New approach in Bosnia and Herzegovina for democratisation

Project completed
A man standing in front of a blue gate valve connected to a large blue pipe.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s water infrastructure is being renovated and rebuilt thanks to local government support and new water rates. © SDC

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s water and sanitation infrastructure is outdated and a large segment of the population has no access to a water supply. The starting point for the SDC’s project is good governance – the authorities must be transparent about building and renovation decisions, and ensure an inclusive political process for the citizens their decisions affect.

RegionCountry	Topic	Period	Budget
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Governance nothemedefined Public sector policy Decentralisation Democratic participation and civil society	01.07.2014 - 31.03.2021	CHF 12’000’000

Technical description

Background	Bosnia and Herzegovina is in transition towards a consolidated democratic state and membership in the European Union. These processes are challenged by a severe socio-economic crisis, lack of trust to political leaders and low resilience to the climate change. The public administration reform is at an early stage. The level of politicisation is high and service delivery is poor. Municipalities and their leaders are the most dynamic government actors, sensitive to the needs of the population striving for better living conditions and more employment. More competences and financial resources at the local level and more dialogue with the private sector are needed to improve services and living conditions. Among the main challenges of municipalities are a development-conducive regulatory environment, communication between government levels, financial sustainability and integration of disaster risk reduction in plans and activities.
Target	Local governments, assigned with appropriate competences and finances, have improved their democratic governance, apply sound public policy and performance management systems and provide public services in an inclusive, effective and efficient manner, particularly those related to the environmental and economic sectors.
Target group	18 core municipalities, (selected among 31 potential beneficiary municipalities), grouped in two clusters in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, counting around 700’000 citizens (including 40’000 vulnerable / socially excluded) and 540 businesses will benefit from improved local services, employment opportunities or improved business environment. Main institutional partners are mayors, municipal administrations, municipal councils and the two entity associations of municipalities. The project will directly support: 12 ministries at the entity and cantonal levels, 2 professional thematic networks, 360 leaders and staff of local governments, 120 officials of institutions at cantonal and entity levels, 108 managers and staff of municipal utilities.
Outcomes	Supported local governments apply effective development management systems characterized by stronger oversight of the legislative and greater accountability towards the citizens Citizens and businesses in target localities benefit from good quality services provided by local governments in the environmental and economic sectors Improved regulatory framework at higher and local government levels and proactive networking accelerate sector-specific reforms and enable more effective local public service delivery
Activities
Results	Reached Results: Expected Results: Results from previous phase: The project builds on results of the SDC Governance Project in Municipal Water and Environmental Development (GOV-WADE, 2006-2013): Six core municipalities practice strategic and annual planning cycles in the water and environment sector, followed by investments in institutional and infrastructural improvements The basic legislation for water and environmental services was adopted in the Una-Sana Canton Inter-entity and inter-municipal cooperation was enhanced and a country-wide network of water professionals contributes to improving the legislation and municipal infrastructure Participating municipalities attracted over EUR 60 million of external investments in the water sector following the project support worth CHF 8 million.
Agency	SDC
Credit	Swiss cooperation with Eastern Europe
Project Partners	Contract Partner International or foreign NGO United Nations Organization (UNO) United Nations Development Programme Other Partners
Projects Coordination
Budget	Current Phase Swiss Budget CHF 12’000’000 Swiss Disbursement Till Know CHF 11’879’991
Project Phases	Phase 2 01.04.2021 - 31.03.2025 (Current Phase) Phase 1 01.07.2014 - 31.03.2021 (Completed)

Further technical details of the Project

DAC Sector	GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Sub-Sector according to the OECD Developement Assistance Commitiee categorisation	Public sector policy and administrative management Decentralisation and support to subnational government (incl. accountability) Democratic participation and civil society
Policy Marker	Conflict reduction The project supports partner organisation improvements as a priority
Aid Type	Mandate with fiduciary funds
Project Number	7F08325

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s water supply system has been dilapidated for many years. The country’s water and sanitation infrastructure used to function well but maintenance has been neglected because of a lack of funds, particularly in rural areas. This means that in 2018, more than 60% of people living in the countryside are not connected to a sewerage system and around 80% of wastewater goes back into circulation unfiltered. This impacts negatively on peoples’ health and slows down economic development in rural areas.

That is why the SDC created a project which aims to improve governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s economy and water supply system and is being implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) from 2014 to 2020. The goal of the project is to advance democratisation in the country. In a democracy, minorities have opportunities to stand up for their rights, and a democratic system ensures that a country’s infrastructure and public services function properly. The project follows three basic lines of approach:

it supports decentralisation, which strengthens municipalities;
it teaches citizens to take part in political processes and represent their interests;
it brings together a network of private sector specialists who have direct contact with the government and can lobby for economic progress.

The project also helps local water suppliers draw up transparent water rates with the municipalities. The companies then invest these profits in developing and expanding infrastructure, which in turn creates more jobs and greater economic security.

The project has been running in 18 selected municipalities in the north since summer 2014. Once the initial results have been obtained from these 18 municipalities, the SDC will extend the project to include others.

A new approach

The project is taking a new approach based on financial rewards. To this end, the UNDP has developed a series of measures to strengthen good governance with the 18 municipalities. These have to be measurable and implemented within a certain amount of time. The UNDP assesses to what extent the measures have been implemented after this time. Municipalities that include local communities and the private sector in decision-making receive financial support, for example. Success is measured by the number of meetings that take place between citizens, private businesses and local decision-makers.

Democracy through decentralisation

Decentralisation is key to the SDC’s work and for an important reason – if responsibilities and financial means are at the local administrative level, community interests are usually better represented. There is also more civic participation than in a centralised system, which increases transparency and public satisfaction, particularly among minority groups. Under the project, private sector representatives are also given training on how to actively lobby for a better business environment.