The document summarizes the findings of a research study on the capacities and integrity of public administration in Montenegro. Key findings include that while corruption is seen as reduced compared to 3 years ago, procedures are still complicated. Staff satisfaction in public administration is low due to poor wages and lack of rewards. Recommendations focus on simplifying services, encouraging corruption reporting, informing the public about hiring practices, analyzing staff satisfaction, and increasing legal regulations and punishment for corruption.

1. Montenegro
Research regarding capacities and integrity
of the public administration in Montenegro
© 2009 Ipsos Ipsos Puls. All rights reserved. Contains Ipsos' Confidential and Proprietary information and may
not be disclosed or reproduced without the prior written consent of Ipsos.
Nobody’s Unpredictable

2. Table of Contents
Montenegro
Introduction and methodology
Findings
 General population
 Public administration staff
 NGO’s
 Business sector
 High level officials
Comparative findings for segments: agreement in
opinion
© 2009 Ipsos
Comparative findings for segments: disagreement in
opinion
Recommendations 2

3. Introduction and methodology
Montenegro
The aim of the research: capacities and integrity of public administration in
Montenegro, with recommendations on how to improve the situation
Research implementers: Directorate for Anti-Corruption Initiative, UNDP
Montenegro and Ipsos Puls Agency
Five segments of the research:
 General population– 1.155 interviewees, representative sample for
general population of Montenegro above the age of 18;
 Public administration staff - 200 interviewees;
 NGO representatives – 42 interviewees;
 Representatives of businesses - 201 interviewees, as well as
 Representatives of the managerial staff (high level officials) in public
administration, in-depth interviews - 6
Research was implemented in the field in the period from early May until the end
of July of 2010
© 2009 Ipsos
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4. Findings – I General population
Montenegro
Public administration authorities moderately satisfy the demands of their
service users (average 3.3 at the scale ranging from 1 to 5);
Accessibility of state authorities and civil servants in them is generally
not a problem for the service users;
General level of trust in public administration – moderate (grade 3.4);
There is a high level of trust in authorities
(President, Government, Parliament, judiciary), as well as the systems:
educational system, health and pension system;
Among the institutions that are trustworthy, it is only the health sector
that is perceived as corrupt. Although corruption is perceived to exist in
the health sector, reasons for trust in this segment of public
administration are as follows: importance of health sector; perception of
generally good service in the health sector, especially with regard to bad
© 2009 Ipsos
working conditions; health insurance that covers majority of the
population.
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5. Findings – I General population (2)
Montenegro
Quality of service in public administration – medium (grade 6.0 on a
scale from 1 to 10). School system, health and pension system have the
highest quality of work;
The most important elements for employment and promotion in public
administration are family and friendly ties and political party affiliation of
the candidate;
Negativities in the work of public administration authorities:
- too much paperwork (41%),
- too many institutions to visit (being sent from one place to the other)
(40%),
- data is not updated, bad and inefficient service (33%),
- corruption (29%).
© 2009 Ipsos
Citizens mostly feel that the level of corruption has been reduced in the
past three years (33% say it’s lower, 34% say it’s the same, 20% say it
went up, 13% don’t know). 5

