once used to ignite hatred; now they are to be used to heal wounds. In addition to large projects such as this one, BiH NGOs can also apply with micro projects, costing between 10,000 and 100,000 Euros. They can also apply with projects worth more than 800,000 Euro at a tender that will open later this month (November). The two topics the Initiative concentrates on are human rights education and training and rights of minorities. And by the latter we do not mean constituent nations living in areas where another constituent nation is in the majority, but Roma and other non-constituent peoples. In my past life, I worked for a unit in Brussels which was responsible for implementing this Initiative and that is why I am extremely glad to see the implementation of projects that had been initially submitted as ideas. I have been in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 15 or 16 months now, I have visited all the cantons, I have visited all the major towns of Republika Srpska, as well as Brko. During my visits, I have seen many good things, but some bad things as well. I was struck by the dedication of many mayors and municipal council chairmen working in their municipalities and how they have been transcending ethnic and party lines. NGOs have reported favourably about their relations with councils in many towns across the country. One of the areas we are focusing on is the Tomorrow project that we are co-implementing with the UNDP and we hope the project will continue building on sustainable refugee return and concentrate on building the capacity of municipalities. Implementation in municipalities was one of the major successes of the project and I feel we

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can regard the Tomorrow project as an experimental endeavour proving decentralisation is possible in Bosnia-Herzegovina and that municipalities are capable and willing to fully assume their roles and responsibilities. The municipalities involved in the project have demonstrated their capacity to design and implement complex integrated return programmes which are in accordance with international standards. We in the European Union are conscious that, while Europe can help, the people here working on the project deserve the credit for success. The association of civil society in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the citizens who have genuine ownership of these societies is necessary if we wish these activities to be sustainable. I know that more subsidies are now allocated to non-governmental organisations on the basis of objective criteria and project tenders. And this project, preceded by the pilot project implemented in the Centar Sarajevo Municipality, will now be implemented in other parts of the country. But, we must be objective. No matter how good or bad a government is in terms of percentages and numbers, it has been elected. And the elected councillors account for their work to their electorates; that is the qualitative difference between their position and that of nongovernmental organisations. And in the nal analysis, decisions are reached by the elected ofcials and not the NGOs although good advice is always welcome. So, what I want to say today is what I have often told NGOs in various parts of the country: the role of NGOs is to advocate better services, compel politicians to meet the needs of citizens, take their priorities into account when preparing and implementing projects, and to do so in a clear and transparent way. The civil society should therefore not take on the role of the local authorities and start offering services, nor assume that NGOs are the only source of democratic legitimacy. Partnership between these two sectors is really the only way forward. I think the number of attendants today shows that there is commitment to change in many areas and I would like to wish the whole team involved in this project every success in this project, which our Delegation in Sarajevo was following with great interest in the recent months and will continue to do so over the coming months. I am condent that the professionalism and dedication of the BBC staff and their local partners will ensure that the conference is a big hit, and that it will have multiplying effects throughout the country. Thank you.

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3.2 Municipal Workers are Citizens Too

3.2.1 Municipal Administration as a Gatekeeper for Development Contributions:
Devad Beirevi, Mayor of the Sarajevo Municipality Centar Hello everyone. I must say I regret that each presentation can last only 15 minutes. This is a very serious topic, but I hope we shall further address this problem, which so important for the functioning of the municipality, through questions and working groups. I would rst like to take you through the municipality and give you the basic data about the setting in which the Centar municipal administration works. I will try not to speak only about the Centar Municipality, but also to compare it with other municipalities. The Centar Municipality has about 70,000 inhabitants and works in 13 departments, which I shall elaborate on later. It has so far received 18 international awards for quality of service. It is very important to point out that over half a million people use our services, most of them in the counter hall, referred to in the Welcoming Address. That hall is the mirror of every municipality, and the whole municipal administration needs to invest every effort to make as much headway as possible there and to be as polite as possible so that citizens leave with a positive impression of the municipality. The Centar Municipality represents the administrative, economic and business nucleus of the State. Nearly all state institutions, embassies and consulates, banks and major companies are headquartered in it. Maternity wards, hospitals, colleges, and high schools are situated there, so it is clear how many people circulate through this part of the city. The Centar Municipality realised there were deciencies in its work and that it was disorganised. It began preparations to attain the ISO Standard 9001 certicate, and, on 15 April 2003, it became the rst municipality in Bosnia-Herzegovina to obtain this quality management system certicate. Ten or so municipalities have since followed suit; I met their mayors or other representatives in Neum today. After introducing ISO standards, we divided the municipal administration into 13 departments managed by a Secretary and Mayor. The Municipal Board comprises 15 ofcials and I think it signicantly reduces the once excessive number of managerial positions. We are now drafting a rulebook on internal organisation and further downsizing may follow. The principles by which Centar Municipality operates are based on the essence of ISO Standards 9001. Those who have the certicate will know what they are. The rst principle entails a focus on the users of services and I think it is the key to everything. The administration staff must

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understand that they are there for the citizens, and not vice versa, as had been the case before. The Centar Municipality used to be open to citizens twice a week from 11 am to 1 pm. Now, all staff are obliged to receive citizens at any time from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day and in this way, show they are at the service of the citizens. The second principle is leadership, followed by full staff participation. Regarding leadership, we must pay attention to staff motivation. However, the Law on Civil Service does not address the issue; it needs to be considered more deeply and the legislator needs to be inuenced to do something about it. Under the Law, you can neither reward nor penalise staff; staff motivation is, therefore, almost impossible. Full staff participation: the process approach It means that certain activities in the municipality are managed by process, and the set of processes constitutes a single municipality administration system. The sixth principle regards continuous improvement. It means that every organisation that has the ISO Standard 9001 Certicate is obliged to make specic improvements in all segments within one calendar year and between two external audits by a certied auditor. Therefore, once you attain an ISO Standard Certicate, you cannot remain at the previous years organisational level, you have to make some improvements, even minor headway. Fact-based decision making It entails gathering various kinds of data. The data are analysed, conclusions are drawn from them and the next steps decided on. And, Principle 8: partnership with suppliers, not only with primary suppliers (of materials or services), but also with NGOs whose projects we fund during a nancial year. Quality policy of the Centar Municipality If you take a look at the text of the policy, you will see we are aware that headway in economy, culture or other areas depends on the Centar Municipality staff. That means we put the employees rst. Of course, you can have great nancial resources, but you cannot achieve good results unless you have enough trained administrative staff. The quality policy in our municipality entails that all employees do their work in accordance with the law, professionally, in an open and pleasant manner, responsibly and reliably. Sarajevo was qualied as politically neutral on 1 November 2005; indeed, municipal administration is no place for politics. The municipal administrations which respect this last point and are politically neutral, will yield better results than those where politics interferes too much in their work.

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Our objectives: - Provide an efcient service through rational use of available resources. - Full tasks, transparency. ensure professional equitability, openness and

- Continuously abide by the quality management system twice a year we have internal audits and once a year an external audit. The audit is performed by the Slovenian organisation SCQ. In order to receive feedback on the work of our administration, we ask our users to complete a questionnaire. In March 2004, it included some 15 questions, which can be completed online, at the counter or via a special hotline. Some of the results are outlined here: 63 per cent of the service users say that the Centar Municipality recognises, cares about and tries to meet their needs and expectations; 81 per cent of the users are satised with the setting in which the Centar provides services; 73 per cent of the users are satised with the promptness and completeness of information provided by Centar Municipality staff; 61 per cent are satised with the level of professionalism.

We aim to improve these results each year, even if that is only by 1 per cent, to sustain the trend of progress. I will now tell you about the other areas the municipal administration deals with, from infrastructural development, work with national minorities to work with youth It covers a broad scope of activities and I am glad to say that good results have been achieved in all areas. There has been a lot of investment in infrastructure and beautication of the facilities, because a large number of people circulate and important business is conducted here. People investing in a business want to have nice surroundings, and much has been invested in parks, streets, sidewalks and so on. It must be mentioned that two years ago, the Centar Municipality invested 1.5 million KM in the construction of a modern Roma settlement and 30 Roma families now enjoy perfectly good living conditions. Furthermore, a Youth Home was established at Gorica, and one room was allocated to the Roma Association. We also want to start a library in the Roma language and integrate this national minority. Thats why we earmarked 20,000 KM this year, for one-off aid to Roma children regularly attending one of the 11 primary schools i.e. to a total of 102 children.

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Now I will tell you about the changes in the internal organisation that used to be ineffective. We reduced the number of employees from 307 to 218. We downsized staff by 30 per cent over a multi-year period, by some 90 staff, releasing up to 1.5 million KM per year that are now used for modernising the administration and other capital facilities and stepping up the development of the Centar Municipality. Doubling share of staff with university degrees We are constantly accepting volunteers with various qualications, mostly lawyers, social workers and architects, but we at all times have 25 volunteers with university degrees who are in this way gaining their rst work experience, and, indeed, there is a lot they can learn in the municipality. We are satised with them as well, so the satisfaction is mutual. This is good practice and I can recommend it to other mayors, to give young people a chance to gain their rst work experience. We have to intensify staff training programmes, which we are obliged to meet ISO Standards 9001 as well. Every department is continuously obliged to undergo training at seminars throughout BiH and Europe. What I have left for the end is very important and this is the rst time someone is publicly mentioning it: a working group of experts formulated strategic goals in a document entitled Strategic Plan of Local SelfGovernment Development in BiH. The Plan is a vision of the development of BiH, i.e. municipal administration, until the year 2020. It is called New Local Self-Government New Quality of Life in BiH. What is it about? A year ago, in Banja Luka, we set up a partnership group comprising 9 municipalities and 5 NGOs that have good practice and I am inviting the other municipalities to join us too. I think it was a good initiative. The strategic goal of future development is to achieve substantial functional decentralisation, enabling and stimulating balanced local community development. I would like to draw one more conclusion about the Centar Municipality administration. Although it now operates at a respectable level, I am not satised yet, since we can always do more and do better. I hope other municipal administrations will reach this level of organisation. I take this opportunity to offer our help, so that as many municipalities as possible in BiH have the best possible administration, as they will thus help our citizens solve their problems faster and more efciently. I also have to mention that our Municipality has been visited by over 100 municipal delegations from throughout BiH in the last 2 years and we were always happy to be able to assist.

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Jasmin Komi, Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of the City of Banja Luka The problem all of us face is omnipresent and multifaceted. I shall start by pointing out that the local authorities, i.e. local administrations, are the ones that face the human and social problems in their local communities directly; they are the ones enforcing the law and other general enactments in accordance with which citizens realise their rights and assume obligations. And the citizens expect the highest quality of service from them; they expect to participate in reaching decisions of interest to the local population in all walks of life. As we this year mark the 20th anniversary of the Charter of Local SelfGovernment, commonly regarded as one of the most signicant Council of Europe documents, a document, comprising the basic principles of local democracy. It is necessary to point out that, despite the declarative acceptance of its provisions, the application of its fundamental Article on the funding of local authorities enabling them to assume the role of local community development has not been ensured in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Another problem related to local community development and aspects relates to the lack of clearly dened provisions on funding of local communities in terms of the introduction of VAT. This is a very important and very sensitive issue, because such an approach renders the planning of budget revenues and, thus, development planning, impossible. Besides, misallocation of resources can on the one hand have strong adverse effects on the motivation of undeveloped municipalities to develop faster and, on the other hand, such allocations can considerably hamper the development of municipalities with higher development trends. Local communities get a negligible share of revenue from various taxes, fees etc, collected (which form the budget of Republika Srpska). Only a small share (between 8 per cent and 35 per cent) of 16 out of 73 various types of revenues collected in Banja Luka, are allocated to the city budget. If the local communities received a larger share of the revenues, the city and municipal budgets would be able to earmark more for development. The insufcient material and nancial resources of local governments must be increased and must conform to the guidelines of the European Charter of Local Self-Government; this would help implement the fundamental idea of local self-government that citizens independently manage and decide on local affairs. The Banja Luka city government is committed to a modern administration that will truly serve the citizens. That is why it introduced a quality management system in accordance with ISO 9000 standards in the work of the city administration. The vision includes establishing a high

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level of quality management system as the administrations strategy: to continuously improve the quality of service by respecting European standards and applying new knowledge and technology in this area. The main goals of the quality policy comprise: Ensuring stable growth of the gross national product (GNP) through increasing investments and employment; Developing small and medium-sized enterprises; Developing social activities and public utility infrastructure; Improving the efciency of the city administration by faster accomplishment of tasks and more efcient monitoring and accountability; Improving the quality of life of citizens and other users by organising public services and city administration departments to meet their requirements; Improving regulations and decrees and consequently city administration operations. The fullment of the above goals will simultaneously reduce and even eliminate abuses of power and position, i.e. corruption and other adverse phenomena that may undermine the citizens trust in the local government. Economic development plays an important role. It is not a formal, but rather the essential prerequisite BiH needs to full on its way to European integration. Moreover, local economic development is its natural and inseparable part and ought to be fully within the jurisdiction of the local communities, i.e. cities and municipalities. Local communities face a series of constraints which hamper creative guidance and render the intensication of economic development impossible. The following constraints are especially prominent: Cities and municipalities do not own property; therefore, the local communities cannot play the central role in economic events, nor have access to development credit arrangements or play an intensive and active role in investments. On this issue, we should consider a different constitutional approach; Cities and municipalities either cannot or have extremely limited capacity for public borrowing needed to sustain their macroeconomic stability in funding various development or other projects. These restrictions on borrowing are imposed by law and do not depend on the communities nancial credibility; One of the fundamental resources - urban building land - ought to be in the function of local economic development; Lack of sufcient inuence on activities of strategic companies and other economic potentials;

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Lack of inuence on the privatisation of state capital, especially of public utility companies although the local community is legally obliged to provide public utility services.

