18 December 2024, online

The Fourth Annual Meeting of the Regional Quality Management Centre (RQMC) brought together members of the ReSPA Quality Management (QM) Working Sub-group, CAF Network, and PEF Network to discuss activities undertaken in 2024 and future programmatic directions.

The event commenced with opening remarks by Director Handjiska-Trendafilova, who emphasised RQMC’s pivotal role in fostering regional collaboration and innovation.

ReSPA Program Assistant Slaven Bukarica provided an overview of RQMC activities in 2024, including insights from the BACID projects:

• 14 institutions across the Western Balkans implemented CAF, with 213 public servants involved in the CAF Self-Assessment Groups;
• A huge progress has been made with CAF External Feedback Procedures: With the support of certified EFACs, RQMC has completed 8 PEF procedures, with 4 more currently ongoing. In total, 16 EFACs from across the region have been involved only this year, out of 38 who we certified within BACID. We truly believe this is a remarkable success for WB in quality management
• 168 public servants were trained through various courses and training sessions;
• Results have been shared with EaP countries in collaboration with EIPA and SIGMA;
• ReSPA and the Western Balkans were involved in the PEF Guideline Update at the EU level, led by EIPA
• Launched the Knowledge Management Platform, which can be used as an effective platform for a community of practitioners to exchange QM topics

Jelisaveta Tasev, ReSPA Programme Manager highlighted the RQMC team’s dedication to continuing quality management improvements across the Western Balkans through CAF and PEF implementation, strengthening connections with EU institutions, and maintaining focus on capacity building.
Nick Thijs from the SIGMA Programme shared expertise on improving service quality and leveraging user feedback in alignment with SIGMA principles, while Tomislav Mičetić from the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration, and Digital Transformation of Croatia presented experiences from the EU TSI 2023 project, which focused on methodologies for measuring citizen satisfaction and enhancing service delivery.

The meeting concluded with a discussion moderated by Ms Tasev, where participants exchanged experiences and updates on developments in quality management across their respective administrations.

Finally, Philip Parzer, Head of the CAF Center at KDZ, shared lessons learned from the BACID III project and discussed future perspectives.

The session was wrapped up with final remarks by Genti Xhaxhiu, ReSPA Program Coordinator, and Jelisaveta Tasev, summarising the key outcomes and setting the stage for continued collaboration in 2025.