12 October 2023, ReSPA Secretariat

At the 58th Senior Officials Governing Board Meeting, the ReSPA Secretariat reviewed the past quarter and outlined forthcoming activities to support civil servants in driving reforms, tackling evolving challenges, and acquiring new skills to enhance governance. ReSPA, in collaboration with working group members and partners, conducted a mix of learning, networking, and knowledge-sharing activities, including:

Capacity-Building and Networking: 12 capacity-building and networking initiatives engaged nearly 300 public servants, with over 600 participant days from 17 June to 17 September. Some noteworthy events included the Summer School on EU Integration, the 2^nd Module of the ReSPA Academy on Evidence-Based Policy Making, Workshops on HR data analysis and the development of future job descriptions, etc.;

"On-Demand" Direct Support Instruments: There was a substantial uptake in on-demand assistance, with 14 projects at various stages of implementation in areas PAR Strategic Framework, acquis alignment, PFM, innovations in PA, e-learning, and digitalization;

Mobility Scheme Projects: Three ongoing projects that connect teams from the region to share and learn from one another;

Horizontal Facility support: 14 scholarships to top public servants to attend learning activities in renowned EU-based institutes and schools of governance

Quality Management (QM) Initiatives: Intensive work continued introducing QM across Western Balkans administrations through the Regional Quality Management Centre (RQMC) with increased implementation of PEF Procedures (3 new applications and other 2 are ongoing), completed CAF in ReSPA and 3^rd cycle of training for EFACs started;

Contribution to Regional Initiatives: ReSPA played an active role in various regional forums and activities, such as the PRESPA Forum, Transport Connectivity summer school, RAI Workshop on integrity in PA, and UNDESA expert group meeting to Support the 2030 Agenda from an SDGs Mid-Term Review perspective;

Staff Satisfaction Survey and Wellbeing: addressed through an online meeting, which was followed by launching the survey on mental health wellbeing;

Open Government Partnership (OGP) Regional Meeting: The OGP Regional Meeting was conducted as part of the OGP Global Summit, facilitating discussions on new topics to be included in OGP action plans;

Strengthening Partnerships with national institutions and creating new ones with relevant organizations and institutions, such as the European University Institute (Italy) and the French National Institute of Public Services (INSP);

Marked UN Day of Public Administration in collaboration with Montenegro's Ministry of Public Administration.

Planned activities for the near future include a High-Level Policy Dialogue on Attractive and skilled public services fit for the future, a Digital Transformation Seasonal School, a Regional workshop on RIA, a Regional Conference on the Integrated Planning System, the 3rd Module of the Regional Academy on Evidence-based Policymaking, training on Clusters related to EU negotiations, Workshops on career management, foresight and leadership, Launch of a regional open data challenge and many more.