We in Banja Luka and the other local governments are obliged to provide services, such as heating under the Local Administration Law. The Government of the Republika Srpska holds the title to the heating plant, because the state owns the majority share of the plant. So, on the one hand, the city, which is obliged to provide heating, does not own the heating plant, while, on the other hand, the Government, which is not obliged to provide heating, owns the plant. This is a major problem and there are similar problems in other areas as well. The local community has no jurisdiction over institutions such as specic institutions at the entity level, for example, the Geodetic, Property and Legal Affairs Bureau, i.e. there is a need to decentralise the functions. Finally, specic legal provisions, such as those on registration, public procurement, etc., considerably complicate and prolong various procedures. I would like to point out another problem, the lack of conformity: Republika Srpska has a Law on Local Self-Government but the Federation does not. This inevitably leads to different statuses of local self-governments and directly reects on the living and working conditions and business in the two entities. Efcient strategic planning and the elaboration of strategic development plans have not been coordinated sufciently in terms of methodology and dynamics both at the entity and state levels. In other words, a methodology for formulating strategic development documents needs to be dened and coordinated at the level of BiH. The same applies to dynamics. We would then have prerequisites for a balanced and congruent approach to development; this could have additional synergetic effects and directly impact on efcient strategic planning at the local level. Another problem is the lack of reliable statistical documentation needed for a proper analysis of all aspects, demographic, economic and others. It is necessary to establish high quality databases, such as registries of the population, households and other dwelling units, main registries, registries of companies and agricultural rms. All these databases need to be transparent and accessible to enable analysis that will facilitate valid decision making. It is especially important to ensure dissemination of statistical data at city and municipality levels; that would enable comparative analyses. We do not have that now. Cities and municipalities need to continue nding ways to form credit guarantee funds and specic types of nancial institutions. Notably, city savings banks could support small businesses, and, as opposed to banks,

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commercial prot would not be their chief criterion; their criteria would be based on the main strategic and operational goals formulated in the local communitys development plans. This would help create jobs, in view of the fact that unemployment is the gravest problem in BiH. I think that we, as municipal staff, face this problem every day, since most of the citizens who turn to us are actually looking for a job. Transferring good practices and experiences from one municipality to another, and I hope that this meeting will contribute to this process, like the BICOM scheme and others, is a worthy endeavour, especially when it comes to developing new and different programmes. In this respect, it is necessary to consolidate partnerships between cities and municipalities in BiH and those in developed countries, especially in countries whose transition was similar to ours and has been successfully completed. Similarly, regional integration and sound social plans give impetus to and facilitate development and efcient strategic planning. Of course, we must not forget that there are quite a few internal weaknesses. I would only like to point out that the rational implementation of the policy on utility taxes and fees, management of resources, especially urban building land, are strong levers that could prove extremely helpful in that respect. On the other hand, it is of utmost importance to provide local communities with systemic prerequisites allowing them enough manoeuvring space for internal restructuring to achieve greater efciency. As far as development is concerned, the local communities need to establish their own levers of development, inasmuch as the law allows them. In other words, local communities do not enjoy the status in which they can affect the business environment and create a positive atmosphere for investments and economic development that is the goal we should strive towards in all future legislative reforms. Under the present laws, local communities can partly stimulate private entrepreneurship et al. In Banja Luka, we have set up the City Development Agency, the Rural Development and Improvement Centre, the Tourist Organisation and other organisations, since that is a way to spark the interest of the academia, expert public, businessmen and everyone else to focus their activities on what we call development. Involvement of NGOs, their partnership with local community institutions on various developmental issues are another strong source, of both ideas and opportunities arising from the broad scope of activities covered by the NGO section. We in Banja Luka have succeeded in engaging a wide range of individuals by our practice of funding good NGO projects. I think that this should be the goal of all processes of democratisation and the creation of civil society. I have often come across the expression: It is not important how much you have, but what you do with it.

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I have rephrased the expression somewhat: How much you have is not unimportant, but, of course, it is more important what you intend to do with it. This is why I think efforts should be invested in upgrading economic activity which will result in better and stronger local economic development, and hence, facilitate progress towards the European Union. The task ahead of us is obviously not easy at all, the constitutional provisions obviously refer to us only in passing; and, we are obviously focussing mainly on the citizen. A balance must be struck in that sense, at least to allow us to inuence development by active involvement. Only then can we be a gatekeeper. I think our possibilities are limited at the moment. I think there is a lot of scope, especially in the reform processes called decentralisation, and which are heading in the opposite direction, to allow for what we have talked about. Ljubo Beli, Mostar Mayor Ladies and Gentlemen, Even though it is a nice day outside, we shall spend our time in here, discussing ways to improve the efciency of local authorities. However, I dont believe that this will be time spent in vain and I am sure that in our discussions, we will identify the problems we confront in our work on a daily basis. I would rst like to refer to an essential issue raised by Mr ebek in his Welcoming Address, about citizens not bowing before the local administration. We must understand that we are in BiH, a state which wants to be integrated into Europe, and must thus organise itself on new principles. As a state, we have signed certain agreements with the Council of Europe, various human rights documents In any case, the municipal administration must be a gatekeeper for development; leading both the citizens and all of us working in administrations and municipal authorities towards a better future. I would just like to recall that the right to local self-government is denitely one of the fundamental determinants ensuring the highest standards of human rights and freedoms. How a community functions depends on how its local self-government is organised; how the latter operates reects both on the economic development of the community and the strength of its civil society. I would like to recall that local government is operationally the closest to the citizens and that communication at this level is the most direct. Our work and how we approach it are reected in our contact with citizens and bad local administration gives the whole state administration a bad image. We are the mirror of administration at all higher levels. Municipal administration is an executive agency managed by a mayor,

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who is the person held responsible for the administration. If we wish to have an effective, functioning administration, it must be based on specic principles and all vital elements must be taken into consideration. We know that local government has a tradition and continuity, both in BiH and the rest of the world; looking back, we see that people know how to organise local self-governments. The capitalist model differed signicantly from the socialist model in which a strong local government denoted a strong state. Nowadays we have a completely different situation. We must be a service for the citizens, we must respect the taxpayers who pay our salaries, i.e. we must respect all citizens. We must respect the money that they contribute, and we must create a service that will meet all their needs. For an administration to guarantee development, it must be organised on some fundamental principles, and I will thus highlight some important issues. First of all, the laws and regulations implemented by the municipality and adopted at higher levels must be applied. The administration must be capable of drafting specic high quality plans and carrying them out. The administration is also the body that drafts all municipal council decisions and its work mirrors the work of the local authorities on the whole. The administration must be able to manage specic bodies, facilities, institutions, companies and throughout, respect the human rights of the citizens in the local community; it must also cooperate with ombudsmen in accordance with the Constitutions of the FBiH, the RS and BiH. The computerisation and equipping of an administration, as well as the evaluation of its performance and addressing its deciencies all that is doubtlessly very important for the proper functioning of an administration, for it to meet the citizens needs in the shortest possible time. We are the ones who have to initiate this cooperation between the citizens and the administration and highlight specic problems in our contacts with non-governmental organisations, local communities and directly with citizens. Administration is a living tissue that needs to adjust to the given circumstances and situation. I do not think I need to add anything special here, only that administration must be based on the principles of cost-effectiveness, transparency and accountability. As Mayor, I must be aware that I am held responsible for how the taxpayers money is spent and whether it is spent economically. To prove that this is the case, our work must always be completely transparent and every single citizen must have access to such information. Furthermore, the administration must be subject to internal auditing, which is an integral part of good administration. A contemporary administration must be built on these principles. Performance cannot be excellent without independent internal monitoring of both the administration and NGOs and some independent bodies operating at the municipal level. It is of utmost

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importance that this monitoring is completely unbiased and identies all the deciencies and thus advises mayors how to eliminate them. The administrations main problem concerns stafng. Municipal administration employees have direct contact with citizens on a daily basis and they are the ones who create the impression that the citizens have of the administration. Therefore, when recruiting, we must recruit qualied staff; staff with experience, staff that will be continuously trained. Moreover, administration staff need to reect the ethnic makeup of the population it serves. De-politicisation is another very important issue. If you wish to provide a high quality service, your civil servants must not be politicised or susceptible to political inuence. Mayors are selected by the political elite and they implement specic political decisions. In my opinion, direct elections for mayor are very important, and certain standards have been achieved in that area, except in the cases of Mostar and Sarajevo, where they are appointed by the municipal i.e. city council. However, I think this too will change and that the procedure will be harmonised throughout BiH. Involvement of citizens in local self-governments is relevant from the viewpoint of civil initiatives and ensuring communication with citizens in various ways. BiH has not yet resolved the issue of the so-called mjesne zajednice - local communities (hereinafter MZ), the traditional form of civil involvement in local self-governments. Laws have not resolved the problem in my District. These communities are a relic of the past and people work there in the same way as they once used to, but the law does not regulate the issue. All this leaves a bad impression on the citizens. I shall mention a few more issues. Municipal administration must be public and protect public, not private interests. And it is the responsibility of the Mayors to ensure this; they must take the remarks and suggestions of citizens into account and act in their interest. But, whilst all this sounds good, it is not the reality, and I will now outline how we reorganised the Mostar City administration, which I head and know a lot about. By amending the City Statute, the city of Mostar was reorganised in the following manner: six municipalities were merged into one municipality city and we then encountered a series of difculties. However, it is important to remember that it was the rst process launched at the local government level; it was painful and costly. Having made the decision to reorganise, the City of Mostar faced the task of uniting 6 city municipalities into one single city administration operating in accordance with European norms. These norms prescribe that there should be one civil servant per 375-500 users. We were assisted by

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Mr. Norbert Winterstein, who helped draft the City Statute, organise the administration and apply the set norms, under which administration is to have 224 staff, plus the Mayor. The administration presently employs 674 people and many people stand to lose their jobs. That is a big problem; it is a social and political issue. We are here dealing with the lives of real people and not everything can be done at once. Therefore we in the City of Mostar have reached political agreement - to reorganise gradually, over the next 57 years. The rst step is to implement the political decision to reduce the administration to 398 employees. The High Representative assesses that the best qualied people must be hired for positions in the new administration. Mostar is organised like Heidelberg, our partner city, i.e. in accordance with Western norms and standards, and the conventions that have been signed. This is why I often say that Mostar is going to spearhead Bosnias movement towards European integrations. However, I am facing a series of difculties because the large number of staff, who are going to lose their jobs, are creating problems. Addressing their concerns and cooperation with the trade union are not simple at all. We have been involved in the process for a year now and we are not even half way there yet. In addition to the disorganised city administration, Mostar also faces other difculties, like the separate institutions we are merging at the City level. To date, we have merged the social centres, old peoples homes; we are trying to solve the problems related to the merging of public utility companies - one of which has gone bankrupt and so we have postponed the merging until the bankruptcy proceedings are completed. We have solved the issue of water management and I have to emphasise that the situation is difcult because the process of merging and creating a single administrative body involves downsizing in these areas as well. We have reached political agreement as we wish to solve the problems, but all this requires a lot of money. Under the Law on Civil Service, we must abide by certain norms during downsizing. As far as our nancial obligations are concerned, we are obliged to provide severance packages. But that is not always the way out, because people are dissatised, they want to keep their jobs and the new administration, which has been only partly established, is forced to address the issue. We have just had the swearing in ceremony, we have a number of vacancies, but the painful process will ensue after the New Year, and this is a problem we will focus on very much in 2006. This was a short overview and we can clarify issues during the discussions.

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3.2.2 Professional Skills, De-politicisation and Improving and Reforming Local Administration
Adnan Belagi, FBiH Association of Cities and Municipalities Presidency Board member I want to welcome all the participants. I am going to speak on behalf of the Association of Cities and Municipalities of FBiH, together with Mr titi, the Secretary General, and Ms Vesna Travljanin, the Executive Director of the Association. My position is that of an adviser, expert consultant. Our goals coincide with those of todays gathering, to improve local self government, notably: to improve administration as an extremely signicant part of the overall constitutional and legal system of BiH, or, to resort to the terminology of the Venice Commission, local self-government at the entity level. On this occasion I want to criticise the phrase in the Venice Commission report, because it limits local self-government to the entity level. Local self-government is an exceptional eld, directly linked to the constitutional system and all annexes related not only the eld of human rights, but to everything we imply under European and international standards. That is why local self-government needs to be placed properly, at the level of BiH, and not only at the entity level. And that is a point I would like to make. I was also assigned a topic entitled Professional skills, de-politicisation and improving local administration. It is a very complex matter and, as I only have 10 minutes, I want to use them the best I can. With regards to professional skills, we all immediately understand what that means. Laws and regulations, notably the Federations Law on Organisation of Administration Bodies, which gives a general denition of administration in the Federation, cantons and municipalities, very clearly outlines the administration and ofcials in charge of it, and the Mayors are the ofcials in charge. We have heard here a lot of data and details about the Centar Municipality. Incidentally, I want to mention that I live in the Centar Municipality. It is a city municipality, but not a typical one, and it would be more interesting to hear about a typical municipality that has more features in common with the other municipalities. I remember the Centar Municipality before the war, 27,000 members of the Communist Party lived there, the largest number in BiH, I am talking about the span of the municipality. I do not want to go into politics, I am merely trying to move onto the following topic, the matter of de-politicisation.

