Djordje Stanicic - Good governance as one of the postulates of developed local self-government

It is often said that the notion of good governance includes the notion of good administration. The principles of good governance are focused primarily on administrative bodies that are in direct contact with citizens, i.e., provide them with public services or determine their obligations.

From the point of view of citizens, the principles of good governance serve to improve the way the administration (bureaucracy) acts. It is important for the administration to improve the trust of citizens in the administration and the legitimacy of the authorities as a whole through the application of these principles. If in the eyes of the citizens the administration proves to be remote or ineffective, their trust in the administration also decreases. Citizens' rights and freedoms are at the heart of the concept of good governance. Good governance respects the values of the rule of law and the rights of citizens. Such an administration is open and not corrupt, it ensures the equality of citizens and their participation in decision-making.

As a legacy of modern democracy, good governance represents the fundamental values of European society, i.e., the requirements that good democratic governance must respect: responding to citizens' needs and citizen participation in decision-making, openness and transparency, equality, human rights, cultural diversity and social cohesion, ethical and anti-corruption conduct, administrative efficiency and effectiveness, accountability and the rule of law.

We talked about all of the above with Djordje Stanicic, Secretary General of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities - Association of Towns and Municipalities of Serbia (SCTM), we tried to clarify this topic, but also to present the activities that the organization undertakes in this field.

The concept of governance is very old and appears in authors from the time of antiquity, while the concept of good governance is more recent, Mr. Stanicic, what is their common denominator and since when has it been present in domestic theory?

The term good governance was introduced to describe the way institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources, and is often used to compare inefficient economies or underdeveloped countries and their political bodies with developed economies and bodies that respect developed democratic standards. In our country, it has been encountered only recently, with the penetration of ideas about the need to change the way public affairs are conducted in general and, in particular, in connection with public administration reform.

There is no single division of the principles of good governance. Different international organizations that introduced the concept of good governance in the 1990s use different "classifications" of the principles of good governance. Although it is a generally accepted principle, the term "good governance" will not be found in the regulations of modern states. For example, there is no country in Europe whose constitution explicitly mentions this term, but there are such examples in the countries of Asia and Africa.

The concept of good governance is based on the responsibility of public authorities in responding to the needs of all stakeholders, and above all the citizens in an inclusive, effective, and transparent manner with the realization and protection of human rights and freedoms.

What is the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities doing to promote good governance at the local level?

Although the term is more recent, the SCTM has been committed for many years to introducing and improving the application of the principles of good governance at the local level, both through its regular committees and networks of local experts, and through training and advisory support, and joint projects and actions with partners at local, regional, national, and international levels.

Thanks to the great support and active participation of the membership, the influence of the SCTM is more and more noticeable and therefore, when it comes to reforming and strengthening local self-government, the SCTM is accepted as an indispensable partner to domestic and international institutions, and has become an important factor in decentralization and reform of the self-government system. We are the joint voice of local authorities in Serbia before the National Assembly, the Government of the Republic of Serbia, ministries, provincial bodies and other competent institutions and organizations, and thus our responsibility and motivation to promote the principles of good governance is greater.

The principles of good governance cover a wide range of topics and activities. How do you approach this challenge, how do you choose the focus for each of the challenging topics - because there are serious issues such as the fight against discrimination, corruption, gender equality, administrative efficiency and accountability - among others?

Having in mind the importance, significance and seriousness of the topics, and from many years of experience in working and supporting local self-governments, the SCTM has developed a special methodology of support, which is implemented through various projects. Within the project on good governance, the entire component is planned for the so-called support packages that are specially designed and elaborated methodological steps, tasks and activities, which contribute to the local self-government to improve its actions in certain areas while respecting the specific principles of good governance.

Support packages last approximately 10 to 12 months, and include, above all, the provision of expert support and expertise in the subject areas, mostly through training, mentoring, advisory support and support for the improvement of existing or development of new procedures and acts. So far, three public calls have been published, in which a total of 42 local self-governments have been selected for this type of support (of which 13 packages have been implemented and 29 are in progress), so we are currently implementing 10 packages in order to improve citizen participation and transparency in budgeting process, 9 to improve anti-corruption policies, and 10 to improve administrative efficiency and effectiveness at the local level.

For the purposes of implementing these packages, the SCTM has developed a series of models of acts whose implementation significantly facilitates the action of LSG in accordance with its obligations, as well as the uniformity of LSG practice in the subject areas.

One of the "products" of the SCTM is the Good Governance Index - how does it help local self-governments?

The Good Governance Index, developed in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, includes the principles of good governance grouped into five areas: accountability; transparency and participation; equality and anti-discrimination; predictability, economy and efficiency; and anti-corruption.

Based on the Good Governance Index during 2018, we conducted a survey on a representative sample of 60 LSGs. The results of the mentioned analysis gave us a basis for defining the needs, development and implementation of various types of technical and advisory support for building the capacity of local self-governments in terms of applying the principles of good governance.

In addition to providing a comprehensive and objective external assessment or self-assessment of the success of local self-governments in applying the principles of good governance, the Good Governance Index enables cities and municipalities to improve their actions regarding compliance with legal obligations governing this area, as well as in terms of the application of recommended practices that represent higher standards in dealing with (legally binding). Finally, through formulated answers, recommendations and guidelines, local self-governments are able to see their total resources through the prism of the needs and legitimate expectations of citizens, i.e., the efficiency and effectiveness of the procedures they conduct.

During 2021 we will repeat the research and compare it with previous results in order to compare and measure changes, i.e., progress in these areas.

What are the activities, results and expectations, i.e., what are the benefits for employees in city and municipal administrations of Serbia from the project "Improvement of good governance at the local level"?

