PPT given by SIGMA at the webinar on Digital Government in the Western Balkans held on 28 April 2022.

1. Insights from the SIGMA monitoring reports on the state of
play on digital government in the Western Balkan region
Nick Thijs, SIGMA Senior Policy Advisor
Jose Manuel Diaz Pulido, SIGMA Senior Policy Advisor
28 April 2022

2. www.sigmaweb.org
SIGMA 2021 – Monitoring reports

3. 3
SIGMA’s 2021 (based on 2017 methodology) monitoring reports
digital gov is represented across all Topical Areas (PAR, PDC, PS
&HRM, Acc, SD, PFM)
Interoperability
e-ID
e-procurement
e-services
e-signature
SIGMA Principles 2022 will incorporate a horizontal dimension on digital
HRM IS
e-databases of legislation
e-disclosure of information
digital strategies
etc.

4. 4
SIGMA 2021 Monitoring reports findings: Openness
of Government decision-making processes

5. 5
SIGMA 2021 Monitoring reports findings: Proactivity in disclosing
information

6. 6
SIGMA 2021 Monitoring reports findings: HR Information Systems

7. 7
SIGMA 2021 Monitoring reports findings: e-procurement

8. 8
Digital services for citizens & businesses

9. 9
substantial progress in the Service Delivery area… based mostly on advances
in digital services
SIGMA 2021 monitoring reports found some good news regarding SD
area...

10. SIGMA 2021 Monitoring reports findings: Enablers
e-signature
Digital policy
Interoperability
Improvement since 2017 SIGMA assessment
*Only on central level

11. Albania Kosovo Montenegro North Macedonia Serbia
Starting a
business –
OSS/fully digital
X X better X better X better X
Digital uptake
corporate income
tax
100 99 / 96,32 100
VAT digital uptake
100 100 100 100 100
Improvement since 2017 SIGMA assessment
SIGMA 2021 Monitoring reports findings: Level of digitisation –
business

12. SIGMA 2021 Monitoring reports findings: Level of digitisation – citizens
ID Vehicle registration Personal Income Tax
Appoint
ment
Pre-filling
forms
Pay Appoint
ment
Pre-filling
forms
Pay Process Docs Pay
Albania
X X better X better X
better
X
Kosovo X 7
Montenegro
X b X better
North
Macedonia
Serbia
Improvement since 2017 SIGMA assessment

13. SIGMA 2021 Monitoring reports findings: Beware of uneven
attention and progress

14. Perceived quality of public service delivery by citizens (%) show mixed
results
Source: Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) (2017 & 2021), Balkan Barometer Public Opinion database
(https://www.rcc.int/balkanbarometer/).
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Kosovo Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegro WB6 Serbia North Macedonia Albania
2021 2017
citizens are more demanding and have greater expectations

15. WB economies still have room for improvement to catch up with EU27
15
Source: e-Government Benchmark 2020, page 6

16. Summary
16
 Digitalization: high in the agenda in all WB.
 Enablers: still work in progress.
 Availability of e-services: increasing but imbalanced
 Digitation: advancing in back-end processes.
—Room for improvement transparency and participation.
—Room for improvement regarding back-end & support
processes.
—Take-up ratio for e-services still low.
—Citizen satisfaction show mixed results.

17. E-tools are tools for achieving policy goals & mind the digital gap
17

18. Thank you for your time!