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I intend to explain this topic by reference to three enactments and specic provisions: to two Laws and a Code of Conduct for civil servants (integral part of the Council of Ministers Recommendation R2010). I would rst like to quote Article 4 of the Federation Law on Organisation of Administration Bodies which explicitly says that the work of public administration bodies is based on the principles of legality and transparency, openness, accountability and efciency, good governance, professional impartiality, political independence, unless otherwise provided by the Law. Legal provisions correspond to the goal: professionally trained civil servants. But I am also talking about the professional qualications of mayors. We are talking here about the qualications of the staff, and the administration starts with the municipal mayor, who symbolises the executive, independent from the administration, of the staff applying the law and whose skills we are always talking about. My question is: how qualied are our municipal mayors for carrying out the duties of their posts? And second, a municipal mayor has full executive capacity. Municipal mayors are like city mayors and are even trying to assume more power than they are entitled to. They have very much power, and notwithstanding the fact that they are elected, what guarantees are there, that they will carry out their duties with quality and professionalism? This issue remains open. What does de-politicisation of mayors entail? Do you remember Mr. Milan Kuan, a party leader in Slovenia, who became President of the country? After winning the elections, he returned his party membership card and said he would not be a member of any party while he is president. When talking about de-politicisation, we must talk about specic concepts. Different states deal with the issue in different ways. We need to nd out what kind of de-politicisation suits our country best. At the moment, considering the publics prevalent negative views of political parties, we should strive towards conceptual and full de-politicisation. How would that be mirrored in the municipality? By the elected mayor returning his party membership card. I am saying this as a citizen, in view of the mistrust of municipal governments and mayors. De-politicisation of municipal services This has been partly resolved in terms of concept. There is a limit to their political involvement. Human rights conventions allow political association and membership in party leaderships. We have partly accepted the provisions, because administration body representatives cannot be members of party leaderships. But thats not the essence. The essence is that municipal bodies operate in accordance with laws and codes. Professional skills entail excellent knowledge of regulations because municipal staff must apply regulations,

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perform inspections and answer questions from legislative bodies or the Municipal Council. However, the staff is inadequately paid. Therefore, there is the issue of more equitable remuneration of municipal staff in some undeveloped municipalities which cannot afford to pay experts in those areas. Anton titi, FBiH Association of Cities and Municipalities Presidency Secretary General Ladies and Gentlemen, since Mr Adnan Belagi, Member of the Association Presidency Board presented our Association, I would like to address the issue of the Local Self-Government System Reforms - the constitutional and legislative pre-requisites for the autonomous, efcient functioning of the local authorities. I will briey outline my observations and update you on all the activities under way. By reforming its social and political systems, BiH, with its two entities, has embarked on the democratic transformation of its social and state order, respect and protection of human rights and freedoms and introduction of the rule of law. The territorial autonomy of city and municipal communities is extremely important and indispensable for the democracy of any state system and, in general, for consolidating peace and cooperation in Europe. In addition to natural and fundamental human rights (the right to freedom, life, property, security) citizens also hold specic political and civil rights in local democracies. This set of rights and freedoms ought to be fully realised in a local democracy. A local community, based on an agreement of citizens to protect and preserve human rights and freedoms, contributes considerably to the establishment of a new democratic society. Local democracies play an important role in the systems of European countries, and the very denition of local self-government in the FBiH Constitution as an autonomous part of the political system constitutes the basis for the legal elaboration and regulation of the concept and denition of local self government. Democratisation and parliamentary democracy are taking root in the BiH Federation on the basis of mutual tolerance and understanding, respect and equality of constituent peoples in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual environment. Every constituent nation wants to ensure that their tradition and participation in the economic, cultural and spiritual life of the country are

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preserved in accordance with the principles of democracy and that political authority is exercised by the people vested with supreme authority. The current reform of the legislation and its harmonisation with the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Charter of Local Self-Government is expected to enable reorganised local communities, cities and municipalities to ensure a life together in keeping with the historical tradition of coexistence and respect of diversity of our peoples through democratically elected bodies. When drafting laws, the Federal (and in particular) the cantonal authorities (both the government and the ministries) do not respect the European Charter of Local Self-Government, especially the provision that local authorities shall be consulted, insofar as possible, in due time and in an appropriate way in the planning and decisionmaking processes for all matters which concern them directly, nor do they acknowledge that the association of local authorities is a legitimate representative of local authorities protecting and supporting their common interests. In accordance with the appeal of the CoE Forum and after the conferences in Sarajevo, Prijedor, Srebrenica, Mostar, Novi Travnik, Brko and Banja Luka, the Associations of Cities and Municipalities of FBiH and RS, have begun to take into account the new role of citizens in connecting and consolidating civil society on the values of human rights protection and democracy and have launched the following initiatives: To establish local democracies in accordance with European legal standards and the European Charter principles; To develop and improve the constitutional concept of the local administration system and its originary powers and material and nancial autonomy; To develop the Association institutions to protect common interests and participate in formulating national policy and drafting laws directly related to local democracies; To establish the municipalities as gatekeepers for citizens, independent and autonomous communities that can independently collect revenues and fund public expenses.

The FBiH Association of Cities and Municipalities has been a member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities since 1994 and launched an initiative for constitutional and legal reform of the local self-government system when the procedure of BiHs accession to the CoE opened. The initiative to amend the Constitution was accepted by the FBiH Parliaments House of Representatives as grounds for amending the FBiH Constitution provisions regarding local self-government.

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The CoE, which has developed binding conventions and charters on human rights and local democracies, has highlighted ethnic, territorial and nancial problems and the deciencies in the organisation of the society and the authorities. Its Committee of Ministers has laid out requirements in regard to local and regional democracies and recommended the necessary constitutional, legal, organisational and nancial reforms. In cooperation with the Constitutional Commission of the FBiH Parliaments House of Representatives, democratic institutions and organisations, and with the active participation of CoE legal experts in the Legal Affairs Directorate and the Venice Commission, the Association has over a veyear period drafted amendments to constitutional provisions relating to local self-government, the Law on Civil Service, the Public Income Law with special focus on the status and position of the municipal councils and the mayors. In accordance with the CoE appeal and after the conferences, consultations and round tables in Mostar, Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Novi Travnik, the FBiH Cities and Municipalities Association has in cooperation with the CoE Forum invested huge efforts in bringing together and consolidating civil society in the eld of protection of human rights and democracy. It has launched constitutional and legislative initiatives to amend provisions on local administration and self-government, ensuring that the improvement of the constitutional concept of local self-government is in conformity with the originary powers of legislative, material and nancial autonomy. It has to be emphasised that there was much opposition to ceding greater powers, jurisdiction and funds to local democracies. After spending ve years and completing the draft constitutional reform of the local selfgovernment system, the authorised legislators, like the FBiH President and the FBiH Government, rendered the following opinion on the draft constitutional amendments already in parliament procedure: that there is no need to alter the status of local authorities in the FBiH Constitution and that the division of powers between FBiH and the cantons is satisfactory. I would like to voice another appeal at the end and it regards the SEE Ministerial Conference which adopted the NALAS Declaration. We, too, took part. During the conference, entitled Effective Democratic Governance at the Local and Regional Levels, Mr. Erhard Busek, Stability Pact Coordinator, pointed out the signicant role of strong local administration as the key element of stability and sustainable development in Southeast Europe and urged a clear denition of the role of local administration in countries with different social and political systems. Municipalities need to be organised and empowered to manage, not to rule social, cultural and economic development in a democratic society in an organisation suiting the needs of the citizens.

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Ranko Karapetrovi, Former Mayor of the Municipality of Laktai Hello. Ive based my presentation of the principles of good local administration and the obstacles standing in its way, with some specic discussion about IT systems in local administrations. I will also speak about proposed reforms. At the panel discussions, I spoke a bit about the SDC project on local administration development, so I will say a few words about that at the end. Laktai was mentioned as an example of good local administration. When I rst got there, with 25 years of experience, after spending twothirds of my career in administration, starting out as a trainee, and being promoted to civil servant, secretary, municipal assembly chairman and nally becoming the Mayor I simply faced the principle of efciency. I called my associates together and said: if I see more than 2 people waiting in line in front of a counter, the clerk behind it wont fare well. You can turn to each other, to me for help. A user cannot wait because a clerk is not at his desk or because there is no one to sign an enactment. I think I managed to achieve much by this approach and then things just moved on from there. And we nally introduced ISO standards and signicantly improved the work of the local administration. What does good local administration entail? It is usually assessed on the following three principles: whether it is efcient, transparent and user friendly. Look at this matrix. We have three principles: efciency and effectiveness, transparency and accountability and participation and we have these three segments through which these principles are realised. A good local administration is the one in which all three principles are realised through all three segments. So, you need to have an efcient assembly i.e. council, which is transparent and participative; the municipal administration i.e. municipal services must be efcient, transparent and participative as well, as must the public services that are provided. The latter is the most interesting, as the quality of life is measured by it. I hope that we, too, will soon have parameters and be able to evaluate the quality of municipal administration. Because a citizen may come to the municipality for a specic service today, or in a month, or in a year or in 10 years time, but public services must be accessible to him or her every day. But the citizen is interested in how those services are provided all the time: he is concerned with the quality of the drinking water, the heating, the roads, waste management... this segment has been somewhat sidelined in all the training sessions. I think the municipalities lack mechanisms to provide such services. I am speaking on the basis of experience in Republika Srpska and the problems during privatisation of public companies, from which the municipalities have been virtually excluded, although they are

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accountable to the citizens for providing public utility and other services. That is why I think future training needs to devote more attention and make use of exchange of experiences with other developed countries (bench marking) on how to organise that successfully. I will now say a few words about the principles: Efciency It entails speedy, economic and quality provision of services and addressing of problems within the jurisdiction of the local administration to satisfy the needs of citizens and tax payers. This principle entails strict abidance by deadlines for the provision of services and aims at shortening them as much as possible. High quality of service and quality attitude towards the users of the services implies above all that the product is high quality, that the enactments you pass are brought into question as rarely as possible and user friendliness that users waste minimum time while they are served. Procedures need to be adjusted and the services must be more accessible to the users. That means you need to ensure that the citizens have to walk as little as possible. Information and documents ought to circulate, but the citizen needs to stay in one place, in the counter hall and nish everything there, from making payments at the post ofce counters to fullling all other needs. Maximum cost-effectiveness of services This principle means that service fees are not excessive. Let me quote you an example, although it does not concern the municipalities. I was in the Banja Luka central registry of securities. Since my father died, the inheritance procedure is under way and I was to get the 20 vouchers he was entitled to. To receive them, I had to pay a 10 KM fee. The real value of the service cannot exceed 1 KM, because they have a computer programme and they obtain the certicate by pressing merely one key. But, to make things worse, I had to photocopy my ID, submit copies of all documents, ll a form. When you analyse the procedure, you realise you can simplify it and make it more cost effective. First of all, you do not need to le a request, it can all be done in electronic form. They could have just written down the number of my ID next to my name and that would have been proof enough that I may have insight in the registry. Copies of documents are totally unnecessary as they prove nothing. The data I had to enter in the form were already there, so they, too, were unnecessary. Moreover, the building is big, but the counter hall is old; they opened two counters in a corner, so many people crowded in such small space, with no air to breathe, while the other counters remained closed. There are many other examples of inefciencies. This example shows that, once you have analysed everything, much can be done to improve the situation.

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Abolishing monopolies and introducing competitiveness Many affairs conducted by the local administration in the US have been privatised and delegated to NGOs and companies, like that of the notary public. That should be done here as well. Obstacles to efciency What are the main obstacles? The underdeveloped IT system. You have municipalities which have perfect IT systems and others which do not. Furthermore, we do not have a state database that would simplify the whole process. In Laktai, we ourselves developed a registry project and we received a donation to computerise the (birth/death/wedding) registries. There had been mention of amending the Law on Registries at the time we and Banja Luka were involved in the pilot project, because everything is done twice now, data are registered in both electronic and paper forms. But at least we issue the certicates efciently, because we can do that rapidly. Complicated procedures They can be simplied if we review them and after a while assess what can be changed. We analysed the process of issuing construction licences, how many times someone must come to the municipality and how many fees s/he has to pay. We realised the process took four visits. We then decided to change the procedure, and to charge fees only at the time of issuance or submission of requests. We added up all the fees the citizens had to pay, lowered the amount and decided to charge only one fee. You can always improve something. Lack of counter halls There are quite a few projects now, which is commendable. Insufcient expertise, motivation and user-friendliness of municipal staff. I think seminars like this one help, because we learned the most through projects like this one and similar SDC projects, through the capacity building projects conducted by other organisations. When I mentioned insufcient expertise there are no specialised schools, we must train staff ourselves. An increasing number of municipalities that introduced ISO standards also adopted training plans and conducted them with the help of their own staff and outside experts. Lack of regular surveys of customer satisfaction with administrative and public services Im sure this can be organised in a very simple way. It does not require

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much funding and it has proven extremely useful in terms of improving work. The quality management system was introduced in only a few municipalities. I see the developmental Sarajevo Region decided to introduce the quality management system in all municipalities, and that is commendable. Transparency It entails that the work of the municipality is public, open and that all segments of local administration are accountable for all their work and conduct, with a view to increasing trust in local administration. Polls show us there is not much trust. Pre-emptive anticorruption activities, preventing nepotism and conict of interests What does this principle entail? Transparency of decision making and work in all segments of local administration, budget and public procurement transparency, good and clear layout of all municipal services, from the marking of all ofces to clear instructions on every action and service provided. Clear directions at the entrance of where everything is. Openness to all types of audits and controls, transparent staff recruitment and hiring. Preventing nepotism and conict of interests and improving public relations We realised we had lots of problems in public relations but there are unpleasant questions and one cannot joke about them. What you say is one thing, but you must be responsible. Good public relations need to be developed. They can signicantly help improve the municipalitys image. They helped Laktai gain the image it now boasts. We always tried to meet all public requirements. We never found that difcult. Obstacles to transparency Services and procedures are not presented to the users in a simple and understandable way: brochures, web pages, notice boards. We are heading towards electronic administration. I visited The Netherlands; there, you can apply for and receive specic documents via the Internet. Im sure that will be introduced here faster, we had fallen behind and IT is developing by leaps and bounds. Insufcient transparency of the budget We must pay more attention to budget planning. When planning an

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investment for the following year, we must be sure we have all the documents, like the construction licence mentioned here. The construction of the Banja Luka Gradika highway has begun although not all property issues have been resolved. Now, all of you know a construction licence cannot be issued until all property issues have been resolved. So how are they building the highway then? Either someone issued it or forged a document. It shows that we envisage we will do something under political pressure, to appease the citizens and we are aware we cannot do it. We then rebalance the budget, because rebalancing does not require application of the procedure, which although legally required, cannot be implemented. Thats why one should avoid rebalancing the budget, even at the expense of carrying specic revenues over to the following year; one needs to plan them transparently, so that the citizens know what the plans are. Insufcient transparency of public procurement Regulations change frequently and we will need training in this area, but good planning will help the consistent application of regulations on public procurement and its greater transparency. Inadequate public relations We must improve the situation. We ourselves must enable the media to operate normally, especially in undeveloped municipalities that cannot afford their own media. But, in any case, that is the simplest way of reaching the citizens. If we have good relations with the media, we will have more satised citizens. Civil participation and involvement Why civil involvement? Because decisions reached in such a way can be implemented more easily and they give citizens greater satisfaction. A citizen should be regarded as an employer. Just by entering a shop, the citizen allocates part of the income of the local community, of a local government employee. We now face the following problem: the citizens are not interested in participating in the decision making process. We must stimulate them and show them the effects of such participation, how it improves their lives on the whole, build their awareness that they themselves had contributed to that. Active role of MZs in decision making and providing local administration services MZs are now operating in a stereotypical way; they are burdened by the

