ALDI: Public Opinion Survey on Work of Local Administration in B&H

Agencija za lokalne razvojne inicijative

Under its �New Role for NGOs in the Process of Design of B&H Public Policies� project, ALDI released the results of the public opinion survey on the work of municipal authorities/administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In March 2006, Local Development Initiatives Agency implemented an over-the-phone survey with the aim to identify and determine the levels of perception of the citizens regarding the quality of work of local administration in the country. The survey was conducted on a representative sample of 1,500 citizens from all parts of B&H.

One conclusion of the Survey is that there is a visible lack of cooperation between the citizens and local administration in terms of planning and implementation of local public policies. According to survey results, 84.5 percent of the polled citizens said that they have no knowledge that their respective Mayor or Municipal Council adopted or implemented any citizens� initiative in their own municipality. At the same time, this finding confirm the necessity of greater inclusion of civil society in the process of creation of public policies.

The change in the procedure of election of mayors is needed, but not sufficient to achieve greater results in the work of the municipal administration. The survey asked the citizens the following question: Did you notice an improvement in the work of the Mayor in 2005? Almost one half of the polled (47%) said that the work and the results of their Mayor were below all expectations or that they didn�t notice any improvement in the work of the Mayor or the municipal administration. On the other hand, 21% noted progress and improvement above their expectations. 13,3 percent said that the Mayor works within the limits of their expectations, while 19.3 percent didn�t know or wouldn�t answer this question.

The Municipal administration doesn�t motivate the citizens for greater cooperation in the process of planning and creation of local public policies. 42 percents of the polled citizens who hadn�t have a chance to talk with their mayor or municipal council members believe that they could, through their presence in meetings with the local administration, present solutions for some key problems in their respective municipality, should they get an opportunity to do so. There is a similar percentage of those who believe that their presence in meetings and gatherings would change nothing (30.22 percent) and those that don�t know whether their presence would have an effect and who don�t know how to solve the key problems in their municipalities (26.86 percent).

For the other findings of the public opinion survey (in PDF document), please visit ALDI website.

The main goal of the Project is to strengthen the capacity of NGOs to participate in the processes of creation of local public policies; to increase the public awareness for the need for higher quality of public policies; as well as strengthened mechanisms available to local institutions in terms of creation of quality public policies.