At the end of February, Montenegro co-signed the Ghent Declaration of the European Public Administration Network, which acknowledged the importance of establishing a culture for innovation with room for experimentation and empowering of civil servants. In support of this ambition, the Ministry of Public Administration of Montenegro has recently held an innovative workshop for public officials from institutions responsible for the implementation of the country's public administration reform (PAR), whereby the coordination team of the Ministry sought new, participatory ways to engage the PAR stakeholders from different public institutions. Together, they finalized the critical points of the implementation report that the Ministry of Public Administration submits each year to the government, and determined the key messages the report should convey. This strategic document is also a reference point for the country to achieve the set milestones on its process of joining the EU. 

The workshop was an opportunity to review the best results, identify challenges, and agree on future steps on the reform path. It was organized by the UNDP, and designed by the Ministry’s PAR coordination team with mentoring and methodological knowledge transfer of the CEF. CEF support also included empowering participants to acquire knowledge and practices for improved internal and external communication. We were all inspired by the readiness of the PAR coordination team to do things differently, the team spirit and work ethic at the workshop, indicating the dedication and years of focus on better coordination and cooperation among institutions involved in PAR.

The workshop was held in Bar, Montenegro on March 3-4. 2024. It was a part of the learning journey addressing better reporting capacities, which is part of the EU-funded “Support to Coordination, Monitoring and Reporting on PAR Strategy and PFM Reform Programme 2022-2026” project.