Assistance with and Monitoring of Adoption of LAP (RS0034)

COMMITMENT 7: Assistance with and monitoring of adoption of LAP
Q1 2019 – until full compliance with the commitment – passing of LAP and establishing of monitoring
bodies in all LSGUs23
Lead implementing agency Anti-Corruption Agency
Description of Commitment
Problem addressed by the
commitment
Assemblies of the city of Belgrade and of cities/towns and
municipalities have a duty to pass local anti-corruption plans
(LAPs) on the basis of strategic documents. They also must
establish mechanisms to monitor the implementation of LAPs by a
body designated by the city/town or municipal assembly on
proposal of a Commission which consists of persons independent
from local self-government bodies;
The following has been observed in practice: insufficient
participation and visibility of the process of citizens’ participation
in the performance of tasks of interest for the functioning of the
local community; insufficiently developed anti-corruption
mechanisms at the local self-government level, as well as lack of
independent monitoring of implementation of anti-corruption
plans at the local self-government level.
Local self-governments are extremely vulnerable to corruption,
and adoption of local anti-corruption plans should improve
systematic addressing of the issues. Adoption of these plans is
largely delayed, and no authority at the central government level is
authorized to address this issue by imposing measures against
local self-governments which failed to comply with their duties.
The Action Plan for Chapter 23 includes activity 2.2.10.37.
“Assemblies of autonomous provinces and local self-governments
shall adopt local action plans and form standing working bodies to
monitor and implement local action plans”. According to the most
recent report available, the Anti-Corruption Agency received
reports on adoption of local anti-corruption plans (LAPs) and
formation of bodies for their monitoring from a total of 118 local
self-government units (LSGUs) and the Autonomous Province of
Vojvodina until 25 September 2018. According to the data in

Taking into account that compliance with this commitment depends on compliance with duties at the local level, it is impossible to define
the implementation period. The commitment will be implemented continually.
received reports, a total of 82 LSGUs (57% of the total of 145
LSGUs, excluding the territory of Kosovo and Metohija) adopted
these plans from early April 2017, when the Agency published the
Model LAP, to the abovementioned date. Of 82 adopted plans, 75
were prepared on the basis of the Agency’s Model, while seven
are not in line with the Model neither by their form nor by their
content. However, eleven self-government units simply copied the
Model, while two have not submitted enough data to evaluate
whether their LAPs have been prepared according to the Model.
The remaining 62 are mostly in line with the Model, although they
depart from it to as greater or lesser extent, either in terms of the
document itself or with regard to its preparation. Representatives
of the civil society were not included in working groups for
preparation of certain LAPs, in some reports on adoption of LAP
local self-government units did not appropriately explain why
certain measures from the Model were not undertaken etc.
Fifteen LSGUs designated a body responsible for monitoring the
implementation of LAP, of which six were formed mostly in
accordance with the Agency’s Model. Six departed from the
model to a certain extent, while there is not enough data available
to evaluate the compliance of three bodies.
Six LSGUs adopted their LAPs and formed bodies to monitor
their implementation mostly in line with the Agency’s Model and
thus complied with their duty under activity 2.2.10.37. of the
Action Plan for Chapter 23.
In 2018, the Anti-Corruption Agency allocated funds for five civil
society organisations for implementation of five projects with the
aim of supporting development and strengthening of integrity,
public accountability and transparency of the work of local selfgovernment units. These CSOs will provide assistance in
development of LAPs and formation of bodies to monitor their
implementation, in accordance with the Agency’s Model. Limited
support to towns and municipalities will also be available within
donor projects.
Such situation is a serious problem for all government levels,
given that the time limit for adoption of such plan expired on 30
June 2017.
Main objective The commitment under this AP includes the following:
A) Development of a Model Methodology to Monitor
Implementation of LAP – Anti-Corruption Agency
B) Collecting data on compliance with the commitment within the
32
context of national and European integration planning documents
– by the Anti-Corruption Agency and (until competences are
transferred to the Agency through amendments to the Law) the
Government’s Council for Monitoring the Implementation of
Chapter 23 of negotiations between Serbia and the EU
C) Promotion of information on adopted LAPs and established
mechanisms for monitoring their implementation – AntiCorruption Agency
This commitment contributes to higher inclusion of local
communities in Serbia’s EU accession process through joint
actions of local self-government, state bodies and civil society
organisations as a catalyst of the reform process at the local level.
This commitment is implemented through activities planned under
the Action Plan for Chapter 23 of Serbia’s EU Accession
Negotiation, as well as the Action Plan for implementation of the
National Anti-Corruption Strategy (adoption of local anticorruption plans, establishing of bodies to monitor
implementation, collecting data on compliance with the
commitment and promotion of good practice).
Compliance with this commitment will also help link measures
implemented at the central level and at the local self-government
level, which will improve communication between decisionmakers and citizens and contribute to increased openness of anticorruption reform processes and reforms implemented during
negotiations with the EU.
How will this commitment
contribute to problem solving?
Collecting and promotion of data on the implementation of this
commitment by competent authorities and promotion of good
practice, while highlighting examples of bad practice by civil
society organisations and state bodies, can ensure that more local
self-governments comply with their duties under strategic
documents.
In addition, civil society organisations at the local level have an
opportunity to be more actively involved in development and
monitoring the implementation of public policies at the local level
through implementation of these commitments of local selfgovernments, which ensures assumptions for more accountable
government in all fields.
The way in which this
commitment is relevant to further
advancing OGP values
Openness of local self-government when passing and
implementing decisions and enabling civic participation are
prerequisites for greater integrity of authorities at the local level,
33
increased accountability of those authorities and opportunities for
citizens and civil society organisations to become more active
participants in the fight against corruption.
The current Model LAP developed by the Anti-Corruption
Agency contains numerous measures aimed at strengthening
integrity, reducing scope for discretion, transparency of the
decision-making process and improved openness of government
bodies at the local level for civic initiatives. In addition, the Model
also contains arrangements which should ensure that citizens and
civil society organisations provide a crucial contribution to
development of high-quality LAPs and ensuring their
implementation.
Taking into account that monitoring the implementation of LAPs
should be performed by a body consisting of citizens of local
communities who may not have any experience in monitoring the
implementation of public policies, it is necessary to strengthen
their capacities for this task. The Anti-Corruption Agency will
assist them with this by developing a model methodology and
documents, as well as civil society organisations which assist with
the monitoring of compliance with these duties or are actively
involved in monitoring the implementation of LAP in their
communities.
Implementation of this commitment will contribute to increased
visibility of issues at the local level and accountability of local
actors in the reform process. And, most importantly, policymaking at the local level, as part of the European integration
process, will be more visible for citizens and will be more suitable
for actual needs of local communities. Furthermore,
implementation of this commitment will contribute to
strengthening of anti-corruption mechanisms of the country as a
whole, because the LAP is linked with the implementation of
numerous anti-corruption laws.
Additional information
Activity with a verifiable
deliverable and completion date
Start Date: End Date:
1. Development of a Model
Methodology to Monitor
Implementation of LAP
Q1 2019
(January 2019)
Q1 2019
(March 2019)
34
2. Provision of assistance to
interested local self-governments
in the passing and monitoring of
implementation of LAPs (daily
advisory assistance by the
Agency, assistance provided by
LSGUs to five NGOs which
implement projects supported by
the Agency, as well as other
entities within their projects
Ongoing
Q3 2019
(July 2019)
(for all current support projects
implemented by NGOs)
3. Collecting data on
implementation of activities in the
preparation of LAPs and
publishing of such data
Periodically, every three
months
* Until full compliance with the
commitment – passing of LAP
and establishing of monitoring
bodies in all LSGUs24
4. Promotion of data on adopted
LAPs and their monitoring
Continually, after collection of
data and publishing of every
other report on
implementation of the
measure (semi-annual)
* Until full compliance with the
commitment – passing of LAP
and establishing of monitoring
bodies in all LSGUs25
Contact information
Name of a responsible person in
the implementing agency
Marijana Obradović
Title, Department Assistant Director for Prevention Tasks, Anti-Corruption Agency
Email and phone number marijana.obradovic@acas.rs
Other actors
involved
Administration

