Handjiska-Trendafilova: Regional ownership of ReSPA work is crucial for lasting public sector transformation in the region
The regular 54th Governing Board Meeting at Senior Official level enabled important regional guidance concerning a series of strategic, programmatic, operational and financial matters of ReSPA’s work.
The meeting took stock of the activities and results attained in the course of the last quarter, including: the extension of the ReSPA Agreement and mandate by 2031; the renewed regional ministerial policy dialogue on PAR; the outcomes of the successful flagship PA award initiative; the comprehensive capacity building support on IPA III; the continued work on introducing CAF in institutions in the region; the series of capacity building activities targeting around 420 civil servants, etc. An overview of the uptake and impact of various ReSPA instruments, such as the targeted In-country support and mobility visits, was also provided.
GB members were also acquainted with and deliberated on: the encouraging results of ReSPA’s Monitoring results covering the activities implemented in 2021; the status of preparation of the next EC Grant (which reflects ReSPA’s main strategic context and further upgrades and innovates the areas of work and instruments), the revised ReSPA Strategy 2019-2024 (which makes ReSPA more strategic, builds on current achievements, and better responds to the recent developments and issues arising in the Western Balkans public administrations); the budget for 2023/2024, as well as the preparations and focus of the forthcoming 14th Governing Board meeting at Ministerial level, etc.
Handjiska-Trendafilova announced several upcoming activities such as ReSPA Regional Academy on Evidence-Based Policymaking, Western Balkans Conference on SDGs (joint activity with UN Montenegro), Seasonal schools, Annual meeting of the Regional Center for Quality Management, finalization of the regional Digitization study, and others.
The next meeting of the Governing Board at Senior Official Level will take place in December.
