SIGMA partner administrations have to find effective responses to the pandemic crisis to continue functioning and delivering political and administrative decisions and public services for citizens, while also protecting the people who make the machinery work.
The Principles were first developed in 2014 to set out in practice what a well-functioning public administration looks like. Initially targeted at EU candidate countries and potential candidates, a version of the Principles has been developed for European Neighbourhood countries.
On 15 December, SIGMA organised a webinar for ENP and IPA administrations on the resilience and agility of HRM practices in public bodies. Traditionally, the main objectives of HRM systems are to attract, motivate and retain the best employees. The epidemic has made it clear that there is another, key objective to address crisis situations: the resilience and agility of the system.
This Paper offers a comparative overview of central public procurement institutions in the Western Balkans and several examples of good practices in EU countries. It intends to demonstrate how properly designed central public procurement institutions can support the development of a sound and efficient national procurement system.
On 6 November SIGMA and ReSPA announced the winners of the 2020 Western Balkans Public Administration Awards, which this year recognised initiatives that helped administrations address the COVID-19 crisis. The jury awarded eleven champions in four categories: Digital Government, eEconomy, eLearning, eHealth and Social Innovation. Congratulations to the winners and all participants.
The Head of the SIGMA Programme was the guest of the first episode of the WeBER podcast series ‘European talks’, which focused on the transformative effects of the COVID-19 crisis on public administrations, the reality of public administration reform in the Western Balkans, the importance of external monitoring and the role of civil society in this regard.
On 21 July 2020, SIGMA held a virtual workshop for all ENP and IPA administrations, which focussed on the good practices and challenges in implementing e-recruitment. The workshop was an occasion to discuss in detail good practices from Albania, Belgium and Lithuania.