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role they used to play in the past, when they were the smallest units of local self-government. They should now be interlinked, as provided by the law, to participate qualitatively, but more attention should be devoted to the appointment of bodies and the latter should be made responsible for proposing and implementing development in their MZs and for addressing the main problems of the citizens. Acceptance and promotion of open society values I am referring to the NGO sector with which I have cooperated well and I can recommend to everyone to forge partnerships with NGOs because they can help and do many things more easily than the local community. For instance, we helped the community Susret, which ghts drug abuse in Croatia, to begin working in a monastery in Aleksandrovac so there is a broad range of activities which we can delegate to the NGO sector. That should be done transparently, funds in the budget need to be allocated for their work and they should be invited to apply with their projects at local tenders. Partnership of the public and private sectors All of you are aware that you cannot have a good development strategy and a good economic development plan without the participation of the private sector. Obstacles to participation Bad communication between citizens and councillors, symbolic civil participation in the work of assemblies or councils, low quality and stereotypical public debates, insufcient civil participation in the work of the municipal administration, council of citizens, youth council, business council.. The Laktai Municipality this year nominated its youth policy for the good practice in participation project. We implemented the project and set up an advisory youth board. I enjoyed when young people showered me with ideas on how their status can be improved. I will also say a few words about the project aimed at formulating the local administration development strategy by the key local stakeholders. The raison detre of the project lies in the minimum local involvement in the reform of public administration in BiH. The reform process was mostly imposed on us. Local administration reform is not a priority within the public administration reform in BiH. Decisions regarding the local level are made at the top and those who are the most interested and most

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competent are not really involved in them. All of you can corroborate that local communities were not adequately involved in the drafting of any legislation, at least not in Republika Srpska. Chaos in the eld A series of uncoordinated, mostly international projects targeting local administration, lack of a single system-based and commonly accepted strategy of local administration development. Project goals Formulation of a comprehensive, system-based and commonly accepted local administration development strategy in BiH, establishing of a new quality approach to policy and practice of formulating policy at the local level in BiH. Thus, local communities need to assume the key role and responsibilities via their associations included in the partnership group, via municipalities with best results in introducing good local governance. Ensuring ofcial endorsement of the strategy by relevant local and international institutions The partnership group initially comprised 10 or so municipalities. It has now expanded; some NGOs are involved in its work and it was joined by the RS Association of Cities and Municipalities; we expect the FBiH Association of Cities and Municipalities to join us soon, so that all local communities will be involved via the two associations. The project enjoys the support of the SDC and the Open Society Fund; a creative expert team analysed the situation and is now drafting the strategic plan. Dragoljub Davidovi chairs the partnership group. Fadil ero is his deputy. Vision of local administration development It has been drafted and is to be endorsed by local administration representatives in all of BiH. New local administration will imply new quality of life in BiH. We tried to link local self-government to quality of life in the document. It comprises 7 strategic and 35 operational goals and some 60 projects that will accompany implementation. I will speak about the topic instead of Mr Brano Jovii, the representative of the RS Association of Cities and Municipalities. However, Mr Jovii is far more familiar than I am with the topic. He is the Coordinator of Brko District Government, which is a specic local self- government unit. The District is a ne example of scal decentralisation. There has been signicant improvement in all walks of life and the salaries are much higher than elsewhere. That substantiates the notion that both nancial

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and functional decentralisation is the solution to many problems. I think there is a problem in the implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government which says that public responsibilities shall preferably be exercised by those authorities which are closest to the citizen. The local government does not have many powers or resources. But since citizens want to full their needs, the local administration is forced to conduct affairs which are not within its competence. Take education: the local community is responsible for repairing the school building so that children have a decent place to study in, but decisions on education are taken elsewhere.

3.2.3 Accountability of Local Authorities

Mustafa Kurtovi, Gorade Municipality Mayor Ladies and Gentlemen, I shall speak as a sociologist, Mayor and athlete. Speaking as an athlete, I think that many of us are annoyed because we are often invited to education and training events. Nevertheless I have always been in favour of education and training, and now, in the capacity of lecturer, I would like to suggest that every local municipality in BiH undergo all stages of the past and present OSCE projects, starting from drafting the vision of municipal development, strategic development plan, to the adoption of the code of conduct for appointees, which comprises councillors, and all others working in the local administration. We would thus automatically increase the accountability of all civil servants, mayors and their assistants. The next step we have to take is to build on the projects implemented in BiH, the GAP (Government Accountability Project) or projects on administrative accountability with a view to establish a modern local administration in line with the highest European standards. We have gained much experience in the Centar Municipality in Sarajevo and I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Mayor Beirevi. We are currently implementing the project of establishing a Centre for the provision of services to citizens, and the second segment of the GAP project which entails capital investments. The implementation of these projects represents a step towards the realisation of the vision of municipal development, the development of municipal strategic plans, if municipalities have them. Whilst on the subject of plans, I would like to urge those who have not yet developed a strategic plan, to form teams in line with the topmost European standards outlined in the European Charter of Local Self Government. These teams would draft strategic plans and then monitor the implementation of local community projects in the municipality. For those interested in this subject, I can recommend the website of the Gorade Municipality, which

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is prerequisite in terms of the accountability of local authorities. I think that every local community should have a website updated on a daily basis with information about municipal events, from the meetings of the Mayor and his assistants to other issues, so that citizens across the world can read about what the municipal authorities do the same evening. Another extremely important prerequisite is to establish close and direct communication with non-governmental organisations. Mayors and municipal representatives of the RS and FBIH have recently in Gornje Podrinje signed an agreement among municipal councils, mayors and local NGOs. This is a big step towards establishing of a civil democratic society in BiH, which is what all of us want. Some of us have perceived NGOs as parallel political institutions, which is incorrect. In light of the European Year of Citizenship through Education, NGOs can improve our transparency, efciency of our performance and help establish normal local self- governments in BiH. Finally, I would like to say that preparations are under way for a conference of mayors and civil society representatives. It will be held in Mostar in early 2006 and I urge you to prepare for this conference thoroughly, since, as the representatives of local authorities, we can help establish a strong mechanism to achieve the civil society we are striving towards. Regarding civil servants, we need to insist that all those who have not done so yet are sworn in. Local communities need to respect the oath and view it through the 10 levels of responsibility it comprises. I believe that this is not merely a formality, but guarantee of the relationship between the citizens and the Mayor, as the manager who ought to be the most responsible for establishing normal communication with the general public. Finally, I would like to especially thank the organisers of this gathering and just mention that I participated in the phone-in after the rst episode of the radio-drama, on Radio Gorade. I think it is a sound initiative. I dont know how many people listen to it in other parts of BiH, but it is one of the most popular shows on cantonal Radio Gorade and can be heard in most of East Bosnia. Dr. Milan Blagojevi, Banja Luka District Court Secretary I would like to present the legal solutions concerning the allocation of revenues in RS, between the entity and the municipalities as the basic local self-government units. I think that these solutions can be found almost mutatis mutandis in a similar form also in the BiH Federation and in every canton. The fact is, as Mr Komi and our colleague from Maglaj have already said, is that Law on VAT shall come into effect on January 1st. It is also

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a fact that a state law on the collection of revenues to a single account and on revenue distribution regulates merely the distribution of revenues collected on those grounds between BiH and the two entities. This law thus does not answer the following question: how to distribute the entitys share of funds between the entity and local self-government units. It is logical that the law does not hold an answer to this question since the issue needs to be passed at the entity level. So, just to give you some food for thought, if you, the representatives of local authorities, have not launched a campaign yet, do so as soon as possible. What kind of campaign? A campaign for a separate law on distribution of revenues collected through VAT. You should immediately start lobbying the representatives in the entity and cantonal assemblies for such a law that will empower you to more efciently and effectively exercise powers entrusted to you by law. Just recall that the representatives themselves come from municipalities and are aware of the needs of the local population, as well as the burdens of the local self government units; therefore, you are likely to gain their support for the adoption of a high quality law. There is another important issue. We all know that VAT will replace the turnover tax. Why am I mentioning this? The RS Law on the Budget System already regulates distribution of revenues between the entity and the municipalities. Article 8 of the Law prescribes how the collected tax is distributed between the RS and the developed, undeveloped and extremely undeveloped municipalities. If a separate law is not adopted, the current ratios of allocation shall be brought into question, as will any suggested ratios until a law regulating the issue is adopted. Kimeta Ljeljak, Mostar Municipal Court Secretary You are probably wondering what a representative of the judiciary is doing amongst municipality representatives. Well, Mostar is a very specic city and I belong to a specic genus - court administration. We are not only handling matters at the municipal level, but have been delegated partial cantonal powers and we are already hearing commercial disputes relating to the whole Herzegovina Neretva Canton. We were formed in February 2004 by the merging of 4 former courts. We too had a surplus of staff. Downsizing was especially sensitive since we, as a Court, had to pay special attention to laws and subsidiary legislation, collective agreements and how to downsize as painlessly as possible and set an example to others. I am glad to say that we did solve the problem well. Now, we are facing new challenges. One is to dispel the deeply rooted prejudice that a Court is something untouchable and that people come to it only when being punished, or when they have no other choice. We did our best to dispel belief that it is non-transparent, shrouded in mystery. At the very start, the President of

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the Court and Department Heads decided to do a spring cleaning of the whole court. We are a pilot-court and we accepted the reform because we realised it was high time to dispel the prejudices. The implementation of our project has come to an end and we have opened our doors to citizens. We will have leaets and brochures, the Court will be accessible and even physically reorganised. We have computerised our system and it will be launched on 5 December 2005. We will no longer have huge registry books, everything will be computerised, and citizens who come to the Court will be immediately given their case le number, the name of the judge and the date of the hearing; they will no longer need to return to the courthouse several times. We are working on educating both ourselves and the citizens. There are posters setting out the codes of conduct for staff and visitors. I head the Personnel Department and I am always reminding the employees that they can dismiss citizens complaints about cases because they are not obliged to comment on them, but that I have to take into account any comment about staff conduct and pleasantness. For that reason, we installed a box where we collect complaints; the citizens are asked to leave their contact details and the staff will respond to their concerns. In the brochures, we explain to citizens what kind of questions they can ask and the kind of answers they can expect to receive from the court. The rst and basic rule is not to comment on cases on trial; that is the job of judges. Nevertheless we do accept complaints regarding dilatoriness and non-transparency. We will try to open our doors to citizens to give them insight in court schedules and we are improving our cooperation with the Ombudsmen. The judges are obliged to answer all inquiries forwarded by Ombudsmen, and Ombudsmen, as well as the OSCE, have access to all court cases. They often attend trials and ask to see the case les. In cooperation with USAID, in June, we organised a seminar Free Access to Information for judges and chiefs of departments. We tried to grasp the scope of this law and will in the future try to be a pilot project both on paper and in practice. As there are many cases in Court in which the municipality administration is the defendant, I would like to advise you to do your best and view all aspects of a problem. When you are reaching a decision, look at the problem comprehensively. Some of the suits led against you have nothing to do with your work, but we are often seen as psychotherapists. We need to listen to the problem, and if the citizen feels better because he told us about it, then we did help in a small way.

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3.3 Challenges before Local Administration in BiH

3.3.1 Economic Development and the Role of Municipal Administration
Ljiljana imunovi, Foundation for Sustainable Development FSD There are quite a few representatives here of municipalities participating in the Local Development Project, which I am Executive Manager of. The project is an initiative of the World Bank and it targets development, mainly the development of infrastructure which is a pre-condition for economic development. We have, over the past few days talked a lot about various challenges municipal administrations face, but economic development seems to be the most important one. It seems to me that the role of municipal administration is the least dened in this area, and the municipality is the rst authority citizens will turn to in expectation of initiatives to full the goals before them. If you have resources you want to invest, you will rst analyse the features of a municipality, the natural resources that determine the type of investment, the historical and cultural heritage and the age and professional breakdown of the local population. These will be the factors impacting on your decision. You will need to know which branches of the economy are developed, which are just emerging, what the employment rate is, the breakdown of the labour force, and, notably, the quality of the public utility infrastructure, which is prerequisite for economic activity. At this conference, we are discussing public services, public goods, and what the municipality can offer you and how it can support your entrepreneurial activities. All these factors are interlinked. The greater the natural resource, the greater the interest. The quality of the network of the roads and the sewage system, of environmental protection, air, water, forest, land protection.... all these factors impact on investments. Especially in light of EU environmental protection requirements, which will pose a major challenge to future investors and municipalities and will require a lot of funds. All these elements affect the type of investment and the areas in which to invest. So, what is the challenge a municipality faces? The complex relations between different levels of authority. There are overlapping competences, municipal revenues and powers do not conform to one principle. The share of budge revenues set by the municipality is negligible. In the US, for example, municipalities can lower taxes to attract investors. Here, the ratio of administrative fees set by the municipality that could be used to attract investors is minimal. We will need to respond to this challenge by amending and adjusting the legal framework, starting with the Constitution, the Law on Local Self-

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Government, the Law on Concessions (under which municipalities cannot grant concessions), the Law on Urban Building Land, the Law on Public Revenues (which is challenged by the introduction of VAT). As far as environmental protection is concerned, some municipalities are already drafting plans. The point is how to explain this tax obligation to the investors, how to attract them. Even Einstein wondered if there is anything more complicated than taxes. How do the investors feel in that jungle of laws, especially here, where levels of responsibility overlap, rendering more difcult decisions on the best possible business environment in municipalities? We are dealing with the following tax paradox: by decreasing taxes we support economic development, the lower the taxes the more people pay their taxes, and the amount of taxes collected will ultimately be larger. Many municipalities have tried the mechanism within the limits of their jurisdiction and have proved that it works, and, in result, successfully attracted investors. The simplication of tax collection, assessment and control mechanisms has proved to be an efcient way to attract investors. High taxes discourage economic activities, while low taxes attract investors. The municipal administration can create a more conducive environment for investors simply by responding to the requests of entrepreneurs. Municipalities elaborate development strategies, cooperate with associations of entrepreneurs, exchange experiences and clarify problematic areas; they mediate with donor organisations to facilitate loans and grants. They can organise training and enable better and more comprehensive access to information. Many municipalities have set up business incubators, provided entrepreneurs with ofces, IT and accounting services, all of which reduces costs as the services are shared by a larger number of entrepreneurs. One such institution at the disposal of the municipalities is the Foundation for Sustainable Development, established by FBiH in 2001 with the aim of implementing 4 projects initiated by the World Bank: technical aid for privatisation; a project for local initiatives developed by the micronancial sector and enabling self-employment of hundreds of people all over BiH; the community development project allocating 10,000 KM grants to undeveloped municipalities incapable of public borrowing; and, nally, the local development project for municipalities capable of public borrowing, which can use the loans to fund municipal infrastructure. A representative of a municipality that participated in the project is the Mayor of Tomislavgrad, and we will hear how the project was implemented and how it encourages economic development and attracts entrepreneurs.

