1. Information Society Samir Lemeš, M.Sc. University of Zenica
Bosnia and Herzegovina

2. Bosnia and Herzegovina
An exotic and complex country:
1 state
2 entities
3 nationalities
3 presidents
2 strategies

3. 2 Strategies PTRSP: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
including section about ICT and eGovernment
Prepared and implemented by government
Established Agency for monitoring
No control mechanisms
Available at:

4. 2 Strategies
BH ICT Strategy and Action Plan Bosnia and Herzegovina Information and Communications Technologies Strategy
Financed by UNDP, written by local experts
5 pillars:
eEducation
eGovernance
ICT Industry
ICT Infrastructure
eLegislation.

5. NGOs vs. GOV
Unlike Turkey, Strategy and Action Plan was prepared by NGO
There were no governmental support during strategy preparation
It was prepared by local experts
Government accepted it formally, but not actually
BAD NEWS: Two years without realization

6. Reasons for failure Governmental participation was minor
BiH has oversized administration
There are redundancies between institutions
The state is deeply administratively and politically divided:
13 ministries of 4M population

7. Reasons for failure
Big gap between political entities (economical development, budget size, initiatives)
Example:
Sarajevo Canton has a big budget, a lot of projects, concentration of experts
Other cantons: poor, almost no projects, lack of experts, low IS awareness

8. Reasons for failure
The Strategy proposed formation of the Agency for ICT at the state level
Most proposed programs and projects were to be implemented or coordinated by this agency
The government signed and obliged itself to form the Agency… but no results yet

9. Reasons for failure
ICT literacy is a must for civil servants (prerequisite for job application)
It is not obligatory for elective functions (decision makers, ministers, assembly members) – they are elected by political parties, based on loyalty, not on skills
Decision makers do not understand IS

10. (Almost) Success stories
CIPS (
Centralized database on citizens personal data
Forced by UN authorities to help establishment of centralized governmental services (before strategies were written)
Fully functional in entire country

11. (Almost) Success stories
Expensive
Used at low level (way below possibilities)
Just another place for issuing ID cards and Drivers licenses
Static
No feedback from citizens

12. (Almost) Success stories
ADS (
Agency for civil service employees
Provides human resources-related services for all (numerous) levels of government, from municipality to state:
Public calls for bids and job vacancies
Publication of laws and regulations
eEducation and preparation of prospective civil servants
ICT literacy of civil servants

13. (Almost) Success stories
Dynamic
eLearning component
Officially recognized as a mean for information distribution

14. (Almost) Success stories
BIHARNET (Bosnian Academic and Research Network)
BiH is the only country in Europe without an academic network
In the network was established through donation of Slovenia
After 2000, no steady financial support was provided and the project faded out
Despite strong demands from academic sector, no government support

15. According to our experiences,
Find good balance between NGO and government participation in Strategy preparation
To have strong demand is good, but not enough – prefer to force end users to go online for information from government
Prepare to face the costs
Projects should be centrally coordinated