Today's  Meeting of Western Balkans Certified External Feedback Actors – EFACs, organised online, as the first, out of two EFACs meetings planned for 2022, gathered fifteen certified EFACs from WB countries, experts from KDZ Austria and ReSPA staff. The regional EFACs belong to ReSPA/RQMC EFACs pool, consisting of EFACs civil servants and EFACs practitioners who passed qualified PEF training.

The meeting aimed at strengthening of the capacities of EFACs for practical application of the CAF External Feedback Evaluation - Procedure (PEF) as the prerequisite for awarding the "Effective CAF User" Label to the inteteseted CAF users from WBs public administrations.

ReSPA Members have formally authorised the Regional Quality Management Centre of ReSPA to act as the national organiser, which is entitled to implement PEF procedure and award the Label "CAF Effective User" in ReSPA Members as well as to coordinate its work with the national organiser where it exists (North Macedonia).

RQMC/ReSPA will engage the certified EFACs to implement the CAF External Feedback Evaluation Procedure (PEF procedure) in the interested public administration institutions across the Western Balkans (which have implemented the CAF and want to get an expert external view on the quality of implemented CAF, with the possibility for getting the "CAF Effective User" Certificate as a proof of high standards achieved in the CAF implementation).  

KDZ experts reminded attendees of the purpose and values of Label "CAF Effective User" as the underlying reasoning for awarding the CAF user with this distinctive identification. They also went through the main stages of the PEF procedure that will be implemented by RQMC and mentored by KDZ experts.

The Programme Manager of ReSPA focused on practical issues related to the engagement of EFACs from the WB region in future PEF procedures that will be done by RQMC/ReSPA and presented the procedural documentation developed for the procedure as envisaged by PEF Guidelines. The PEF Guidelines consist of a set of documents regarding the overall PEF procedure, and they were translated into the local languages since the PEF procedure will be done in the language of the applicant country.

The EFACs participants shared the information about the potential interest in their countries in applying for the PEF procedure at RQMC/ReSPA and also emphasised the importance of providing information to the relevant EU bodies about the work done regarding not only PEF procedure but also about the achievements and lessons learned regarding CAFpromotion and institutionalisation across the WB public administration.

The meetings of a pool of EFACs in RQMC/ReSPA will be in future also used as the forum for exchanging lessons learned, knowledge transfer and for promotion of quality management as the inherent part of the service delivery.