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Zdravko Prka, Tomislavgrad Municipality Mayor Mrs imunovi proposed that I present the example of my municipality and I am very glad to do so. We heard about the status of local selfgovernments in BiH. I would like to present some very specic examples. I have been Mayor for 5 years now and, although I do not want to focus on the past, I have to emphasise that we were one of least developed municipalities in 2000. We therefore joined the Foundation project Odraz, but we soon left it because we improved some things. We realised that money does not just come to you and I dont think this is merely a phrase. Like in life, everyone respects the strong and powerful. In view of the circumstances, we decided to help ourselves and invest our own xed budget in economic development, with special emphasis on infrastructure. Because we know that is the best way to attract domestic and international capital. More than 5000 citizens of the municipality are working in West Europe and they have capital, but they will not invest unless they are assured the nancial and political systems are secure. However, I believe that these investments shall soon begin to pour in. Tomislavgrad covers nearly 1,000 square kilometres of land, its altitude ranges between 600 and 1200 m, we border the Republic of Croatia. With the construction of the Adriatic Highway, Europe will be closer to us, and we would like to bring it even closer. We have the lakes of Buko and the glacier lake of Blidinje; 49 per cent is grazing land, 10 per cent are elds, 20 per cent are forests: these resources are used, but insufciently. We have the Duvanjsko system, which supplies the whole area with water. The city is being reconstructed, since the rst impression of the visitors must be positive. If there is a lot of garbage, investors will run away. Weve done a lot in terms of ecology; we are one of cleanest municipalities, we have garbage dumps and have involved schools in helping to clean up the local environment We may not be rich, but we can at least be clean. We have invested considerable funds in the construction and equipping of schools, provided them with computer labs. We take care of the young generation, we are aware of drugs and other vices, and therefore we built a ne sports hall, where young people can spend their time and energy. Our 2001 budget was low, so we increased non-tax revenues, but we did not impose large taxes on entrepreneurs. Half of the budget is spent on capital investments: construction of roads, schools, the water supply system, and environmental protection. We have about 750 registered companies, some are closing down, but new ones are opening. We have established a business zone for our people working abroad who would like to invest their capital, we opened another business zone at the state border crossing of Kamensko, which will denitely be attractive as it will be near the new highway, close to the Dalmatia County and the City

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of Split. I think we can establish cross-border cooperation. As Mayor, I have taken it upon myself to turn Tomislavgrad into a comfortable place to live and feel good, a place no one will want to leave, a positive example in BiH. Extract of Discussions: Mustafa Kurtovi, Mayor of Gorade: I propose that the two associations of cities and municipalities forge closer ties, so that we Mayors can jointly submit certain projects. Zdravko Prka, Mayor of Tomislavgrad: We have been talking about the Public Income Law in recent months and we expect a considerable drop in tax revenues in local self-government units. What exactly are tax revenues? As there had been no nancial discipline until recently, tax revenues comprise public utility fees and estate rents. We try to manage these revenues as cost-effectively as we can. We get rent from the lake. And second, there is not one state that does not charge tax. Thats what states are based on and live off. Some people may nd it expensive to pay 5 KM for road maintenance every month, and it is true that we must not impose excessive fees and rents, but we cannot completely exempt them from all their dues. It is up to us to nd the right amount. Lecturer: Ljiljana imunovi: That is the picture of the tax paradox. Only cooperation and agreement with business associations can lead to better results. If you expect the municipality to provide better infrastructure as a prerequisite for your businesses, then, you businessmen should not be against tax increases either. Optimal amounts can be agreed on through dialogue.

3.3.2 Participative Governance, the Dissemination and Exchange of Best Practices among Municipalities - the Swiss Model
Alma Zukorli, Programme Manager, Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC) I am going to speak about a project supporting the municipalities in the Doboj region, where the so-called Swiss model of good practice will be applied. The Swiss believe models cannot be copied and if we want a project to be sustainable, it must be adjusted to the local conditions. The most that can be copied are the good practices and procedures, which have proven useful in Switzerland and may possibly be applied here.

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Before starting the presentation about the project supporting municipalities, I would like to give an overview of the organisation, which is to blame for its implementation. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, SDC, is an international organisation for cooperation and part of the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs. SDC is in charge of overall coordination for development and cooperation, as well as humanitarian aid, and it implements projects in about 80 countries across the world. It implements its own projects and supports multilateral organisations and programs like UNDP, OECD, the World Bank: it also provides nancial support to Swiss and other international organisations. Now a few words about Switzerlands activities in Bosnia. Switzerlands engagement in BiH can be divided into 4 phases: in the 1991-1995 period, 140 million Swiss franks were invested in humanitarian and emergency aid to BiH and Croatia; in phase two, from 1996 to 1999, 220 million were invested in reconstruction and rehabilitation through the special BiH programme. These activities mostly focussed on housing and other support to returnees and their reintegration. The third phase, from 2000 to 2003, concentrated on transition and reconciliation and 50 million franks were invested in that period. The last, current phase started in 2004 and will last until 2008. We have developed a medium-term program focusing on transition and supporting reforms. Eighty million franks are to be allocated over the period. We fund various areas, the social services, private business development, promotion of SMEs, governance and basic services. Our project supporting municipalities falls within the governance and basic services programme. My colleague Mr. uri will tell you more in the following presentation. The project started in November 2001 and the rst stage, which lasted until 2004, cost 3 million franks; 3.3 million franks are to be invested in the second stage, which will last until 2007. The project encompasses 7 municipalities in the Doboj region. Slavia uri, SDC Programme Manager, Municipal Development Project (MDP) Project Assistant The Municipal Development Project - MDP is based on the agreement the Government of Switzerland (represented by SDC), the BiH Council of Ministers and the Bosnian entity Governments signed in April 2002. It is implemented in seven municipalities in FBiH and RS. The long-term development goal of MDP is to empower selected municipalities in the Doboj Region to become examples of good local governance in BiH, provide valid experiences for other municipalities, and contribute to policy development on key topics for good (local) governance and the functioning of decentralised state structures.

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The goal of the MDP project is to have selected municipalities in BiH functioning in an increasingly effective, efcient, transparent, accountable and participative way, in accordance with the rule of law. MDPs main partners are 7 municipalities in both entities of BiH (municipal authorities and civil society). In the rst year of implementation (May 02 - April 03), the following 3 pilot-municipalities were selected by the MDP Steering Committee: Doboj, Doboj-Istok and Maglaj. In the second year (May 03 - August 04), 3 other municipalities were selected: Usora, Doboj-Jug and Petrovo; the municipality of Graanica was included in July 2005 as the 7th partner municipality of the MDP. The following basic problems were identied in MDPs problem analysis in which all relevant stakeholders at the municipal level took part: municipal administration is not responding to the needs of its users; poor public services; undeveloped civil society. These problems are also linked to factors such as: the complex state structure; the new Dayton municipalities; the return and reconciliation processes, lack of vision of municipal development based on good governance principles, etc. In response to the main identied problems the following three MDP areas of activity (phasal objectives) were dened: Support the strengthening of key instruments for developing municipal policy, such as planning and managing development, including principles of good governance, based on a common and shared vision of municipal development (of both the municipal administration and civil society); Foster organisational innovation and mechanisms for improving participative governance between local authorities and civil society actors (and taking into account activities to consolidate civil society); Support the dissemination and exchange of good practices between municipalities (horizontal dissemination) and their introduction in the development of a policy on good governance in BiH (vertical integration).

The three elds of activity are closely interlinked. The Common Vision, to be used as the main guide for planning municipal development, the Local Governance Mission and the Good Local Governance Code have been jointly elaborated by local government representatives and relevant civil society stakeholders (NGOs and MZs). They were adopted by the municipal councils/assemblies of all six MDP partner municipalities during phase I of the project (2001-2004).

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Phase II of MDP was launched in August 2004 and will last until December 2007. In Phase II, MDP will endeavour to respond to challenges such as: the elaboration of strategic municipal planning, with appropriate project components, such as local economic development or urban planning strategies, human resource management in local governments and the introduction of e-Government, further strengthening of the role of civil society, the institutionalisation of mechanisms for civil participation in planning and decision making processes at the municipal level and strategic dialogue on policy related to decentralisation and strengthening of local governance in BiH. MDP Areas of Activity and Approach

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Main strategy: in order to achieve the objectives, the MDP project ofce mainly acts as facilitator and coordinator and supports its partners with its own resources and through its pool of predominantly local experts and consultants, with training and capacity building measures responding to the partners needs and demands. By horizontal and vertical dissemination of good practices and lessons learnt, MDP encourages the process of change in other municipalities and contributes to policy discussion at higher government levels. Project organisation: the MDP is governed by a Steering Committee, comprising representatives of the SDC (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation Coordination Ofce in Sarajevo), relevant entity ministries (RS Administration and Local Self Government Ministry and the FBiH Ministry of Justice), the Justice Ministries of the Tuzla and Zenica Cantons, RS Association of Cities and Municipalities and representatives of partner municipalities.

All MDP partner municipalities are members of the Inter-Municipal Advisory Group (IMAG) which serves as a platform for the exchange of experiences and good practices, dening guidelines for policy discussion on local governance issues in BiH, and for the denition and planning of common projects. There is another inter-municipal structure - the Monitoring and Validation Group (MVG) - which encompasses the CAF team as well. The role of this group is to establish quality monitoring processes in local administrations and ensure the introduction of CAF methodology, which serves as a tool for self-evaluation of local administration performance. The methodology is based on the principle of comparing accomplishments and the exchange of good practices among local administrations using the methodology.

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Municipal Development Teams (MDTs) have been established at the municipal level. They comprise local government and civil society representatives who plan municipal development and implement projects using the participative approach in problem solving and decision making. Project partner: The Open Society Fund BiH is a partner of the MDP. MDP and OSF have organised several coordinated projects/activities (seminars, exchanges of experiences and practices between partner municipalities, joint study tours, a competition in best local governance practices in BiH, a project of elaborating local government strategy in BiH, etc). This partnership allows for better dissemination of lessons learnt at home and encourages contacts and partnership amongst municipalities both in BiH and in other countries. Consulting agencies: In order to strengthen local capacities, the MDP has established close cooperation with national consultants. The Banja Luka Enterprise Development Agency (EDA) is the main consulting agency which conducts training of municipal administration and civil society representatives. EDA is mostly involved in the implementation of activities related to reaching the MDP Phase I objective, the elaboration of the local government development strategy in BiH, and the introduction of the CAF methodology in municipalities. The MDP has engaged the Banja Luka-based Centre for Civic Initiatives (CCI) to implement activities aimed at improving the organisation and strengthening of internal capacities of civil society, notably the NGOs and MZs. The goal of the activities is to enable quality civil participation in the processes of planning and decision making at the municipal level, which helps foster relations between the civil society and local authorities; the latter is closely to MDPs Phase II objective. Along with the above mentioned activities related to the strengthening of civil society, the MDP has supported the project Participation of citizens in BiH- real obstacles and how to overcome them, in cooperation with OSF. This project has been implemented by CCI. Its goal is to establish European standards in the eld of civil participation in decision making processes, which is one of the segments of the local government development strategy in BiH. CCI has completed an analysis of civil participation in decision making processes in BiH and more information about the report is available at www.ccibh.org. The MDP and its partner municipalities will face many obstacles and challenges on their road to achieving the goals of the project, and together, they will seek solutions to problems like: the implementation of human rights, return and reconciliation at the local government

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level, consolidation of partnerships with municipalities, institutionalising processes of change and consolidation of strategic planning instruments, inclusion of successful practices and issues regarding the status of local administration in the policy discussions at higher government levels in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

3.3.3 Article 19 Free Access to Information and Public Administration Bodies

Mehmed Halilovi, Deputy Media Ombudsman FBiH I am an ex journalist, and I had spent most of my career in Osloboenje, where I started out by reporting on local events and ended up as the Chief Editor. In terms of local administration, this means that I progressed from counter clerk to Mayor. However, you dont have the post of foreign correspondent in your administrations, and I reported from Egypt for 5 years. Now I am the Deputy of the Federal Human Rights and Media Ombudsmen in charge of the implementation of the Access to Information Law, and that is why I am here today. I will not read out the Law to you; its implementation is much more important. I will outline the key reasons for its adoption and how it ought to be applied. First a few words about misconceptions. The rst and basic one appeared just before the Law was enacted and it still persists - that the Law is about journalists although it does not mention journalists or the media at all. There is only the word information in its title. Nevertheless this misconception was favourable at the time of adoption since those voting for the law were probably thinking that they were passing a law on journalism that would impose restrictions on them and they happily voted in favour of it. Its adoption met with minimal resistance in all three parliaments, at both the entity and state levels, probably because many of the parliamentarians did not understand it. The misconception still persists amongst politicians, and probably amongst some journalists. Journalists believe that under this, they can Law call politicians up at any time and invoke this Law, but that is neither the essence nor the point of this Law. The essence of this Law is that it denes all information which is in the possession of public authorities as accessible to everyone, not only to citizens of BiH but also to foreigners, to NGOs, and legal persons. Journalists as well, but they will not invoke the Law and le requests to obtain information on a daily basis. I hope that journalists are not so naive as to le such a request in the morning and use the information to make the evening news or next days newspapers. If they did, they would not be doing their job properly and there would be no prime time TV news or newspapers.