6. Findings – II Public administration staff
Montenegro
Generally, civil servants gave positive answers to the questions.
Still, there is a high number of questions which were not answered;
2/3 of the interviewed civil servants say that they are ready to report
cases of corruption if they had any information about it;
Over one half of the respondents say that the level of corruption has
been reduced as compared to the three preceding years;
Greater efforts and better quality performance at work in public
administration do not lead to increase in wage that is merit based – the
rewarding system is not adequate.
© 2009 Ipsos
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7. Findings – III NGO’s
Montenegro
Public administration authorities and their staff were mostly accessible to
the NGO representatives, when they tried to contact them;
Moderate level of trust in public administration – grade 3.3, scale1 to 5;
The highest level of trust in: education (50% of interviewees, grade 4 or
5), public enterprises (48%), health (43%), police (41%), tax administration
(41%);
Decision making within the public administration:
professional, autonomous, responsible and timely, but also under political
influence and not too transparent;
Quality of work of public administration – moderate, grade 6.1, scale 1 to
10. Quality improved over the past three years;
Cooperation between public administration and NGO’s – moderately good
level of cooperation, grade 3.3, scale 1 to 5;
© 2009 Ipsos
Presence of corruption: moderate (38%), less than three years ago, but still
higher than in the EU member states.
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8. Findings– IV Business sector
Montenegro
Confidence in public administration – 58% have confidence in it, grade
3.5, scale1 to 5;
Quality of work of public administration – 45% good, 21% bad, grade
3.5;
Use of budgetary funds – over one half of the respondents say it is not
transparent, perception is that the political interests have shaped to a
significant extent the regulations regarding public tenders;
Work management within institutions – professional (57%), responsible
(52%), in accordance with the law (50%), but under political influence
(50%);
Decision making regarding functioning of the institutions – they are
made in a professional (60%) and responsible (57%) manner;
© 2009 Ipsos
Presence of corruption – 43% feel that corruption is lower than 3 years
ago, 33% feel that corruption is present to a great extent or mostly
present. Still, only 15% of companies think that corruption is higher now.
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9. Findings – High level officials in
public administration
Montenegro
Increased satisfaction and confidence of citizens in public
administration, numerous procedures have been simplified and require less time
now, but there is still room for improvements;
Low level of satisfaction among civil servants due to: low wages, inadequate
working conditions, non-existence of the rewarding system, are all reasons that
make it difficult to hire quality and professional staff;
Budget execution and public procurement – controlled by numerous competent
institutions, significantly reduced possibilities for abuse;
Quality of work in public administration – improved in the past three
years, influenced by increase in the number of staff and development of IT
system;
In the fight against corruption, protection of persons reporting corruption has
been achieved. Police Directorate and DACI are institutions that enjoy the
highest level of trust, all institutions responsible for fighting corruption are
© 2009 Ipsos
perceived as successful and independent;
More efficient fight requires: greater awareness among citizens, improved
enforcement of legal measures and adequate sanctioning.
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10. Comparatrive findings between
segments – agreement in opinion
Montenegro
Reduced corruption as compared to three years ago, and better quality of public
administration services is perceived as better than three years ago. There is progress
made, things are moving in the right direction. Currently, optimum has not been achieved, there
is still a lot of room for improvements, but situation is definitely better than before. Definitely, the
main positive finding in the whole research.
Complicated procedures for service provision represent a bigger problem than
corruption, too much sending from door to door, complicated procedures, bad organization of
work, inability to do everything at one place, a lot of paper work, are all stated as bigger
problems in the functioning of the public administration institutions than corruption itself. Thus, it
is necessary to properly position corruption, it represents a serious problem due to its
nature, even if it occurs only sporadically, but it is not the only problem and definitely not the
biggest one for the service users. The issue of capacities and all aspects of service provision
should be treated in a systemic manner, and corruption is one segment in all that.
Bad position of public administration staff, non-existence of the adequate rewarding system
and motivation to perform better, low level of satisfaction among staff, wages should be
higher, these are problems recognized by all segments. Besides, bad working conditions, high
turnover of staff, better conditions in the private sector, thus, the lack of staff (things stated by
the civil servants and managerial staff (high level official), as segments with better insight. Civil
© 2009 Ipsos
servants represent a weak link in the chain, so they must be tackled in a systemic and
professional manner, within the given limitations. Otherwise, there sill be an impact of such a
position of staff on their performance at work, thus, on the overall feelings and occurrence of
corruption.
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11. Comparatrive findings between segments–
disagreement in opinion Montenegro
Level of corruption, general population, business sector, and to a lesser extent NGOs feel that
corruption is widely present, while civil servants state that corruption is a sporadic
phenomenon, and high level officials say that they did not have direct experience with
corruption, and that the legal framework, controls and transparency in the operations remove the
possibilities for corruption to occur. Similar views exist when it comes to answers to other
questions regarding functioning of the public administration.
Level of knowledge about institutions responsible for the fight against
corruption, NGOs, businesses and especially the general population do not know well the
individual institutions and do not have a lot of information about them. E.g. DACI is known by
49% of the citizens, 76% of NGO representatives, and 71% of companies. Service providers
have a much greater level of knowledge about the institutions responsible for fight against
corruption. One thing that is common to all is that they have the best level of knowledge about
the Police Directorate. Due to specific knowledge and experience of various groups, this was an
expected result, and it is necessary to work on educating and informing these various groups.
Perception of corruption initiators, civil servants feel that employees in public administration
rarely initiate or propose corruption; high level officials, by rule, do not believe in that concept
that employees could be the corruption initiators or proposers (they believe that it is the service
users who are motivated to initiate corruption), although they don’t exclude this possibility; while
© 2009 Ipsos
general population, companies and to a lesser extent NGOs believe that the initiators and
proposers of corruption are often the public administration employees (although it does not
mean that public administration employees are perceived as exclusive corruption initiators).
Service users see problems as much bigger, while service providers are much more careful in
speaking about shortcomings and problems in the functioning of the public administration 11

