Employment Program Transparency and Impact Assessment Mechanism (MK0129)

Promoting transparency in the implementation of employment programs and establishing a mechanism for impact assessment of costs from these programs on end-users through citizens’ incusion
Start and end date of the commitment : August 2018 – August 2020
Lead implementing agency
Employment Agency of RM
Description of commitment
Status quo or problem addressed by the commitment
There is a need to provide easier public availability of information on the funds’ spending from the budget of the Employment Agency of the Republic of Macedonia for the purpose of implementing the Operational Plan for active employment programs and measures and services on the labor market. Insufficient number of mechanisms/methodologies for measuring the impact on citizens from the costs incurred by implementing the activities foreseen in the Operational Plan for active employment programs and measures and services on the labor market and strengthening the Employment Agency of the Republic of Macedonia. Hence, the planning of future activities and the allocation of budget funds for the same are not entirely based on the real citizens’ needs.
Main objective
The Employment Agency of the Republic of Macedonia will develop, adopt and continuously publish narrative -financial reports on the implementation of the active programs and measures from the Operational Plan for active employment programs and measures and services on the labor market. This commitment will provide efficiency promotion in public resources application in the area of implementation of active employment programs and measures.
Brief description of the commitment
The Employment Agency of the Republic of Macedonia, in cooperation with the Association for Emancipation, Solidarity and Equality of Women (ESE), will prepare a standardized form of annual narrative-financial reports for each of the active employment measures of the Operational Plan for active employment programs and measures and services on the labor market. The format of the report will mean unification of the narrative reporting parameters at institutional level, containing data on what the institution has done and achieved with the costs incurred in the current year according to the objectives, results and activities foreseen by the program. It will also provide financial reporting and will contain data on how much funds are planned and spent at the level of activity and per budget program executor. These reports will be published by the institution on its website during the second quarter of the current year for the previous year. The Employment Agency of the Republic of Macedonia will select at least one active employment measure from the Operational Plan for Active Employment Programs and Measures and Labor Market Services, and for which there will be development of mechanisms/methodologies to measure the impact of costs on the end users in the implementation period of this Action Plan, in cooperation with ESE. This developed mechanism/methodology will be piloted on the identified pilot budget program/active employment measure (implementation of the assessment process and communication with the end users will be carried out in cooperation with ESE Association). To that end, ESE will develop and conduct a one-day training to present the steps for assessing the impact of budget expenditures on end-users of public services. Additionally, this process will enable identification of the actual needs and priorities of the end users, which will further assist the institution in the planning process for future activities. Upon completion of the piloting period, the institution will include the results of the conducted assessment process in the budget planning and the activities for the pilot program/active employment measure for 2021, adopt the developed methodology and apply it to other active programs and employment measures.
OGP challenge addressed by the commitment
- Public services improvement - More efficient public resources management
Additional information
Refference to Goal 16 "Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions" Target 16.6: Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels. The measures of this commitment contribute for the transparency and accountability of the implementation of active employment programs and measures.
Milestone
3.4.1 Prepared and publicly available narrative-financial report for program and budget reporting for each of the active employment measures from the Operational Employment Plan of the Employment Agency of the Republic of Macedonia.
3.4.2 Introduced methodology for measuring the impact of costs on end users for minimum one active employment measure from the operational employment plan and prepared Report with recommendations for the planning of programs/measures for the next budget year
Contact information
Name of responsible person from implementing agency
Bojana Simonovikj
Title, Department
Associate for public relations in EARM
Phone and e-mail
Bojana.Simonovic@avrm.gov.mk Phone number:070 398 237
Other actors involved
Association for Emancipation, Solidarity and Equality of Women (ESE) Darko Antik, dantik@esem.org.mk

Theme III: Fiscal Transparency

3.4. Promoting transparency in the implementation of employment programs and establishing a mechanism for impact assessment of costs from these programs on end-users through citizens’ inclusion

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan: [55]

“The Employment Agency of the Republic of Macedonia, in cooperation with the Association for Emancipation, Solidarity and Equality of Women (ESE), will prepare a standardized form of annual narrative-financial reports for each of the active employment measures of the Operational Plan for active employment programs and measures and services on the labor market. The format of the report will mean unification of the narrative reporting parameters at institutional level, containing data on what the institution has done and achieved with the costs incurred in the current year according to the objectives, results and activities foreseen by the program. It will also provide financial reporting and will contain data on how much funds are planned and spent at the level of activity and per budget program executor. These reports will be published by the institution on its website during the second quarter of the current year for the previous year.