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Journalists will use this law in order to dig out specic documents, information that they cannot get through ordinary procedures or by other means. We are talking about archives, documentation, travel orders and nancial reports. Journalists will invoke this Law to get access to this kind of information, but neither here nor elsewhere are journalists privileged in obtaining such information vis--vis other citizens. Journalists have the same rights as all citizens. Why do journalists often claim that they are entitled to privileges because they serve the public? The answer is simple: the right of access to information is an authentic right of every citizen, and no one has more rights than someone else. The rst law of this kind was passed in the US in the 1960s and according to statistics, the largest number of requests, some 30 per cent, were led by legal persons, mostly companies. Why them? Because authorities have a lot of information at their disposal, including commercial information, which can be used for market research. Then came NGOs, lawyers, various other organisations and associations, and at the bottom of the list were the journalists, only 5 per cent or 6 per cent of the requests were led by them. We had the opposite situation. When the Law was passed, most requests were led by journalists, but the situation has changed and most of the requests are now made by citizens. According to statistics of public institutions, including municipalities, most requests for information are now led by private citizens, which is a positive sign. Another positive sign is that municipalities are the best organised public bodies in terms of access to information. However, the situation is not ideal. As we accept complaints from citizens and address them or act on their behalf so that they can realise their right of access to information, we know that even the best organised municipalities sometimes do not full their obligations. We in BiH have 3 laws and there are no signicant differences between them. Only the RS Law lacks a provision obliging a public authority to pass a decision dismissing a request for information, and merely prescribes notication of the petitioner that his request was dismissed. I hope this deciency, will be remedied. Notication cannot be grounds for administrative proceedings, ling a law suit, addressing the ombudsman. We had a case like that in FBiH, where a public authority failed to pass a decision and merely notied the petitioner that it had dismissed its request. The petitioners lawsuit was dismissed on formal grounds, since a suit can be led against a decision, but not against notication. What are the key issues in the application of this specic law? Most of the court and legislative bodies in FBiH are well prepared and have fullled the legal requirements. They have produced their own guidebooks which citizens can refer to when searching for information. They have

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lists - registries of information in their possession and have assigned employees to deal with the requests. The Centar Municipality has 2 or 3 employees processing requests for free access to information. Since public authorities, and thus also municipalities, are obliged to submit quarterly reports on the number of requests led and how they were addressed, we have insight in those statistics as well. The Centar Municipality receives an average of between 300 and 500 requests every day and deals with most of them within 2448 hours. Other municipalities also receive large numbers of requests, while smaller municipalities sometimes receive no requests at all in 3 months. When applying this Law, it is crucial to be aware of its basic aim and purpose. The Law enforces the obligation of publicising information and that is the basic rule of the law. Of course, exceptions are possible, but the Law allows only the exceptions it foresees. There is some misunderstanding on the part of some public authorities charged with internal affairs, security services and tax ofces etc, which believe that the Access to Information Law ought not to apply to them. But, this Law is a lex specialis and it explicitly stipulates in its nal articles that it is always applicable and that no subsequent law can limit or restrict the rights set forth in this Law. The FBiH Ombudsman maintains that this Law needs to have priority and that all requests must be dealt with on a case by case basis. In other words, you cannot automatically reach decisions on access to information, the laws in other countries also follow that basic principle. Why am I referring to this issue? Both at the municipal and other levels, the administration often labels information as classied, top secret, restricted or military secret, out of habit and although no laws currently prescribe that such information should not be made public. This Law requires consideration of every single request, whether the information may be publicised or not. If a body maintains that specic information should not be publicised, it must establish whether there is overriding public interest and may rule to exempt the information despite any damages that may cause the legitimate interest of the cantons or FBiH. In its decision, the body must prove exemption is justied in a legal procedure prescribed by the Law and that is the key obligation of public authorities. Another important provision of this Law is that the person seeking information is not obliged to explain why s/he needs specic information, and public bodies are not authorised to ask for an explanation. Soon after the law was passed, an East Doboj journalist sought information from the Teanj Municipality. The request was dismissed because it had not been signed and ofcially stamped by the manager of the radio-station he was working for. This is nonsense. No request needs to be sealed or veried by a superior.

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Of course, the dilemma whether information is used or abused remains. Information can be abused, but that is not your concern. It is not the concern of the one who imparts information. If information is abused, there are other recourses against a person who abused it to task. There is criminal responsibility, there are provisions on slander, but all citizens have the right of free access to information in the possession of public authorities and that right must be respected. Extract of Discussions: Behija vraka, Sanski Most municipality My question is, if a public body possesses specic information is it obliged to give an explanation or make a judgment? Mehmed Halilovi It must issue a notice because citizens have the right to dispute what the body claims. And then someone may have to establish whether it is correct or not. The issue of notice is very important. The ombudsmen do not insist on it; nor does the law. If a municipality reaches a positive decision and provides the information, then a notice is unnecessary. I think that Centar municipality does not issue notices for each piece of information it provides access to within a period of 24 hours, since this procedure would be much too formalistic, but notice of a decision to exempt access to information must be issued in each case. Mirko Mitrovi, Novo Sarajevo East Can you explain the difference between the terms under which a citizen can require information at the disposal of a public body and information under control of public bodies? Lecturer: Mehmed Halilovi I will put it in simple terms: It is about the information which you possess - it does not matter if you created it or if you obtained it from another body. We often get explanations saying that the information originated from another body or institution, which is irrelevant. If you are in possession of such information, you are obliged to provide it, its origin notwithstanding. Referring citizens to the institutions that originally created information is out of the question. Gospava Jeremi, Zvornik municipality Is a public body obliged to create new information at the request of a citizen or client, or is it just obliged to provide access to information it has? We receive such requests frequently. Mehmed Halilovi I am glad you asked that question. You are not obliged to create information. Journalists, but citizens as well, often make the mistake of

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formulating the request as a question. You are only obliged to provide the information you have, even if it is similar to what the citizen is requesting. The citizen does not have to know the title of the information, whether it is a plan or an analysis. But you are obliged to tell him or her if you do not have it and what information you do have and let the citizen decide what information s/he will seek access to. Every year, we receive an average of a hundred complaints; this year we received some 120 which we are reviewing. If you or your staff implementing the Law have any dilemmas, you can address these to the FBiH Ombudsman, regardless of where you are: we accept complaints from RS as well. We do not address them, but we tell the complainants what to do, give them recommendations and advice.

3.4 Case Studies

Zvonko Mari, Journalist FTV I would like to thank you for inviting me to this conference and I hope that the experiences gained here will be of help to you in your communities. I am a journalist and editor at FTV and I would like to present two TV reports4 about a case that happened in the FBiH and another one that occurred in the smaller BiH entity. Someone here said that citizens do not have the sense that they belong to their community, but I think that municipalities are not susceptible to the needs of the people living in the community. This was the case in the municipality of Zvornik, where the fate of returnees was deliberately left to the so-called Committees for Return. The story tells us about corruption and nepotism in the allocation of donor funds for returns and building houses for Bosnian families in villages around Zvornik. The other story speaks about the misallocation of millions given to the municipality of Prozor/Rama. Local HDZ power wielders with excellent connections in the Herzegovina-Neretva County are to blame for the embezzlement. I do not know if any comments are needed here. In the TV report, you saw a few members of the MZ forum who talked to each other but only in front of a camera. You saw the protagonists of this story. It seems the municipality does not want to have powers to deal with these sorts of problems and cedes them to the so-called return coordinators. The absence of human rights is evident and disgraceful. You laughed, I laughed, but it is a sad story. In the other story, Mrs imunovi spoke about the complexity which

Two TV reports shown to the audience revealed real cases of corruption. Unfortunately transcripts are not available, but only the comments by journalist Zvonko Mari are transcribed here.
4

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exists because of different levels of authority; but there is no complexity when crime and illegal scheming are at issue. They know and understand each other well, they know very well who is in charge. Mr. Vukoja in the second story is still Mayor of Rama/Prozor. The municipal administration is obviously not interested in what is happening there. The fact that 980 Croats moved to Croatia to work there explicitly shows there are no prospects in the municipality. I heard Mr. Prka say they built a sports hall in Tomislavgrad for the youth. I also heard the excellent presentation on free access to information. And than Mr. Goran Kosori says: were sick and tired of journalists. I replied that we, journalists, are sick and tired of municipal ofcials, but I wont repeat it. All I can say is that citizens are fortunately not sick and tired of us although they may be of municipal ofcials. Saa avrag, Journalist Nezavisne novine, Banja Luka First a piece of advice to mayors. Nothing is off the record when you speak to journalists. Be serious, dont talk about serious things jokingly. Every statement you make in your capacity is important and on the record, as my colleague Tuzli said. I would like to speak about an example which will refute my colleague Mari. An example of a small municipality is not necessarily a bad example. We in Banja Luka often say that Banja Luka is near Laktai, because the Laktai administration has been simplied considerably. Here with us is Mr Ranko Karapetrovi, ex Mayor, who is also a speaker today. I will give an example of a private businessman in Banja Luka who applied for an operating licence. The owner of the company wanted to employ more than 100 workers. He exports to Italy, Greece and the USA In Banja Luka, he waited for the relevant documents for six months and when he nally succeeded and thought he could launch production, he was told that he needed one more document. He consulted his associates and decided to try to solve the problem in the municipality of Laktai. He presented his ideas to the municipal ofcials and was issued an operating licence within the hour. Now his company is working, exporting and bringing capital to Laktai. In short, in one hour, the Banja Luka budget lost at least 1 million KM of revenue per annum. Banja Luka is currently debating the budget for 2006, which is to stand at a little over 100 million KM. There is a big dispute since the budget needs to be decreased by 500000 KM. Citizens want it to be increased, the authorities want the opposite. One of the major problems in Banja Luka is the trafc, while Laktai has problems with the water supply system. If you are taking the road to Zagreb, you will see that the western transit road from Jajce to Gradika is being reconstructed. The City of Banja

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Luka nanced this reconstruction, although this was to have been done by the Roads Directorate at the entity level. Banja Luka funded most of the reconstruction, the works were nished on time (8 November 2005), but the section of the road has not been opened yet. The reason is that the Roads Directorate has not issued a construction licence for the road. Sounds strange: a large city with high circulation by all standards, the protability of the construction is high as the road to Gradika is busy. Sounds ironic, but thats how it is. Banja Luka earmarked a lot of money to resolve the bottleneck, the company won the construction job at a tender and completed it and it now transpired that there is no construction licence. Citizens are ned for using the road and so it goes on. Banja Luka has lovely trees but it must widen its roads. Many of the citizens are against cutting the trees down, so am I, but I keep on thinking we need wider roads whenever Im driving. I do not know how Banja Luka is going to solve this problem, but I believe it will in a better way than the Western Transit case. I would suggest that you, the municipal administration, work more closely with the citizens. I dont know how, but I know that the citizens cannot solve their problems if you do not cooperate more closely. And then I, as a journalist, will not criticise you. Thank you very much. Extract of Discussions: Zvonko Mari, FTV Journalist I have over the past few days tried to do a report on the situation in Tesli, concerning Bosnians and Croats. They cannot get their ID numbers there because the numbers are reserved for someone else, so they cannot exercise their basic human right to an identity. There are quite a few such cases and they give reason for concern. Finally, I would like to add my own thoughts to what Mr ebek said, about citizens bowing in front of the counter windows. When our citizens try to get documents at the counter, they are not only bowing, they are on their knees. Biljana Bira, Head of the General Affairs Department, City of Banja Luka I am from Banja Luka and I wonder how a journalist can come out with completely false information. For your information, the construction licence for the Western Transit road is issued by the Ministry for Urban Planning, only the Ministry may issue such licences. And you said that the licence is to be issued by the Public Roads Company which was merely the co-investor in the construction of the Western Transit road. So you are not entitled to speak about an issue if you do not know who is in charge of what. If you are coming out with information, look for it in the right place.

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Saa avrag, Journalist of Nezavisne novine If I made mistake by saying Roads Directorate instead of Ministry.. Biljana Bira, Head of the General Affairs Department, City of Banja Luka: But it is not the only mistake. You have no idea what you are talking about. You are imparting such information at this gathering, and I do not know who authorised this. Saa avrag, Journalist of Nezavisne novine: It was a slip of the tongue I dont know why you feel insulted at all by this story? I said that the City of Banja Luka earmarked the money for Biljana Bira, Head of the General Affairs Department, City of Banja Luka: But you do not have the right information. I spoke many times about the Western Transit in public, and you are now coming out with incorrect information. Saa avrag, journalist of Nezavisne novine: I only made a mistake when I said the Directorate made the road without the construction licence. Biljana Bira, Head of the General Affairs Department, City of Banja Luka: You do not know who the investor is or who the builder is. You said that the Directorate made the road. You are mixing everything up. The road was made by the Public Roads Company, not by the Directorate.

3.5 Results of the Moderated Working Group Sessions

Contribution: Moderator teams report (Gildana Tanovi, Alma Bubri, Aida Kalender, evko Baji, Nikoleta Milaevi, Helena Okuka, Belma Ahmedovi, Alisa Buimki, Amela Rebac) The conference concept relied on good experiences with an inclusive approach towards nding solutions and formulating recommendations in moderated working groups. It was important to the project team to initiate discussions amongst the representatives and hear their expert opinions on what would be helpful to facilitate good governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The moderators were briefed beforehand with a moderators guide on topics to be addressed and elaborated in intensive discussions. Groups were mixed to ensure a full coverage of the complex administration system of BiH. 9 groups, elaborated on three main topics, Municipal Hiring and Promotion Procedures, Efciency of Municipalities at

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the Service of Citizens and Transparency. The results and recommendation are compiled in the following.

