Western Balkan Enablers for Reforming Public Administrations – WeBER 3.0 project has begun on 1 February 2023 and will run until 31 July 2026. The Think for Europe – TEN Network (European Policy Institute – EPI Skopje, Institute for Democracy and Mediation – IDM Tirana, Insititute Alternative – IA Podgorica, Group for Legal and Political Studies – GLPS Pristina, Foreign Policy Initiative – FPI Sarajevo) coordinated by the European Policy Centre – CEP Belgrade, and in partnership with the EU-level partner, Centre for Public Administration Research – KDZ from Vienna, will continue to contribute to strengthening of participatory democracy by enabling effective participation of civil society organisations (CSOs) from the Western Balkans (WB) and supporting inclusive citizens’ engagement in monitoring the results of public administration reform (PAR) processes at all levels, in line with the EU requirements (SIGMA/OECD Principles).
WeBER 3.0 will continue to feature the crucial role of civil society in building healthy democracies through empowering CSOs to become reliable partner to governments in the EU accession process. By ensuring continuity in assessment of the progress of the reforms carried out by local civil society actors, WeBER 3.0 and its cornerstone product, the Western Balkan PAR Monitor, will continue to guide the governments in the region towards successful EU accession and membership. CSOs equipped with evidence and knowledge take up central place in the region’s EU path and ensure that the governments do not exercise reform processes to only qualify for the EU membership, but to improve the citizens’ lives.
The project will also contribute to overall regional cooperation by facilitating the CSOs-government dialogue at regional, national and local level, relying on the established WeBER Platform, which will be further enhanced by including the business community representatives.
The main international partners during the WeBER 3.0 will remain SIGMA/OECD and Regional School for Public Administration (ReSPA). Also, the main institutions (ministries/offices) in charge of coordination of PAR in each country will continue to perform the role of the project associates in the third phase of the initiative as well.
The overall objective of the WeBER 3.0 is to to further empower CSOs to contribute to more transparent, open, accountable, citizen-centric, and thus more EU-compliant administrations in the WB region.
The implementation of the third phase of the WeBER initiative is, as has been the case with the previous two (WeBER 2015 – 2018 & WeBER 2.0 2019 – 2023), principally financed by the European Commission.
Find more information on www.par-monitor.org
