The high-level forum will build on the two Roundtables and have around 50 participants, including leading experts and selected participants from the roundtables; The recommendations from the Forum will be integrated into RCPAR and UNDP programme strategies. More information will be published in autumn 2010.

The 4th training for the members of the Network of Focal Points will take place at the International Training Center of the International Labour Organization in Turin, Italy in the period 29 November - 1 Dec (tentative dates). 30 network members will be selected to participate. Working knowledge of English is a basic requirement. More information will be published in September 2010.

The annual conference brings together representatives of the civil service structures in the region of the Western Balkans, members of the international community and other stakeholders in the ongoing civil service reform. Participants will discuss specific issues in relation to the problems and challenges in HRM; this year, they will examine the role and scope of competencies in the recruitment, selection and career development of civil servants in the Western Balkans. The venue will be the new premises of the Regional School for Public Administration (ReSPA) in Danilovgrad, Montenegro.

Composed of 15 internationally recognized scholars and practitioners on public administration reform from Western and Eastern Europe and the CIS, the Advisory Board meets twice annually and provides strategic recommendations and substantive support to the RCPAR management. More information on the agenda for the specific meeting will be published in September 2010. The date and the location (Danilovgrad, Montenegro) are tentative.

The second Roundtable will be looking at the longer-term Governance reform agenda for the coming years, integrating the lessons from the transition experience and the economic crisis. The event will take place in Astana, Kazakhstan.

The State Chancellery of the Republic of Latvia and the RCPAR organised the 6th Annual Public Management Summer Institute, “Policy planning: necessity, institutional framework and tools” in Jurmala, Latvia in the period 23-27 August 2010. 35 professionals from 13 countries and entities in the region participated, attending workshops and lectures presented by a dozen distinguished academics and practitioners, from the region and from Western Europe and the US. The event received additional support from the Embassies of Norway, the Netherlands and the United States in Latvia and the National Audit Office of Finland.

The 1st Roundtable in the framework of the Regional Forum on Governance Reforms in the aftermath of the economic crisis took stock of crisis impact and responses. It was organised in Chisinau, Moldova on 6 and 7 July in co-operation with the local UNDP country office.

The 4th Advisory Board meeting took place in the Oceania conference room at the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation (ITC/ILO) on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 June 2010. In addition to 11 of the 14 regular members, Maria Logotheti, Special Secretary in the Office for the Development of International Programmes at the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Jens Wandel, the Deputy Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and Central Asia and the Director of the Bratislava Regional Centre attended the first day of the meeting.

The 3rd training for the members of the Network of Focal Points will take place at the International Training Center of the International Labour Organization in Turin, Italy in the period 31 May - 3 June 2010. 30 network members have been selected for participation on the basis of written applications.

The 5th Resource Group of the Western Balkans Human Resources Management Community of Practicioners (WeBa HRM CoP) met in Skopje to discuss the annual workplan for the CoP. Representatives of the European Institute for Public Administration (EIPA), BRC, RCPAR and of the local participating organisations attended the meeting.

The RCPAR and the Hellenic Branch of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (HIAS) organised their third Biennial Forum in Thessaloniki, Greece on 14 and 15 May 2010. The topic of the Forum was "New perceptions on regulation: the State’s regulatory role vis-à-vis the economy and society – regional experiences and lessons learnt". Participation was limited to 23 participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, The FY Republic of Macedonia, Ukraine, and Greece. All participants are engaged in research or applications in the fields of regulation and regulatory reform.

The evaluation meeting provided an opportunity for all partners involved in the multi-country activity "Restructuring Government to Overcome Crisis" to share their experiences. A set of lessons learned and recommendations for future RCPAR multi-country activities were produced. The meeting took place in Budapest on 8 April, hosted by the Office of the Prime Minister of Hungary.

The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) training for External Feedback Actors (EFACs) entitled "The CAF label: training on the delivery of external feedback" took place in Maastricht, the Netherlands, on 1 and 2 March 2010 for six practitioners from Latvia, Russia and Slovenia. The training is organised in co-operation with the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) and is a component of the RCPAR's multi-country activity entitled "Improving quality of public management through application of the CAF model" (IQUAL).

