Program description
The goal of the initiative is to establish continuous cooperation, understanding and constructive dialogue between local governments and non-state actors in local communities in the area of public finance management.
Events in this program
Yearly, BFPE realizes more than fifty various events: conferences, round tables, panel discussions, consultancy, workshops and simulations.
Analysis and Publications
All our analysis in a single place: analysis; policy proposals; analytical reports from our events.
Program description
Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence (BFPE) in cooperation with the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), with financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and partnership with United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is implementing the project entitled ‘Local governments, civil society organizations and the media for more responsible public finances”.
The implementation relies on encouraging greater involvement of citizens in the planning, execution and control of the local budget, through the cooperation of local civil society organizations and the media, and through learning from examples of good practice in this area .
Our project is part of a wider program “Improvement audits at the local level for more efficient management of public finances” which UNDP implements in cooperation with the Main Harmonization Unit of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Serbia.
Currently we are working with 14 municipalities and cities across Serbia. BFPE project team conducted an analysis of the situation on the local level, as well as the preparatory meetings in a number of local governments after which we come to the final selection of the IIP and towns we work with on this project – Loznica, Valjevo, Požega, Užice, Novi Pazar, Novi Sad, Zrenjanin, Kragujevac, Kruševac, Aleksinac, Niš, Leskovac, Vranje, Zaječar; while Ruma so far expressed interest in principle to the project objectives. Activities are aimed at creators, users and suppliers of local budgets – in other words, the entire local community: users of public funds in local communities, employees in local governments (departments of finance, local economic development, internal auditors), local civil society organizations, media but also individual citizens.
Planned activities include: 1) Analysis of local situation; 2) Preliminary meetings in and with local governments; 3) Seminar for representatives of civil society organizations and local authorities; 4) Press conferences in local communities; 5) Mobilizing the citizens in the budget process in individual local governments; 6) The meetings of representatives of local governments and local civil society organizations; 7) Production of brochures on good practices; 8) Presentation of the final set.
We expect that this project will contribute to better understanding of the contribution, but also the difficulties and problems faced by local governments.
We expect that local governments experience the positive aspects of cooperation with civil society organizations and the media on issues affecting the whole community. After all, what can we all expect from the cooperation with local community? Trust. Local unity. Networking. Building social consensus around common objectives, which are ultimately for the well-being of citizens.
Involving citizens also means increased control and responsibility of the authorities, but it calls for interested and proactive citizens who are the basis of functional communities. In addition, the transparency of the budget process, transparency, accountability to the public resources and strengthening internal audit means and attracts potential investors and donors.
Good cooperation precedes understanding, but also builds understanding through cooperation. That is why, this is a project for the whole local community. Finally, the local budget at the same time represents the expenditure of every citizen, but also the instrument that makes co-existence in the community possible. It is only natural that citizens are interested in this your instrument in it.
