The European Union and the Council of Europe are jointly financing a Programme on Human Resources Management in Local Self-Government in the Republic of Serbia. The Programme is implemented by the Council of Europe in close co-operation with two main national partners, the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, and will last until December 2017.

The programme will require a number of international experts in various fields including capacity-building and human resource development, legal assistance and policy development in the area of human resource development, local governance and democracy. In that view several Calls for Experts with detailed ToRs will be published during the coming weeks for short-term expert assignments.

The overall objective of the Programme is to implement key initiatives of the public administration reform related to the central and local administrative level in order to improve the efficiency, the effectiveness, the transparency, and the commitment to preventing discrimination and to promote accountability of public administration at both central and local level.

The project is built on the implementation of the Strategy of Public Administration Reform in the Republic of Serbia and in accordance with the principles enshrined in the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which provides a solid basis for setting-up strong and stable local authorities in the country.

The project envisages to support the introduction of human resources management functions in local self-government units (LSG units) and the establishment of a professional training system of the LSG units’ employees. The system for professional training of civil servants and LSG units employees will represent the cornerstone for the human resources management and career development in the public service, serving in that way as a basis for further development of public administration at all administrative levels. Strengthening LSG units’ capacities with a view to enable them to plan their development, to improve service delivery as well as the human resource management function in their administrations, should make significant impact on the accountability of the public administration and the citizens’ satisfaction and perception of public administration work.