MEASURE II Published the Local Governance Assessment and the Brief Gender Assessment

USAID’s Monitoring and Evaluation Support Activity (MEASURE II) conducted the Local Governance Assessment (LGA) of current issues and needs in BiH local governance sector, including what local governments need to successfully execute functions that are within their scope of responsibility as well as the needs of citizens and businesses – users and beneficiaries of administrative and utility services provided by local governments. The LGA focused on the following questions: 

1. What are the services (administrative and utility) that citizens and businesses feel need to be improved most urgently? What mechanisms are in place to communicate these needs to local government units (LGUs)? 
2. What are best practices in service delivery among LGUs in BiH? What are the conditions that enable LGUs to implement these practices? How scalable are these approaches? 
3. How are municipalities generating revenues and how are they using financial resources to address citizens’ needs? What are the related challenges and best practices? What effective approaches are scalable to other municipalities? 

MEASURE II’s Assessment Team implemented a rigorous, mixed-method approach in conducting the LGA. Data sources included a secondary document review; 12 semi-structured key informant interviews (KIIs) with 25 key informants; ten focus group discussions (FGDs) with 61 participants; an online survey of 95 local government units; and the National Survey of Citizens’ Perceptions (NSCP). Data was collected during the period October 7-20, 2021. Upon the completion of the LGA, MEASURE II conducted a Brief Gender Assessment of the Local Governance Level in BiH (BGA) to enhance USAID/BiH’s understanding of the intersection of gender issues with the local governance, improve outcomes of its gender-related interventions, and possibly identify new areas and modalities for USAID/BiH to contribute to promoting gender equality on the local level.  The assessment was structured around the following questions: 

• How adequate and effective are the existing legislative and institutional frameworks for ensuring gender equality and implementation of gender mainstreaming at the local level in BiH? 

• What are the patterns of women’s representation and participation in decision-making at the local level and how have they been changing under the influence of the requirements of the BiH Law on Gender Equality (LoGE)? 

• How are gender roles, responsibilities, and time use in the context of economic activity of men and women manifested and addressed at the local level in BiH? 

• What are the key challenges in achieving gender equal access to and control over local services, assets, and resources?
  
  
• How do cultural norms and beliefs shape gender equality at the local level in BiH? 

Expanding on the data sources and contacts identified and used for the LGA, the BGA based its findings on the  literature review of pertinent documents and reports; key informant interviews (KIIs) with relevant government agencies and civil society organizations (CSOs) involved in implementation of gender programs; focus group discussions (FGDs) with local self-government units (LSGUs) across BiH; online survey of CSOs that directly or indirectly address gender issues at the local level through their interventions; and the MEASURE II data from the 2021 National Survey of Citizens’ Perceptions in BiH (NSCP-BiH). The report is available here.