The workshop on functional reviews and audits took place on 18 and 19 February in Kiev, Ukraine as a follow up to the 5th Annual Public Management Summer Institute on "Restructuring Government to Overcome Crisis". It was organised by the Main Department of the Civil Service of Ukraine in co-operation with the Ministry of Finance of Estonia and the State Chancellery of Latvia. In addition to two keynote speakers and a consultant who will perform a comparative research on the subject, 20 practitioners and experts from the region participateed and presented their experiences.

A seminar focusing on the impact and challenges of the economic crisis on Human Resource Management in the public sector took place in Tallinn, Estonia, on 4 and 5 February 2010. It was a follow up to the 5th Annual Public Management Summer Institute on "Restructuring Government to Overcome Crisis" and was organised by the Ministry of Finance of Estonia in co-operation with the State Chancellery of Latvia and the Main Department of the Civil Service of Ukraine. In addition to three keynote speakers and a consultant who is undertaking a comparative research on the subject, 25 practitioners and experts from the region participated and presented their experiences.

The 3-day Common Assessment Framework (CAF) training took place on 2, 3 and 4 February 2010 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The first two days were devoted to classroom training, whereas the third day included study visits to relevant institutions in the Kyrgyz administration. The workshop has been organized in close cooperation with the government apparatus of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Anticorruption Business Council, and has been a component of the RCPAR's Multi-Country Activity entitled "Improving quality of public management through application of the CAF model" (IQUAL), initiated by the Scientific Centre for Benchmarking and Excellence of the Ivanovo State Power University in the Russian Federation.

In the first week of December, a group from the press-service of the Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic visited Athens. The aim of the study tour was to improve the operation of the Kyrgyz Parliament press service by observing and acquiring knowledge about the operations of the Parliamentary press service and independent media in a foreign legislature. The visit was organized by the European Commission and the UNDP country office in Bishkek, in co-operation with the RCPAR and the Parliament of the Hellenic Republic.

The 3rd RCPAR Advisory Board meeting took place in the Crowne-Plaza Hotel in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 November 2009. In addition to the Advisory Board members and the RCPAR team, the Director for UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre and senior UNDP BRC staff participated in the meeting.

The 4th Annual Conference of the Western Balkans HRM Community of Practice in the Civil Service was held at the Hotel Tirana International, in Tirana, Albania on 17th and 18th November, 2009.

The 2nd training for the members of the Network of National Coordinators and Focal Points took place at the International Training Center of International Labour Organization in Turin, Italy in the period 9 – 13 November 2009. More than 50 network members participated in the 2 x 3 days training, which aimed at enhancing the capacity of the RCPAR network members to interact effectively and engage in regional programming.

The 3-day Common Assessment Framework (CAF) Study Tour in Ljubljana, Slovenia, took place as a component of the RCPAR's Multi-Country Activity entitled "Improving quality of public management through application of the CAF model" (IQUAL). Delegates from the Russian Federation, Latvia, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Kazakhstan attended the training, which among other included the presentation of three Slovenian CAF-cases, the Ministry of Public Administration, the Police Directorate Maribor and the Administrative Unit Jesenice. The participants in the training were also invited to the Good Practices Conference in the Slovene Public Administration 2009.

The objective of this meeting was to exchange and discuss concepts and experiences on regional and EU level related to a number of HR issues, in view of the contribution to policy development and improving current practices.

The 3-day Common Assessment Framework (CAF) training in Riga, Latvia took place from 22 to 24 September 2009 as a component of the RCPAR's Multi-Country Activity entitled "Improving quality of public management through application of the CAF model" (IQUAL), initiated by the Scientific Centre for Benchmarking and Excellence (SCBE) of Ivanovo State Power University (ISPU, Russia) and organized in partnership with the Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, the Ministry of Welfare of Latvia, the Organizational Work and Public Administration Policy Department under the Administration of President of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Agency for Civil Service Affairs under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

With financial support from the RCPAR, the State Chancellery of the Republic of Latvia in co-operation with partners in the Ukraine, Estonia and Romania organised the 5th Annual Public Management Summer Institute "Restructuring Government to Overcome Crisis" in Latvia. The RCPAR covered the total cost of participation for 42 participants from 15 diefferent countries covered by the RCPAR Project.

22 Network Members from 14 countries have already confirmed their participation in the training, which is part of the strategy to facilitate engagement in the RCPAR’s regional programming and strengthen the interaction within the network.