The Employment Agency of the Republic of Macedonia will select at least one active employment measure from the Operational Plan for Active Employment Programs and Measures and Labor Market Services, and for which there will be development of mechanisms/methodologies to measure the impact of costs on the end users in the implementation period of this Action Plan, in cooperation with ESE. This developed mechanism/methodology will be piloted on the identified pilot budget program/active employment measure (implementation of the assessment process and communication with the end users will be carried out in cooperation with ESE Association). To that end, ESE will develop and conduct a one-day training to present the steps for assessing the impact of budget expenditures on end-users of public services. Additionally, this process will enable identification of the actual needs and priorities of the end users, which will further assist the institution in the planning process for future activities. Upon completion of the piloting period, the institution will include the results of the conducted assessment process in the budget planning and the activities for the pilot program/active employment measure for 2021, adopt the developed methodology and apply it to other active programs and employment measures.”

Milestones:

3.4.1 Prepared and publicly available narrative-financial report for program and budget reporting for each of the active employment measures from the Operational Employment Plan of the Employment Agency of the Republic of Macedonia.

3.4.2 Introduced methodology for measuring the impact of costs on end users for minimum one active employment measure from the operational employment plan and prepared Report with recommendations for the planning of programs/measures for the next budget year

Start Date: August 2018

End Date: August 2020

Context and Objectives

Similar to Commitment 3.3 with the Ministry of Health, Commitment 3.4 aims to publish narrative-financial reports for the State Employment Agency (SEA) and introduce a methodology for impact assessments of the costs of programs by the agency on end users. Currently, the SEA adopts annual Operational Plans and develops annual Operation Reports with general information on the status of the unemployed, employment measures and services, and aggregated information on the funds spent. However, according to a representative from the Association for Emancipation, Solidarity and Equality of Women (ESE), [56] the existing annual Operation Reports have several deficiencies, including:

• Lack of an overview of all employment services offered by SEA, accompanied by a discussion on services that have been introduced and abandoned compared to the previous year, as well as corresponding reasons.
• For newly introduced services, the reports do not include information on the purpose for which the new service was introduced or the data or knowledge that served as the basis for introduction of the new service, as well as the expected results.
• Individual services anticipated under the Operational Plan are not described in detail, such as the course of their implementation, coverage of end beneficiaries, and the indicators used to monitor and evaluate results.
• The Operation Reports do not contain information on the funds spent per employment measure and service. Additionally, the reports do not show the sources of funds used for financing the employment measures and services, as well as information on the payments made to outsourcing companies or organizations engaged in some of the activities.

Currently, no standardized form for annual narrative-financial reports exists for employment programs. Therefore, SEA, in collaboration with ESE, will first prepare a standardized form for each active employment measure to be used in the SEA’s Operational Plans and narrative-financial reports. The reports will include data on the institutions’ past actions, achievements, costs incurred during the year, and future activities planned. The reports will also contain data on planned and executed funding for each activity and per program executor. These reports will be published by the implementing institutions on their websites during the second quarter of the current year for the previous year.

SEA and ESE will also select at least one active employment measure from the Operational Plan to pilot a methodology for assessing social impact. ESE will then carry out a one-day training on the methodology, using the identified program, and the institution will prepare a report with the results for the pilot employment measure for 2021. The development of the cost impact methodology and the training are similar to the planned activities under Commitment 3.3 (between ESE and the Ministry of Health). However, unlike that commitment, the specific pilot employment program that will be used is not given.

The commitment is relevant to the OGP value of access to information as it aims to make narrative-financial reports on SEA’s services available to the public. If implemented, the commitment could lead to minor but important improvements to the transparency and cost-effectiveness of active employment measures funded by SEA. Unlike the Ministry of Health, SEA did not have a standardized format for reporting in its annual Operation Plans prior to the start of the action plan. As mentioned above, SEA’s current Operation Plans have several deficiencies in terms of the level of detail of the information provided on individual employment services and their funding. Therefore, the development of the standardized format for publishing narrative-financial reports using ESE’s recommendations could improve the quality of this information compared to existing Operational Plans. Lastly, the development and piloting of a social impact assessment methodology could help improve the cost-effectiveness of SEA’s other employment programs.

Next steps

Similar to Commitment 3.4, the IRM recommends carrying out similar pilot cost assessments in the area of employment, and to form a working group including healthcare professionals, government policymakers, and NGOs.

[55] The texts for all the commitments are an abridged version of the commitment texts. For the full commitment texts, see the Republic of North Macedonia 2018-2020 National Action Plan, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Macedonia_Action-Plan_2018-2020_EN.pdf

[56] Darko Antik, Coordinator for budget monitoring and analysis, Association for Emancipation, Solidarity and Equality of Women, email correspondence with IRM, 6 December 2019.

Commitment 3.4 Transparency in employment programs

Limited:

ESE submitted recommendations on improving the annual reports on the work of the Employment Agency of the Republic of North Macedonia (AERNM). AERNM only accepted the recommendations related to the improvement of budgetary transparency but not ESE’s other recommendations. [54] The methodology for impact measurement of costs on end users and the report with recommendations were not prepared. ESE and AERNM aim to carry these activities forward to the next action plan. [55]