3.5.1 Municipal Hiring and Promotion Procedures

Situation analysis Vacancies are publicly announced in both entities although recruitment procedures vary; however, there are still political inuences and nepotism. The participants highlighted the problem of the so called suspicious diplomas acquired in the post-war period; Promotion is regulated by legal provision in most municipalities; unfortunately, there are no mechanisms in municipalities to prevent nepotism.

Obstacles Laws are not applied Laws are not harmonised Lack of subsidiary legislation Long and expensive procedures Lack of seminars and training in this eld Insufcient co-operation between municipal services and the Civil Service Agency Civil service work is badly organised Non-existence of internal organisation rulebooks Politics inuence recruitment The Law on Public Procurement is slowing down the work of municipal institutions and requires huge funds There are no punitive measures for corruption

Good practice examples Case of the Zavidovii, Prijedor, Mostar and Gorade municipalities, which have established partnerships with cities in Europe Most municipalities have positive experience in engaging volunteers Training programmes in some municipalities on proper employment procedures Cooperation with employment bureaus Cooperation with associations of disabled persons Cooperation among BiH municipalities, exchange of experiences and methods, which may be the key recommendation

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Recommendations Enable municipalities to comment and make suggestions on draft laws before they are passed Improve the strict implementation of laws Lower age limits for early retirement and provide appropriate social programmes Organise continuous training at the municipal, entity and state levels Legally stipulate publication of laws on the Internet Conform legal regulations at the state level Enhance employment opportunities for young professionals to prevent them from leaving the country Continuously raise awareness of the benets of fair and legal employment procedures

3.5.2 Efciency of Municipalities at the Service of Citizens The second topic of the working groups regards efciency of user friendly services. We concentrated on the terms municipality and citizen, and asked how you as municipal workers understood and interpreted them. The conclusion was that the municipality and the citizens must work closely together and that the municipality needs to provide all kinds of services to citizens, as the municipality does not exist per se but to serve the citizens. An analysis of the group debates resulted in the following key points. Situation Analysis The equal treatment of citizens is an issue that was politically addressed long ago, consensus was reached a long time ago that everyone, regardless of their ethnicity or sex, has the right of equal access to and use of municipal services; Citizens complaints are processed within legal deadlines, but there are exceptions. Some municipalities have grievance commissions and books where citizens write down their objections and complaints; Development of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is supported through fee benets and the stimulation of residential building construction. Benets for small and medium enterprises (SME) also include rent payment deferrals, which are not regulated by law.

We also asked you to tell us what the basic municipal services are and how long it takes your municipalities to provide them. These services include notably: birth/death/marriage registration, issuance of work permits, construction licences, farming, birth, citizenship certicates

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The deadlines for responding to the requests of citizens are regulated by law. It takes merely a minute to issue a birth or citizenship certicate in most BiH municipalities. Issuance of construction licences depends on the type of building, its purpose and size, but this procedure has been shortened as well. In some places, for example in Banja Luka, it can take up to 6 months, but there are also a lot of positive examples in the municipalities of BiH. In Zenica, for instance, urban licences are issued within 30 days although the law gives a 60- day deadline. Obstacles Lack of hierarchy in laws and competencies Job descriptions are unclear and job classication is inadequate Inadequate human resource management Insufcient budgets All municipalities suffer from politicisation and delays in reform Staff opposition to modernisation - reluctance to switch to IT Lack of nancial motivation of staff which would improve performance and automatically reduce corruption Lack of professional training Corruption represents a large problem due to lack of adequate punitive measures Inadequate functioning of municipality councils, i.e. non-abidance by law Lack of development strategies Brain drain, qualied staff prefer staying in the big cities Slow privatisation is one of the major problems Small municipalities are not computerised, while the big municipalities, like Gradaac, Banja Luka and the Centar Municipality in Sarajevo have made the greatest headway in modernising their work Mainly foreigners are involved in training, cooperation between more and less advanced municipalities would be preferable

Good practice examples Tuzla published a directory on how to open a small or mediumsized enterprise and also opened an Information Centre for young people who want to start a small business; In Visoko, zoning and rent control, commercial loans are provided to entrepreneurs with 50 per cent of return; A Development Agency and Economic Department were opened in Prijedor; The Srbac municipality set up an Initiatives Agency and cooperates with the Social Welfare Centre to support persons with special needs;

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Application of legal facilities, tax exemption and facilitating easy access to buildings for persons with special needs; The Stolac Municipality has organised bus transportation for all persons with special needs; Jablanica supplied schools, the social welfare centre and the old peoples home with computer equipment. A database of the land in the municipality was compiled by using air cameras; The Visoko and Prnjavor Municipalities funded staff training themselves and highlight the seminars on citizen-oriented services. They have also designed self-evaluation forms; Introduction of ISO standards in Sarajevo Centar, Teanj and Laktai; Modernisation of procedures; Introduction of the One stop shop model; Monthly performance analysis; Participation of citizens in specic projects; Most municipalities have resources for cooperation with the NGO sector; Municipal staff performance self-evaluation forms were introduced.

Recommendations How can municipalities serve the citizens and respond to their needs? Municipalities need greater nancial support Resources must be adequate if municipalities are to full their competences Computerisation and networking of all municipalities Cooperation of municipalities Clearer denition of municipal competences Budget planning Speeding up reforms Staff motivation Greater accountability of municipal councillors who often obstruct work, mainly for political reasons as the participants commonly agree Use Associations of Cities and Municipalities to boost mutual cooperation Training of municipal councilmen

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3.5.3 Transparency
Situation Analysis Transparency was the third topic of our working groups. We started by asking the participants how they understood this term and what they thought of it. Everybody agreed that the expression transparency was rather clumsy and proposed to replace it in local communication with Bosnian expressions like publicity of work, openness of work Some representatives of municipalities do not understand the meaning of the word transparency. Listening to the radio drama we heard in some drama scenes that some pieces of information were accessible to citizens and some were not. Some municipal employees still do not fully understand that they have to be completely open to citizens. This is where the Law on Access to Information collides with the Law on Administrative Procedure i.e. the Law on Privacy. Seeking information about an ongoing administrative procedure constitutes a violation of privacy, although the gentleman from Gradaac said that the whole city knew what he was doing at any time of the day. Citizens can reach the Mayor of Gradaac on his cell phone until 11 p.m. and every citizen can call him at any time and the municipality also has a hotline. Sometimes they leave rude messages, but still, every message is listened to and all of them are displayed in the reception hall so everyone can see what the citizens said and whom they criticised in the municipality. In addition to his idea to video monitor the municipal staff, the Mayor of Gradaac also proposes secondment of municipal staff to foreign or developed municipalities in BiH for short periods of time. Gradaac largely draws on the experiences of Norway as its Mayor spent a long time there. Corruption is hard to prove as no one is willing to talk about it. There is a law regulating gifts and it provides legal grounds for punishing corrupt staff. Transparency is always perceived as something which is related to computerisation, installing displays and info-desks. It seems that many employees believe that they will become completely transparent with the introduction of new technologies. This is a trap, since one can also be transparent although one uses old fashioned equipment, because you can use an old typewriter to issue instructions on how to solve problems. We need to point out the excellent websites of some Sarajevo municipalities. Many conference participants think that putting information on the Internet is not very important considering the percentage of Internet

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users. Nevertheless it is important, since Internet communication is growing by leaps and bounds. Let us mention the radio drama again: one mayor said that no one listens to the radio but there is always someone listening to the radio or visiting your web-site. Every single citizen deserves attention. The abuse of the Law on Access to Information was highlighted during the discussion. In some municipalities, some citizens le up to 90 requests a daily and in a way harass municipal employees, so, in terms of improving transparency, we need to educate the citizens, too, on what that law is about and what sort of information they can get. That law does not entitle them to ask about the private lives of municipal staff. Politicisation was another problem that was highlighted. Municipal councils often obstruct the efciency of a municipality. A modern and ambitious mayor with many ideas on how to improve transparency often faces resistance in the municipal council. Situation Analysis Transparency entails regular informing of the public Educate citizens about their rights Transparency entails ensuring adequate infrastructure and staff Municipal job classication needs to clearly outline who works in the information department Provide as much information as possible free of charge Municipal staff ask for payment to make statements to the media Corruption is difcult to prove but there is a law dening gifts

Obstacles Technical equipment, non-existence of databases Insufcient education of citizens Low staff salaries do not motivate employees to be pleasant to citizens Non transparency of higher institutions vis--vis the municipality Politicisation of municipal administration Lack of qualied staff Tradition people are not used to seeking information

Good practice examples Regular press conferences The opening of a public relations or an information department, such as in the Centar Municipality Frequent public opinion surveys and polls on the quality of

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municipal services; also, free information brochures distributed in the Centar Municipality and municipal notice boards across the city. The Mayor of Gradaac invites citizens to see him one day per week, and so far around 5,000 citizens have visited him, citizens can reach him on his cell phone and the municipal hotline is on 24 hours a day. Municipal session records are summarised and disseminated to media

Recommendations to increase transparency Stricter internal reviews and exchange of internal reviewers amongst municipalities Amendment of legislation to ensure genuine de-politicisation of municipal councillors Regional association of municipalities and decentralisation General training of journalists, staff and citizens Pro-active approach to citizens Harmonisation of subsidiary legislation with state laws More powers should be delegated to local communities

This is an inspiring topic.

3.5.4 Summary of Recommendations

Out of the suggestions, which were formulated to improve the performance of the three major problem areas, 11 recommendations were identied as overarching. They apply to all three topics and therefore can be seen as the basis of improving municipal administration. The following recommendations have been formulated by the group as desirable to improve municipal governance in BiH Stricter control system Amend legislation to ensure genuine de-politicisation of municipal councillors Regional association of municipalities and decentralisation General training (of journalists, staff, citizens) Pro-active approach to citizens Harmonisation of internal by-laws with state laws Inform citizens they can launch disciplinary proceedings against municipal staff arguments Resort to public debates and polls as much as possible Promote cooperation between the administration and the NGO sector

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Accountability Forum (Prnjavor) the Mayor defends the approved projects and outlines planned projects twice a year The FBiH Local Self-Government Law is crucial and must be implemented

Extract of concluding discussions Amela Rebac, moderator I think it is crucial that both citizens and staff are aware of the importance of the Access to Information Law. Information about the administration of the country is a public good and must be accessible to everyone. It is in some cases limited by the Criminal Code or the Laws on Taxes and Administration. Our discussions on transparency included several excellent examples and public debates at the local community (MZ) level on issues concerning every aspect of public life are very important. In Mostar there was a public debate about plans related to urbanisation. Prnjavor is an impressive example: they have a Accountability Forum it an ethical act of the Mayor who meets citizens twice a year and discusses projects. The debate focuses on reports of implemented projects, citizens are invited to make proposals and suggestions and the Mayor defends his projects, but all is done through direct contact between the Mayor and citizens. Such initiatives are important since the citizens in BiH feel neglected, because the municipalities sometimes appear to be selfserving, as if they are there only for their own sake. There are many positive examples and this is an opportunity to exchange experiences. Radio Konjic for example, broadcasts meetings of the municipal council. It is a form of transparency, as people can inform themselves by listening to the broadcasts if they are not in the position to read the brochures or visit websites. Konjic is not the only good example of such transparency. Some municipalities established co-operation with TV stations, which broadcast the sessions, either live, or at a later time. In the general problems and recommendations, which you will receive within the nal report, we highlighted that the Mayor is the key person in any municipality. Everything depends on him. If the Mayor is ambitious and competent, a good manager who runs the municipality as if it were his own company, (to the best of his abilities), and if he insists on spending every penny cost-effectively, the success of the municipality will follow as a consequence of this. One of the problems is the cooperation with authorities at higher levels, i.e. with cantons. Municipalities often have more modernised procedures than the cantons. When a citizen searches for information beyond the municipality, s/he is often unable to obtain it, since cantons tend to be lax and, as a result, somewhat inefcient.

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Training programmes need to be elaborated for mayors resisting development of their municipalities. They should be given every opportunity, and like the Gradaac Mayor, they ought to attend professional seminars and visit municipalities where they can widen their knowledge. The working groups gave an interesting recommendation: that mayors should meet more often at similar conferences, that the associations of cities and municipalities should help to institute the practice of rallying municipal staff and mayors at informal gatherings, where they will exchange experiences, discuss specic topical issues and make recommendations about the implementation of valid laws. Finally, an important message was addressed to the International Community (IC) and it regards the lack of transparency in promoting their grant programmes. The participants in the conference called on the IC to improve the promotion of their donation and marketing programmes, directly contact and invite the municipalities to apply. For, many municipalities implement projects and seek ways to join them ad hoc, and others hear about it through the grapevine. The participants think it would be useful if there were a database with all open tenders for grants to improve municipal services. It will be easier to obtain terms of reference of international grants if all the information were in one place. Devad Beirevi, Sarajevo Centar Municipality Mayor Two of the presenters mentioned the absence of criminal penal measures against corrupt municipal staff. I think there is nothing to add, for corruption is a crime. All you need is evidence and to report it to the police. Amela Rebac, moderator It is very difcult to prove corruption and, besides, colleagues at work tend not to denounce each other. Nikoleta Milaevi, moderator Our group mentioned corruption and how to punish it when we discussed efciency. Participants in our group agreed that there is corruption, that we are aware of it, but that we do not react since it is not penalised. It may be regulated by law, but the people in the municipalities are not aware of any such examples. People have not said there are no penalties for corruption, just that there are no examples of them being enforced.