24 As compliance with this commitment depends on compliance with duties at the local level, it is impossible to define the implementation
period. The commitment will be implemented continually.
25 As compliance with this commitment depends on compliance with duties at the local level, it is impossible to define the implementation
period. The commitment will be implemented continually.
35
Civil sector
organisations,
private sector,
working groups
“Transparency Serbia”, “Bečej Youth Association”, “Centre for
the Development of a Democratic Society EuroPolis”, “Centre for
Democratic Activities” and “Bureau for Social Research”,
National Coalition for Decentralisation

7. Assistance with and monitoring of adoption of local anti-corruption plans

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

The commitment under this AP includes the following:

1. A) Development of a Model Methodology to Monitor Implementation of LAP – Anti-Corruption Agency
2. B) Collecting data on compliance with the commitment within the

context of national and European integration planning documents – by the Anti-Corruption Agency and (until competences are transferred to the Agency through amendments to the Law) the Government’s Council for Monitoring the Implementation of Chapter 23 of negotiations between Serbia and the EU

1. C) Promotion of information on adopted LAPs and established mechanisms for monitoring their implementation – Anti-Corruption Agency

This commitment contributes to higher inclusion of local communities in Serbia’s EU accession process through joint actions of local self-government, state bodies and CSOs as a catalyst of the reform process at the local level.

This commitment is implemented through activities planned under the Action Plan for Chapter 23 of Serbia’s EU Accession Negotiation, as well as the Action Plan for implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (adoption of local anti-corruption plans, establishing of bodies to monitor implementation, collecting data on compliance with the commitment and promotion of good practice).

Compliance with this commitment will also help link measures implemented at the central level and at the local self-government level, which will improve communication between decision-makers and citizens and contribute to increased openness of anti-corruption reform processes and reforms implemented during negotiations with the EU.