12. Recommendations – Part I
Montenegro
Simplification of services to the users, due to excessive paper work and too much sending
from door to door; complicated procedures and bad organization of work, which were mentioned
as the most common problems in the work of public administration. It is necessary to analyze
critical points in the provision of various services to the users in public administration institutions
and to identify problems and ways to resolve them.
Introduce a one-stop-shop system for services, solve problems of the users and provide
services at one place, where this is possible, and inform the users where those types of
solutions already exist.
Encourage service users and employees in public administration to report cases of
corruption: a)ensure anonymity of the ones who report it, without anonymity and feeling of
security there is no corruption reporting, and b) create a realistic belief that reporting is
worthwhile, i.e. reported cases will be investigated and processed, and if suspicion is supported
by evidence, the perpetrators will be adequately sanctioned.
Inform the public about real employment and promotion criteria in the institutions of
public administration, general population, business sector and NGOs feel that employment
and promotion in public administration are influenced by family and friendly relations and party
affiliation of the candidates. On the other hand, employees and high level officials in public
administration emphasize as important elements the education, expertise and experience of the
© 2009 Ipsos
candidate, as well as the role of HRMA. It is necessary to bring the views of service users and
service providers (public administration) closer regarding this important issue. Trust of the
service users in the public administration institutions depends on the way in which service users
perceive employees in public administration.
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13. Recommendations – Part II
Montenegro
Conduct an analysis of employee satisfaction in public administration, because 61% of the
employees say that they are dissatisfied, determine the causes of
satisfaction/dissatisfaction, motivation for the employees, etc. Without satisfied employees in
public administration, there is no progress when it comes to performance.
Develop a system of rewarding the employees in public administration
institutions, because such a system does not exist in most of the institutions, and the existing
system of wage determination is not motivating for the staff. It is necessary to develop a system
that will connect in a transparent manner the performance, efforts invested and expertise with
the wage, thus encouraging the employees to greater commitment in the fulfillment of their
tasks.
Increase level of knowledge about the institutions responsible for fight against
corruption, except for the Police Directorate and DACI, other institutions are not so well known
by the general population and other service users; at least 1/3 of the adult citizens have not
heard of the other institutions.
Harmonize perception of budget execution and public procurement among service users
and public administration institutions, citizens, businesses and NGOs feel that budgetary
processes in public administration are not transparent and that there is a high level of influence
of politics on public procurement. On the other hand, service providers believe the opposite, by
© 2009 Ipsos
rule, that there is transparency and things operate as they should, they emphasize that
everything is accessible on the internet. It is necessary to reduce that gap in perception of buget
execution and public procurement and to inform the service users about the possibilities for
monitoring these aspects of work of public administration institutions.
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14. Recommendations – Part III
Montenegro
Harmonize the perception of service users and service providers regarding transparency
of services and access to public administration resources, because the service users
complain that: they cannot get insight into documents and acts; that revenues are not spent in a
transparent manner, there is politization (illegal issuance of construction permits), etc., while civil
servants recognize those problems to a lesser extent. It is necessary to continuously inform the
users about possibilities and manners of work of public administration, as well as about the legal
provisions regarding free access to information.
Further awareness raising regarding the issue of corruption, further progress in the fight
against corruption cannot be achieved without the use of preventive measures. Education about
corruption and consequences of corruption, as well as about the sanctions for corruption can be
effective.
Proposal of stricter punishment for corruption, this was often mentioned as one of the
aspects that could affect reduction in corruption. It could be useful to use the punishment to set
examples (deterrent effect of sanctions).
Capacity building with regard to the functioning of public administration institutions as
an anti-corruption measures. Public administration that functions well and provides effective
service to the citizens does not motivate the citizens and businesses to engage in
corruption, they receive satisfactory service through regular procedures. Increased number of
© 2009 Ipsos
staff, increased expertise of the staff, better working conditions in the public administration
institutions, IT system development (digitalization) are some of the examples of measures that
can be used within the given financial situation.
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15. Recommendations – Part IV
Montenegro
Legal regulations as an anti-corruption measures, law enforcement and implementation of
legal measures, clearer regulations and procedures of action represent measures that are also
seen by all as contributing to suppression of corruption.
Greater role of the media, publication of cases of corruption, informing the citizens and other
users of public administration services about their rights and ways to exercise them, possibilities
to report corruption, etc, awareness raising, education and change of perception were often
mentioned in this report as important factors for the functioning of a good public administration.
Cooperation with NGOs in the fight against corruption, should be intensified and improved
in the upcoming period.
© 2009 Ipsos
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