The Regional School of Public Administration (ReSPA) members continue to advance public administration reforms to improve the quality, accessibility, and efficiency of services delivered to citizens and businesses. In the context of the EU accession process, governments across the region are required to strengthen their capacities for strategic planning, policy development, coordination, implementation, and communication, ensuring that reform priorities are implemented in a timely and coherent manner.

The successful implementation of reform agendas depends not only on the technical quality of policies but also on governments' ability to communicate policy objectives, expected impacts, and reform outcomes effectively to the public, stakeholders, and international partners. In this regard, Centre-of-Government (CoG) institutions play a central role in ensuring coherent governmental communication, strategic coordination, and alignment between public administration reform (PAR), EU integration priorities, Better Regulation principles, and broader governmental strategic objectives. At the same time, line ministries and other public institutions are expected to develop sufficient capacities for evidence-based policy development, stakeholder engagement, and transparent communication throughout the policy cycle.

The event on effective governmental policy communication aims to further support these efforts by facilitating dialogue among public sector professionals in the Western Balkans and the Eastern Neighborhood to exchange experiences and innovative approaches in strategic communication, public engagement, policy transparency, and communication tools supporting reform implementation. It will also encourage discussion on how governments can better align communication practices with policy objectives, citizen expectations, and EU governance standards.

Discussions would be informed by most recent OECD/SIGMA study Centre of government co‑ordination of government communications in the Western Balkans, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine: Institutional set-ups, regulatory frameworks and current practices”, which is focused on policy communication as an instrument for the CoGs to promote policy objectives, raise public awareness of reforms, and facilitate better institutional coordination, and thus support the credibility of the EU integration process.