Start Date: Q1 2019

End Date: Until full compliance with the commitment – passing of local anti/corruption plans and establishing of monitoring bodies in all local self-government units

Context and Objectives

Several legal frameworks oblige local self-government units to adopt their own anti-corruption plans. ^[96] According to the latest data available at the time of writing of this report (February 2019), 86 out of 145 local self-government units have done so, and only eight have a monitoring body for their plan. ^[97] Local anti-corruption plans should ensure the transparent work and transparent budgetary system of the autonomous province and local self-government units (including the public enterprises). Besides adoption of the local anti-corruption plans, the Action Plan for Chapter 23 in Serbia’s EU accession negotiations, envisages the formation of the permanent monitoring body in charge of anti-corruption policy. [98]

This commitment aims to increase the number of the local self-government units with an established monitoring body for their local anti-corruption plan. The monitoring body is meant to include citizens and CSOs. The Anti-Corruption Agency, with help from USAID’s Government Accountability Initiative (GAI), has been working on a methodology to monitor the implementation of local anti-corruption plans. It is foreseen that each self-government unit will have a coordinator who will be in charge of communication and dissemination of documents between the local self-government and the monitoring body. [99] The Permanent Working Body is supposed to evaluate the quality of the measures implemented and address the effects of the implementation of individual mechanisms through quarterly and annual reports.

Although the Agency developed the Model of Local Anti-Corruption Plan (including instructions for drafting, implementation and monitoring), some local self-government units reported that they lacked capacity to fulfil this obligation. Thus, the Agency allocated grants to CSOs engaged in five local self-government units to help local authorities draft plans and form monitoring bodies. However, the number of grants depends on the Agency’s budget for 2018.

Given the low starting point (only 8 out of 145 local self-government units have established monitoring bodies at the time of writing this report), it appears unlikely that this commitment will be achieved within the two-year period of the action plan cycle. It is probably for this reason that the action plan lists the deadline for finalizing this commitment as “until full compliance with the commitment” is achieved. [100] In the IRM researchers’ view, this is too discretionary and may even jeopardize successful fulfilment of the entire commitment. Other CSOs experts dealing with the anti-corruption policy reported additional obstacles evident at the outset, including a lack of buy-in and resources from city and municipal decision-makers. ^[101] Therefore, the potential impact of this commitment is minor.

Next steps

Without the different approach and proper specification and development of this commitment, the IRM researchers would not recommend the continuation of this commitment in the following action plan. The IRM researchers suggest the following improvements for commitment implementation:

• Instead of a top down approach to establishing monitoring bodies and adopting local anti-corruption plans, it would be more effective to further incentivize a bottom up approach. The model local anti-corruption plan recommends involvement of the local community, citizens and CSOs in the LAP working group and its monitoring body. Mechanisms are needed to ensure identification and consultations with stakeholders from local self-government units in practice, to make a joint ownership over the entire process. A good example of such approach is related to developing local OGP action plans in Serbia (e.g. City of Šabac) where several rounds of consultations were held in order to produce a feasible and inclusive document ^[102];
• The government needs to set a realistic for completion of this commitment, and the development and adoption of the local anti-corruption action plans. While OGP action plan commitments can be incremental towards a longer-term goal, they still require concrete deliverables and steps;
• When monitoring the effects of this commitment as a whole, greater emphasis should be placed on analysing and reporting on qualitative indicators at the impact level by looking at how activities were developed and implemented and what results they brought instead of the currently emphasized quantitative indicators at the output level (number of plans adopted and monitoring bodies formed). [103]

To the Anti-Corruption Agency and Ministry of Justice:

• Develop the new anti-corruption strategy (with continued stakeholder participation) and integrate local anti-corruption plans into it.

7. Assistance with and monitoring of adoption of local anti-corruption plans

Completion: Substantial:

The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACAS) developed a model local anti-corruption plan (LAP) in 2017 [48] and the methodology for monitoring LAP implementation in November 2019. [49] It further promoted the methodology to the local authorities with a launch event [50] and provided grants for five civil society organizations to work with local authorities on developing LAPs, which ended by March 2020. [51] The support of five NGO grantees enabled LAPs to be adopted in five local self-government units, but only two also established monitoring bodies.

Furthermore, whereas the ACAS regularly publishes quarterly reports on the progress with LAPs, [52] promotional events, however, were limited. In addition to the public awareness raising campaign to introduce citizens to LAPs, organized from 26 November 27 December 2018, there were in total two events during the implementation of the OGP action plan that aimed to promote the data on adopted LAPs and their monitoring. [53]

More broadly, the commitment linked to activities planned under Serbia’s EU accession negotiations. By 15 September 2020, 106 out of 145 local self-government units (up from 86 in February 2019 [54]) had adopted local anti-corruption plans, of which 84 were in line with the ACAS model and 15 partially harmonized. [55] A total of 32 local self-government units formed a body for monitoring LAP implementation of which 21 were in line with the ACAS model (up from 8 in February 2019). Civil society groups have indicated that effective monitoring and implementation of the LAPs will be essential in delivering results in the fight against corruption. [56]