RESPA and OECD/SIGMA Western Balkans Public Administration Award initiative provided a strong impetus in promoting excellence and innovation in the public administrations
Upon invitation from UN DESA, ReSPA and PA Awards in the Western Balkans contribute to the review and enhancement of the global UN PA Award on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. Maja Handjiska-Trendafilova, ReSPA Director, presented the model and results of the Western Balkans Public Administration Award in the Expert Group Meeting on the United Nations Public Service Awards. The Expert Working Group also reviewed the results of other key international initiatives, including EIPA’s European Public Sector Award, the UN’s SDGs Action Awards, etc.
Handjiska-Trendafilova outlined the purpose, process and encouraging results of the recently concluded second cycle of Western Balkan’s Public Administration Award, highlighting some of the key ingredients behind the success so far: strong regional ownership; coverage of both national and local levels, leveraging on strengths of both ReSPA and SIGMA as partners, the strong capacity building and learning follow-up component for the recognised initiatives, transferability of recognised initiatives, a broad spectrum of institutions applying, geographically balanced interest across the region, proactive info days and Q&A sessions, extensive communication campaign and spotlight on end-user experiences and tangible impact, etc.
“With this initiative, we wanted to support and promote inspirational practices in creating robust, resilient and creative administration, especially initiatives that are easily applicable across the region," underscored Maja Handjiska-Trendafilova presenting the initiative.
ReSPA and OECD/SIGMA successfully implemented this joint endeavour in 2020 and 2022 as one of the keys to unlocking the potential and promoting frontrunners of modern and resilient public administration in the Western Balkans.
Despite the pressing geopolitical and socio-economic challenges, Handjiska-Trandafilova highlighted that "the public sector must strive to be as responsible, resilient and sustainable as possible to pave the way for socioeconomic recovery and prosperity, putting the citizens first. That is why the first round of PA Awards recognised the innovative responses to challenges caused by Covid 19, while this year's edition aimed to recognise initiatives, services and measures by public administration that lead to better public services to improve citizens' lives."
Stakeholders in the Expert Group agreed to enhance collaboration and cross-references between the various PA recognition initiatives, leveraging on the awareness-raising, communication and distribution channels, as well as providing regional and global platforms for showcasing and supporting the recognised solutions.
Sharing experiences on Evaluation criteria and Methodology as well as on Validation, Partnership, and Outreach, Follow up engagement, ReSPA got insights on how to continuously enhance and advance the initiative, face current challenges and support teams of the public administration across the Western Balkans.