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Part 4 - Summary of Conclusions

The project Our Town, Our Future used radio drama, outreach work and a conference to raise awareness, initiate public debate and inuence attitudes about corruption and good governance. The primary target group were municipal workers, but the project addressed the citizens of BiH as a whole, promoting citizen rights and democracy. The activities were based upon and accompanied by, comprehensive empirical research to constantly measure trends and the impact on society. The baseline research activities explored the attitudes of both municipal workers and citizens taking into account the ethnic diversity of the country. The following situation analysis, formulated by Dr. Colin Irwin was used as a basis of all of the subsequent endeavours: .most people in Bosnia and Herzegovina share a common understanding of what the major problems are and what needs to be done to achieve a better future. There are some exceptions. Who was to blame for the war but then most people also agree that this issue needs to be put to one side so that the economy can be rebuilt, corruption brought to an end, standards of education improved and the institutions of the state made more effective. Although municipal employees are often thought of as inefcient and unresponsive to the publics needs they share these same ambitions for the future and welcome the prospect of reforms that can help them achieve these goals. Reaching a consensus on constitutional change is not going to be easy but most people want it simplied and want to join the EU along with their neighbours. With strong leadership and a sense of vision all of this has the prospect of restoring a sense of hope and this, above all else, is the peoples greatest desire. Secondary research and consultative testing complemented the empirical ndings with actual cases of corruption, relevant legal issues and examples of daily problems within municipalities. The creative team started their work based on valid and impartial research and developed an up-to-date and relevant set of episodes, which tackled the issue of corruption and ineffective governance. A group of municipal workers and members of the creative team visited Northern Ireland to share experiences with another severely divided society. The study tour brought to light that although Northern Ireland is well ahead as far as good governance and development is concerned, communities in Northern Ireland lack substantially in joint approaches towards reconciliation. Participants felt that Bosnia has achieved far more in overcoming ethnic tensions in daily life and in re-building a multiethnic society.

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Three pilot episodes of the drama were tested using the method of focus groups, and the pilot audience contributed considerably to the success of the drama. It made the project team aware that in tackling sensitive issues, humour is a powerful means of offering criticism, but drawing a balanced picture of positive and negative attributes is just as important; in order to start the process of changing mindsets. 15 episodes were aired on 30 radio stations in BiH. The audience research provides proof that the episodes were relevant to the problems of BiH and succeeded in raising awareness about malpractice in municipal administration. 72 per cent of municipal workers who listened to the drama, stated that they learned something helpful for their daily work and 57 per cent reported that the drama initiated discussions, which is the rst step towards rethinking attitudes. The conference in Neum in November 2005 facilitated debate amongst 170 municipal workers from all over BiH, and provided a forum in which to exchange experiences and identify obstacles as well as address challenges. The plenary sessions provided insight into the work of selected experts in municipal administration and introduced examples of good practice, but also reported on appalling cases of corruption. The main conclusions to be drawn from the contributions are obviously, the poor implementation of the Local Self Governance concept and the inadequate allocation of nancial resources between the state, the entity and the municipal levels. The complicated articial state system of BiH has resulted in cases of contradictory jurisdiction and a highly politicised approach towards initiating reforms and change. The discussions around Article 19, (Freedom of Access to Information) and the whole concept of transparency highlighted the fact that implementing democratic ideas in a transitional society cannot be achieved purely by passing the relevant laws; legislation needs to be accompanied by adequate training measures to counteract misinterpretation and confusion on both sides, i.e. the public services employees and the citizens. The working group sessions listed major obstacles to good governance such as the lack of funding for modernising facilities and providing training to staff. They also identied political differences as a hurdle in the path towards a joint approach to installing an efcient administrative body. Despite the many obstacles, some municipalities could, nevertheless, point to examples of good practice; having installed help desks, citizen hotlines and removed public ofcers for conict of interest. The specic recommendation which municipal workers considered useful for improving the system was, above all, to receive further education on the actual meaning of transparency and good governance, and their

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practical implications for their daily work. They believed that international experts would be helpful to provide further training in general and proposed to organise study trips to modernised, efcient municipalities in the country and abroad. Municipal employees supported the idea of holding regular opinion polls on municipal service quality, in order to receive feedback from citizens, and felt that it would be necessary to have stricter internal controls, accompanied by a more effective means to prosecute corruption. Although the legal basis is in place, actual cases of prosecution are rare, and this was reported as the main obstacle in dealing with malpractice. Regarding the ndings of the project, the most important conclusion to be drawn is that municipal workers, above all, are citizens themselves. Examples of good practice exist where individuals through strong leadership and with a clear vision managed to overcome all obstacles to generate true change in municipal administration. The projects endeavours point to the fact that individuals can act as the dynamos of change. The radio drama as well as the conference contributed to the spread of positivity and encouragement towards a concept of active citizenship amid the difcult process of nding your own way to democracy.

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Appendix I Contributors and Participants of the Conference

Participants: Adem, Enver - Municipality of Gorade Alibegovi, Munib - Municipality of Visoko Alibegovi, Vahid - Municipality of Konjic Alilovi, Vlado - Municipality of Vitez Anii, Ivo - Municipality of Vitez Arapovi-Gali, Ivanka - Municipality of Posuje Avdi, Paaga - Municipality of Banovii Avdi Paaga, - Municipality of Banovii Avramovi, oko - Municipality of Ugljevik Babi, Daniel - Municipality of Stolac Bajri, Emilija - Municipality of Klju Bari, Mladenko - Municipality of Grude Beirbai, Nermana - Municipality of Tuzla Begi, Esad - Municipality of Cazin Bira, Biljana - Municipality of Banja Luka Borovac, Ivanka - Municipality of epe

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Braji, Devdana - Municipality of Zenica Buturovi, air - Municipality of Jablanica Buza, Nizama - Municipality of Kakanj Cviko, Lejla - Municipality of Centar eman, Smajo - Municipality of Teanj enanovi, Denana - Municipality of Ilida irki, Ahmet - Municipality of Kotor Varo ori, Boo - Municipality of Mostar irkovi, Radislav - Municipality of Osmaci olovi, Blagoje - Municipality of Vlasenica ujak, Ivanka - Municipality of Neum upi, Radenko - Municipality of Kotor Varo Damjanac, Milena - Municipality of Nevesinje Dedi, Salem - Municipality of Jablanica Dedovi, Emir - Municipality of Novi Grad Dervi, Sebila - Municipality of Velika Kladua Devedi, Jasmin - Municipality of Maglaj Devi, Nedeljko - Municipality of Tesli Drakul, Violeta - Municipality of Foa

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Drobo, Abid - Municipality of Travnik Duranovi, Nijaz - Municipality of Jajce elilbai, Amira - Municipality of Travnik uki, Slavica - Municipality of Bijeljina uri, Nada - Municipality of Derventa uri, Slavica - Municipality of Vlasenica Danbegovi, Aida - Municipality of Biha Gogi, Mejra - Municipality of ivinice Gurda, Merisa - Municipality of Kladanj Hadi, Husein - Municipality of Velika Kladua Hadi, Faketa - Municipality of Breza Halitovi, Sadika - Municipality of Bosanska Krupa Hasanbai, Hajrudin - Municipality of Gradaac Hasanbegovi, Rada - Municipality of Centar Hergi, Esma - Municipality of Bosanska Krupa Hrnji, Nisvet - Municipality of Jajce Hui, Jasmin - Municipality of Velika Kladua Huski, Suad - Municipality of Teanj Ibriimovi, Mirsad - Municipality of Brko

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Islamovi, Mirzad - Municipality of Prijedor Isovi, Bisera - Municipality of Zenica Ivkovi, Zdravko - Municipality of Mostar Javaragi, Sead - Municipality of Biha Jeremi, Gospava - Municipality of Zvornik Jovanovi, Gorana - Municipality of Han Pijesak Jovanovi, Rade - Municipality of Ustipraa Jovii, Dejan - Municipality of Srbac Jovii, Ana - Municipality of Derventa Kaar, Gordana - Municipality of ipovo Kadri, Hidajeta - Municipality of Stari Grad Kanli, Nezir - Municipality of Ustipraa Kari, Alija - Municipality of Osmaci Kova, Dervia - Municipality of Ilida Kovaevi, Jovan - Municipality of Gacko Kovaevi, Nikola - Municipality of Vukosavlje Kreki, Meliha - Municipality of Kladanj Krnojelac, Rada - Municipality of Foa Kuljaninovi, Suada - Municipality of ivinice

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Kurbegovi, Sinha - Municipality of Biha Lali, elimir - Municipality of Novi Grad Landeka, Jelena - Municipality of Posuje Lazi, Snjeana - Municipality of Han Pijesak Lipovaa, Hamdija - Municipality of Biha Lui, Ranko - Municipality of Berkovii Luniki, Aida - Municipality of Ilida Macura, Vera - Municipality of Istono Sarajevo Makcimovi, Dragica - Municipality of Zvornik Mari, Vojin - Municipality of Banja Luka Mari, Neboja - Municipality of Doboj Martinovi, Gabrijela - Municipality of Oraje Mehi, Emina - Municipality of Kakanj Merdan, Branka - Municipality of Berkovii Mesi, Zlatko - Municipality of Konjic Mii, Mladen - Municipality of Doboj Mikovi, Branislav - Municipality of Nevesinje Milievi, Deraldina - Municipality of Zavidovii Mitrovi, Mirko - Municipality of Istono Sarajevo

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Mujan, Amir - Municipality of Centar Mujezin, Amela - Municipality of Novi Grad Muli, Amarildo - Municipality of Biha Muratovi, Hasan - Municipality of ivinice Mui, Asima - Municipality of Bosanska Krupa Muinbegovi, Hanka - Municipality of Visoko Mustabai, Mehmed - Municipality of Maglaj Musta, Ferhat - Municipality of Gradaac Nekovi, Sneana - Municipality of Viegrad Nosovi, Duanka - Municipality of Bilea Nuhbegovi, Mediha - Municipality of Tuzla Omerbegovi, Zekija - Municipality of Visoko Paleksi, Nenad - Municipality of Doboj Pamuki, Alma - Municipality of Brko Papovi, Dragan - Municipality of Gacko Pavlovi, Bosa - Municipality of Han Pijesak Peki, aha - Municipality of Prnjavor Perendija, Draan - Municipality of Viegrad Pinji, Samira - Municipality of Zavidovii

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Pozderovi, Vojko - Municipality of Tesli Pranji, Janja - Municipality of epe Prkain, uro - Municipality of Stolac Radovanovi, Jagoda - Municipality of Bilea Rami, Edin - Municipality of Osmaci Rami, Nezim - Municipality of Gorade Redi, Jadranka - Municipality of Biha Rodi, Mio - Municipality of Prijedor Rodi, Dragutin - Municipality of Prijedor Rudinac, Miladin - Municipality of Foa Sadi, Mirsad - Municipality of Sanski Most Salihbegovi, Dijana - Municipality of Stari Grad Salkanovi, Evlijana - Municipality of Brko Samardi, Muhamed - Municipality of Cazin Spremo, Mladenka - Municipality of Bijeljina Stjepanovi, Nada - Municipality of Bijeljina Stjepi, Slavko - Municipality of Tuzla Stoji, Ivan - Municipality of itluk abi, Enver - Municipality of Jajce

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ari, Mirsada - Municipality of Mostar ehovi, Saja - Municipality of Stari Grad ibonji, ek - Municipality of Gradaac istek, Abdulah - Municipality of Klju vraka, Behija - Municipality of Sanski Most Tamindija, Anelka - Municipality of Bilea Tatar, Fadil - Municipality of Konjic Telalovi, enana - Municipality of Breza Tei, Rade - Municipality of ipovo Travljanin, Vesna Executive director, Association of Municipalities and Cities of the FBiH Trifkovi, Aleksandra - Municipality of Bosanski Brod Tubakovi, Borko - Municipality of Vukosavlje Tukulj, Rizama - Municipality of Oraje Ugren, Saa - Municipality of Srbac Vidi, Lidija - Municipality of Prnjavor Vujevi, Predrag - Municipality of Ugljevik Vujinovi, Alvira - Municipality of Banja Luka Vukovi, Miroslav - Municipality of Bosanski Brod Zahirovi, Safet - Municipality of Breza ivkovi, Vlado - Municipality of Prnjavor

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Contributors and Chairmen Beirevi, Devad - Head of the Municipality of Centar Sarajevo Belagi, Adnan - Association of Municipalities and Cities of FBiH, Sarajevo Beli, Ljubo - Head of the Municipality of Mostar Blagojevi, Dr. Milan - Secretary of District Court in Banja Luka avrag, Saa - Journalist Nezavisne novine, Banja Luka Docherty, Michael - Head of Democratic Stabilisation and Social Development, Delegation of the European Commission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo uri, Slavia - Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC), Sarajevo Halilovi, Mehmed - Deputy Media Ombudsman FBiH, Sarajevo Karapetrovi, Ranko - Former Head of the Municipality of Laktai Komi, Jasmin - Deputy Head of the Municipality of Banja Luka Kurtovi, Mustafa - Head of Municipality Gorade Ljeljak, Kimeta - Secretary of the Municipal Court in Mostar Mari, Zvonko - Journalist FTV, Sarajevo Prka, Zdravko Head of Municipality Tomislavgrad ebek, Nenad, Executive Director, CDRSEE, Thessaloniki

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imunovi, Ljiljana - The Foundation for Sustainable Development FSD, Sarajevo titi, Anton - General Secretary, Association of Municipalities and Cities of the FBiH, Sarajevo Tuzli, Devdet Local Marketing Research Director, CDRSEE, Thessaloniki Zukorli, Alma - Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC), Sarajevo

Moderators: Ahmedovi, Belma, Student, Sarajevo Buimki, Alisa, Student, Sarajevo Baji, evko, Researcher, Mediacentar Sarajevo Bubri, Alma, Politologist, Jajce Kalender, Aida, Researcher, Mediacentar Sarajevo Milaevi, Nikoleta, Journalist, Sarajevo Rebac, Amela, Journalist, Mostar Okuka, Helena, Ing. Management, Sarajevo Tanovi, Gildana, Lawyer, Sarajevo

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Organisers: Cigler, Renata - BBC World Service Trust, Sarajevo urulija, Nerma - BORAM Marketing, Sarajevo Djolai, Marika - BBC World Service Trust, Sarajevo Gacki, Amira - BORAM Marketing, Sarajevo Haimi, Amra - BORAM Marketing, Sarajevo Ki-Bali, Sanja - BORAM Marketing, Sarajevo Merzi, Namik - BORAM Marketing, Sarajevo Noack-Aetopulos, Corinna - CDRSEE, Thessaloniki Sutton, Ruth - CDRSEE, Thessaloniki

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