IV EURO OPAC

Transcription

1

2 OPAC at a glance Four priority axes: I Good governance II Human resources management III Quality administrative service delivery and e-governance development IV Technical assistance Budget: EURO OPAC supports: The Administrative and Judicial reform; Development of the E-Government; Improvement of the professional skills of civil servants. 2

3 What we have achieved 80 procedures launched 2535 project proposals submitted 575 contracts signed Over 250 finalized projects Over 300 different beneficiaries ,70 BGN contracted 82,4% of the OPAC budget ,65 BGN paid 45,1% of the OPAC budget ,85 BGN certified 35,2% of the OPAC budget. 3

4 About the Network Aims: Facilitate mutual learning about public administration reform across the MS Develop an approach on how best to use ESF to support reform Contribute to fulfilling the Europe 2020 Strategy goal of establishing an effective and efficient public administration Five working groups on: (1) Strategic Planning; (2) e- governance; (3) partnership principle; (4) business-friendly administration; (5) local government reform Participants: Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Greece, Poland and Czech Republic 4

5 About the Network Challenges: Slower economic growth Higher unemployment Rising inequality Climate change Economic and financial crisis (after 2008) 5

6 WG 1: Strategic Planning Broadly falls into five areas: Operationalization of the policy idea (i.e. turning good ideas into something that will work and be implemented); Effective management of the policy implementation phase; Policy monitoring systems; Evaluation of the overall strategy; and, Risk management. Examples of best practices taken from Finland, Irish Republic and the Netherlands 6

7 WG 1: Strategic Planning Barriers to reform: poor system design; insufficient linkage between strategic management and other reforms; lack of staff skills; and barriers within the administrative culture. Some solutions: Change the system design of the public admin; Link reforms together (i.e. have a master plan); Improve staff knowledge levels; Change the administrative culture. 7

8 WG 1 findings Concentrate action on a smaller number of strategic measures] Flexibility is the keyword in strategic redesign: Needed dialogue between public administrations and external stakeholders ESF funds need to continue to focus on improving strategic management 8

9 WG 2: E-Government Three main benefits to reform in this area: Economic benefits. Social benefits. Administrative benefits. Best practices: Spain, Netherlands, Austria 9

10 Potential problems: Lack of resources; WG 2: E-Government Limited political support; Limited actor involvement ( groupthinking ) in project design. Actors from the entire process chain must be involved; Lack of capacity: technological expertise and administrative capacity; Poor management; Ambiguous objectives; Need for legislative changes. 10

11 WG 2: E-Government Major findings: Good governance = good e-governance. Develop projects on a step-by-step basis; Knowledge transfer and training of staff; Need for Investments in ICT literacy for citizens and end users of e-government services 11

12 WG 3: Partnership principle Identified problems: 1. No clearly-defined model of effective public consultation process; 2. Further development of online platforms for public consultation; 3.Need for better communication of good governance initiatives; 4. Prioritization of vulnerable groups. 12

13 WG 3: Partnership principle Recommendations: Enhanced use of partnerships aiming at better regulation and good governance ; Public consultation mechanisms must be designed in a local context; Better information and communication on consultations is required to broaden participation rates and foster social inclusion; The duration of partnerships should be clearly defined Further training of public officials is required Best practices: Lithuania, Greece, Bulgaria 13

14 WG 4: Business-Friendly Administration Identified problems: Volume of regulation has increased steadily over the past fifty years; Regulation is burdensome, unnecessary and hindrance to commercial activity; Not just the financial cost of compliance, but also the price paid by in terms of staff time lost, or resentment and annoyance 14

15 WG 4: Business-Friendly Administration Identified solutions: Making it easier for businesses to tender for government contracts; Making it easier for businesses to access the information they need about upcoming regulations; Trying to make regulation more light touch and easier to comply with; Changing the culture and attitudes of the public administration Best practice: UK, Sweden, Netherlands 15

16 WG 4: Business-Friendly Administration How to do it: Begin with staff training; Undertake a full cost-benefit analysis; Consider fully the negative impacts of further regulation; Communicate effectively positive outcomes of the regulatory changes; Consider the creation and introduction of common commencement date (CCD) system. 16

17 WG 5: Local Government Reform Findings: A properly functioning system of local government needed Local government is essential for the implementation of reform; A strong and professional public administration at the local level is a cornerstone of good governance. Best practices: Greece, Netherlands, Denmark 17

18 WG 5: Local Government Reform Barriers & solutions: Substantial differences in the legislative environment; Staffing issues: adequate human capital; Lack of expertise and experience of the local public administrations; Knowledge exchange between local administrations. 18

19 Network Conclusions: Network has been a success but more time is needed for implementation of reforms. Needs better and stronger coordination between the use of EU funds with regard to the public administration-related aspects of the Europe 2020 Strategy. ESF and ERDF should be complementary to each other Consider the establishment of National Coordination Centres for public administration reform. 19

20 Network Conclusions: Specific objective 11 needs more than 3 % of the ESF allocation to be effective. It is recommendable the share of ESF funding attributed to public administration reform to be increased taking into consideration the scale of the transformation that is needed, and that can be delivered through a combination of intelligent policy design, skilful management and adequate resourcing. 20

21 Key Messages Public administration reform improves the quality of public services and saves money; Administrative culture is often the most formidable barrier to the reform agenda. Public administration needs to concentrate far more of its efforts on harnessing the enormous potential of IT. Delivering effective reform is not an overnight process, but can be achieved through a well co-ordinated, future oriented set of reforms. 21

22 CONTACTS Managing Authority of OPAC Operational Programme Administrative Capacity Directorate Ministry of Finance 102 G. S. Rakovski str. Sofia 1040 Tel.: Fax: