I am working in the Budget Sector of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an associate for reporting. My working tasks include preparation of tables and data from Financial management information system (ISFU) for drafting the summary of quarterly, semi-annual and annual reports on the execution of budget of Bosnia and Herzegovina institutions. I have attended three training and networking activities of the Strategic Planning and Budgeting (SPB) project that is managed by the CEF. Upon return to office, I shared the knowledge and information gained with colleagues in my office. I shared workshop materials with colleagues to familiarize them with the course content and we also had a discussion about the experience of other countries.

The workshop on capital budgeting I’ve attended in October 2013, gave me better insight in the capital investing. I particularly liked the subject of public-private partnerships and project selection, as well as short presentations of participants on the process of capital investment in their countries.

In February 2014, I’ve attended the very well-organized SPB training of trainers, which was delivered at the Regional School of Public Administration in Danilovgrad, Montenegro. My colleagues and I are regularly involved in different meetings and have to make presentations to our superiors, e.g. to present the results of those meetings. I’ve learned at the training of trainers event how to give powerful presentations, how to keep attention of the audience, and how to perform as a good speaker. I have particularly experienced the importance of receiving feedback on presentations. We have all learned a lot from experiencing this training; seeking and using opportunities to apply what we have learned will help us to continue this learning journey.

In May 2014, I attended the SPB workshop on Program Budgeting, Evaluation and Spending Review, which was delivered at CEF in Ljubljana. I consider this workshop as particularly relevant, as program budgeting is currently in development in Bosnia and Herzegovina. To contribute to making it a concept, as many officials as possible should have an opportunity to attend such workshops, as possible. I wanted to learn how other countries perform program budgeting, and to hear about their good practice. One such good example was an interesting case study presented by our Turkish colleagues, which showed how Turkey managed to make savings through careful application of program budgeting.

Often, we continued our discussions about the last sessions, e.g. by sharing our countries’ experience. The coffee breaks, dinners and social events during SPB events nicely complement the training activities with space for informal networking. CEF workshops have been very relevant to my work and helpful in strengthening my skills; I appreciated the good organization.

Jagoda Đerek
Senior Associate
Sector for Budget
Ministry of Finance and Treasury
Bosnia and Herzegovina

SPB Project Website