On Thursday, June 10, 2021, the Network for Building Peace, within the project Snaga lokalnog, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), organized a Networking Conference “Local Economic Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina – Current State, Opportunities and New Realities”.
The online conference gathered a large number of representatives of the public, business and civil sectors, as well as academia and the media. Additionally, the conference served as a mechanism for exchanging information on current programs, initiatives, plans, ideas and established useful contacts and partnerships.
Prof. dr. Anto Domazet, professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Sarajevo and an expert with many years of experience in this field, presented a new normality as a global trend, caused by the pandemic, which is reflected at the local level. In addition, he talked about how local communities can find their place in the “new normal”. Prof. Domazet presented statistical data and indicators of the global pandemic on local communities and cities in the Federation of BiH. It was pointed out that the health aspect of the crisis does not correspond to the economic aspect. The most affected are workers, the unemployed, instability has increased, tourist cities are feeling drastic consequences, and the importance of the number of workers in the informal sector has been affected. Therefore, it was emphasized that now and after the pandemic, attention must be paid to the theory of public goods, and the logic of the public good. The public good is the good that is equally accessible to all and when use by one person does not cause deficiency in another. In order to meet the needs of the target groups for which they exist (residents, investors, tourists, diaspora), cities and municipalities must develop extremely complex activities. This includes raising the level of services, quality education (especially preschool) and eliminating the gap between children in BiH and children in the EU, green growth (decarbonization, renewable energy sources), entrepreneurship, public investment, raising the quality of infrastructure, improving public utilities, social inclusion, elimination of poverty, etc. All this (city) mayors must be leaders and innovators in creating public goods.
Dr. Ermin Cero, professor at the International Burch University in Sarajevo, pointed out that in the past period in BiH, work was done on local development planning, but that the implementation is at a low level. Many projects are planned but not implemented for objective or subjective reasons. One of the reasons is the insufficient capacity of local self-government units to implement projects – organizational and financial resources.
Dr. Cero emphasized that good planning and combination of funding sources means effectively using the potential of local development instruments.
Finally, it was pointed out that local communities must be motivated, that local communities must apply more frequently for grants, and that each community should recognize its development resources, for the sustainable development of local communities, but also that the relationship of responsibilities and obligations is not uniform, and because of that, the question of the distribution of VAT must be raised and discussed.