The project "Improving Good Governance at the Local Level" is implemented by the SCTM within the program "Swiss Government Support to Municipal Development through the Promotion of Good Governance and Social Inclusion - Swiss PRO", supported by the Government of Switzerland in cooperation with the Government of Serbia and implemented by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in partnership with the SCTM. Colleagues from UNOPS, in addition to joint activities, are additionally focused on social inclusion, and more about their activities can be seen on the website https://swisspro.org.rs/.

Our activities are divided into two components, one of which is the implementation of support packages, and the other is capacity building of local self-government employees through regional trainings and webinars, in which, among other things, 1,297 representatives from 135 local self-government units have participated so far.

On the SCTM website we have created a Knowledge Base and information on good governance, we provide more than 20 on-demand advisory support services to local self-governments in the field of good governance at the local level, we have launched a promotional campaign with educational video and audio materials on good governance, we also published the "Manual for the implementation of the principles of good governance at the local level" -  the most extensive publication made by the SCTM so far, we organize numerous trainings for a large number of officials from local administrations, and with the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government we launched the National Competition for the best city/municipal administration, i.e. the most successful LSGs in implementing the principles of good governance at the local level.

The third competition for the best city, i.e., municipal administration has been announced, how did the local self-governments accept this initiative?

In order to popularize and strengthen the principles of good governance within this project, from 2018 financial resources are provided for awards to cities and municipalities that have the best examples of the implementation of the principles of good governance at the local level. As the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government is a partner of the SCTM not only in this project, the decision of the central authorities was to establish a national award and an accompanying fund from the Budget of the Republic of Serbia, so today the Ministry leads this competition process and we are glad that our initiative is recognized and adopted. In accordance with the third Public Invitation for the best city / municipal administration in 2020, in addition to the planned funds from the Budget amounting to 9.2 million dinars, the SCTM from the project fund for the award to the winners allocates an additional 7.2 million dinars this year.

By the way, so far the response of local self-governments has been great, and in the past two years, i.e. two cycles of competition, within the now traditionally four categories (efficiency and effectiveness, transparency and public participation in local self-government, responsibility and rule of law, and equality and anti-discrimination), awards were given to: Novi Pazar, Ruma, Vlasotince, Vracar, Uzice, Becej, Medvedja and Pozarevac, and special recognitions: Indjija, Uzice, Pirot, Veliko Gradiste, Pancevo, Becej, Raska, Vranje, Bela Palanka, Sombor, Krusevac, Vracar and Nova Varos - twice.

Although good governance is not among the main, i.e., the most popular topics, it is important for us to mention that examples of good practice in Serbia exist in much greater numbers than we give them a deserved place in public discourse. It should be mentioned on that occasion that Serbia has awarded examples of good practice that are recognized at the international level - so the City of Pirot received a prestigious award for preserving the cultural heritage of Europa Nostra, the City of Krusevac for urban mobility…

Finally, we must return to support packages, as a specific type of assistance, carefully tailored to the specific needs of each local self-government, what does it look like through the prism of the complexity of the topics you deal with, but also the interests of cities and municipalities?

Local self-governments in Serbia have shown great interest in this type of support, in addition to the desire to "raise the scale" in relation to citizens, good motivation are legal regulations and strategic documents adopted in previous years. Although the topics we deal with are really complex, the activities we implement have an effect, and local officials adapt very easily to the new standards.

An obvious example of this is the support we have provided to improve citizen participation in transparency in the budget development and implementation process. Although it is clear to everyone that local self-governments are there to satisfy the interests of citizens, budgets are filled from the taxes we all pay, but again in some previous period, decisions on spending funds and priorities for implementation were not made by citizens, or were not always properly consulted.

The goal of the support package in this area was to help local self-governments to prepare and adopt the decision on the budget for next year through consultations with citizens on funding priorities, both investment and other projects of interest to the local community. The support is focused on the processes of establishing mechanisms for citizen involvement, both in the preparation of the budget through questionnaires, surveys, meetings with target groups, and through the organization of the process of public debate on the Draft Budget Decision. Special attention is paid to the transparency of the LSG budget through the development of the Guide through the budget decision and the decision on the final account, as well as through the publication of budget acts on the LSG website.

Then there are support packages to improve local anti-corruption policies, which aim to help local self-governments adopt or revise their local anti-corruption plans (LAPs) and form bodies to monitor their implementation in line with the Agency's Anti-Corruption Model and thus meet obligation from the Action Plan for Chapter 23, as well as to adopt acts from seven selected areas of the LAP, undergo training for their implementation and thus start the implementation of the LAP and the process of eliminating the risk of corruption in these areas.

Our intention is to help local self-governments in the field of improving administrative efficiency and effectiveness at the local level, to standardize administrative procedures and implement the necessary adjustments to their internal and external procedures and processes, in accordance with the Law on General Administrative Procedure, Law on E-Government and the like. Through these activities, we support the local self-governments in the process of establishing a single administrative place, but also in introducing the necessary organizational, procedural and infrastructural improvements in order to improve the functioning in the conditions of emergency situations caused by the pandemic.

As you can see, our activities are really comprehensive and in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, the National Academy of Public Administration, the United Nations Office for Project Services and the Government of Switzerland as a donor, carefully planned. We have undertaken a large number of activities, organize trainings, publish literature, organize promotional campaigns in cooperation with the Ministry, promote and reward the best administrations, and all this leads to one goal - putting citizens in the focus of local self-government, accepting the principle that local self-government works on behalf of citizens and for citizens. When this principle is accepted in all local self-governments, we will consider that our work is finished, and that our local self-governments in the true sense of the word have become a service to citizens.