It is unimaginable to have a democratic society without the developed civil society. That’s  the reason for the organization of the conference named “Quality Assurance Standards for Civil Society Organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina” which gathered around 150 participants. The first conference of this type aims to promote quality standards which are becoming increasingly important in ensuring transparency and accountability in work.

“We know that in terms of quantity we have a lot of organizations, between 8000 and 10 000, I think, but the quality is an issue. I mean, the quality of the work of the NGOs is not followed, and so the aim of the Conference today is to bring and show some standards to NGOs or civil society organizations, so they can certify as a private company to get ISO standards, and I think that we’ll have an impact on the development of the civil society as a whole in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The progress report about Bosnia and Herzegovina that the EC adopted about a month ago shows that there are still problems with the civil society. There is a lack of support, particularly at the state level, there is a lack of transparency and also sometimes there are some attacks on NGOs”, said Chargé d’Affaires of the EU Delegation to BiH Boris Iarochevitch at the conference.

The European Union will continue with support towards building democratic society in Bosnia and Herzegovina and bringing Bosnia and Herzegovina closer to the European Union family.

“Civilian society should be a precondition for democracy, protection of human rights and equality”, said Sadeta Škaljić, Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Civil society organizations are increasing in quantity, and that is good. BiH is on a good way and we have absolute support of the EU”, said Slavica Drašković, Residence Advisor to the Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations (TACSO).

Civil society has its place, is the opinion of Vinko Radovanović from the Alliance of Communities and Towns of Republika Srpska.

“EU is our loadstar. This is implementing of the European standards into the work of NGO sector in BiH”, said Radovanović.