Secretary General of the Union of Municipalities Mišela Manojlović and the assistant secretary general Milica Radojičić participated in Skopje, together with representatives of the associations of municipalities from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo, in a regional workshop held under the LORAI programme, where discussions focused on the involvement of local governments in the preparation, implementation, and monitoring of the Reform Agendas in the Western Balkans.
LORAI (Local Observatory for the Implementation of the Reform Agendas in the Western Balkans) is a joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe, implemented by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in partnership with NALAS, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), and seven NALAS member associations. The programme aims to strengthen the role of local authorities in the European integration process of the Western Balkan countries.
At the workshop, organised by NALAS (the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe), participants conducted an in-depth analysis of the role of local authorities in the reform process. They also validated the LORAI monitoring framework, including the key indicators for tracking progress.
The workshop reviewed the findings of baseline studies assessing the level of local government involvement in the implementation of the Reform Agendas, prepared by participating countries with the support of national experts. The analyses showed that municipalities were generally not involved in the planning and drafting of the Reform Agendas, while their role in implementation has largely been limited to carrying out activities defined at the central level. At the same time, the participation of local authorities in monitoring and evaluating the implementation of reforms remains insufficiently developed. Participants concluded that a continuous and structured dialogue between the central and local levels of government is essential, with municipalities being fully involved throughout the entire reform process—from planning and designing measures, through implementation, to monitoring, reporting, and evaluating results.
The agreed LORAI monitoring framework will serve as a valuable tool for tracking the implementation of the Reform Agendas from the perspective of local governments, thereby strengthening the case for their more meaningful involvement in the reform process.
