The UGOVOR Project was developed by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina to promote local democracy by strengthening links between citizens and municipalities. Launched in March 2005, the UGOVOR Project was based on the principle that efficient and effective local governments require a commitment by both citizens and municipalities to work together. In this sense, local governments and citizens have a "contract" (ugovor in the languages of BiH) in which municipalities have an obligation to work with and for citizens to achieve common goals.

The "Ugovor" project has been developed in order to promote local democracy by strengthening links between citizens and municipalities. UGOVOR was a module-based project, which meant that the sequence and rate of implementation was tailored to suit the circumstances of each municipality. In addition, each UGOVOR module had clearly defined minimum standards, providing municipalities with precise criteria to meet.

The five modules of the UGOVOR project were

Implementation of The Freedom of Access to Information Act
Implementation of a Code of Ethics for elected officials
Establishment of a Municipal Development Planning Committee
Reform of Regulatory Frameworks
Partnership with Citizens

The UGOVOR project was officially completed in September 2008. Out of the 80 municipalities that participated in the project, 70 successfully met all the criteria of the five modules and graduated from the project. Many of the features of the UGOVOR project have since been incorporated into the Democratization Department’s Local First Initiative, which was launched in March 2009.

Click here for a list of UGOVOR municipalities and their respective graduation reports.

The "Ugovor" project has been developed in order to promote local democracy by strengthening links between citizens and municipalities. To find out more about UGOVOR, please Download the Prospectus of "UGOVOR" and "UGOVOR" leaflet in Adobe PDF.