The signing ceremony of Memoranda of Understanding between the United Nations Development Programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNDP BiH) and six BiH municipalities (Berkovići, Cazin, Kotor Varoš, Novo Sarajevo, Šekovići and Visoko) was convened today in the premises of the EU Info Centre at the EU Delegation to BiH, in Sarajevo.

The Memoranda of Understanding were signed by Mayors of selected municipalities and Zahira Virani, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in BiH, in the presence of Melvin Asin, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to BiH, BiH Minister of Justice, Barisa Čolak, as well as representatives of entity associations of municipalities and cities, and civil society.

MoUs defined cooperation between the UNDP BiH and these municipalities which have been selected, following public call, for the participation in the activities of the EU funded project “Reinforcement of Local Democracy IV – LOD IV”. Received applications of the municipalities and cities were evaluated on the basis of the pre-defined criteria and the selection was conducted on a competitive basis.

Melvin Asin, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to BiH, stated: “The support of the EU for cooperation between municipalities and civil society through this project is already entering its sixth year and it amounts to 7 million EUR so far. There are more than 40 municipalities and cities that either participated or are currently participating in the project and the support has been provided to more than 250 civil society initiatives. I hope that many other cities and municipalities will follow their example, and aim to use the EU funds in ensuring an effective and efficient administration and partnership with civil society in the interest of their citizens“

Apart from these six municipalities, the LOD IV previously directly selected and assisted municipalities which were affected by catastrophic floods in May 2014, Bijeljina, Doboj, Domaljevac, Maglaj, Šamac and Žepče.

All municipalities will work on the activities that contribute to the following objectives of LOD IV project: 1) Establishment of permanent partnership between civil society organizations and local authorities by raising awareness on the benefits of cooperation; 2) Generate unique and transparent mechanisms for the allocation of budget resources of local self-government units foreseen for project activities of civil society organizations; 3) Build the capacity of civil society organizations for improving service delivery to citizens.

Zahira Virani, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in BiH, said, “We are working on strengthening cooperation between civil society organizations and municipalities and cities in BiH. We want to show that the civil society organizations have the capacity to develop projects and solve the problems of the community in a way defined by the strategic or action document, or to solve those needs where the municipal administration is not able to solve them or requires help from local partners.”

Municipalities expressed great interest to participate in the successful activities of the LOD IV project which demonstrates the importance of such initiatives.

“The Ministry is the project’s partner from the very beginning, we give the absolute support, and I think it is very important for the development of the society and democracy, particularly at the local level, where the life is actually realized. We will make sure that this project goes on, because certainly the local community and the citizens have the most interests and benefits from such projects”, said Bariša Čolak, Minister of Justice of BiH.

LOD IV is funded by the European Union from the funds of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) in the amount of 2 million EUR and implemented by UNDP in BiH.

Through the fourth phase of LOD project, the EU and UNDP continue to work on strengthening the local democratic processes in BiH by improving cooperation between civil society and local authorities.