Public Outreach and Lobbying Plan for the Activities Pertaining to Components 1-3 for Year 2020

The project aims to raise public awareness of current affairs in the energy sector and their legislative background, which remains relatively low in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The EPA Communication strategy will be focused on raising awareness after identifying key project activities that should be communicated to both the expert and general public. This effort will entail assessment of the most important gaps in communicating the importance and benefits of the reforms in the energy sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Public Outreach and Lobbying Plan has been developed in line with the USAID EPA Work Plan and will follow key project activities in all components. The plan identifies the key EPA activities in each component that have the most potential for public outreach and communication throughout the term of the project (January 2020 – September 2024). Component 1 of the project focuses on Natural Gas Technical Assistance. BiH needs to adopt laws and regulations that provide for market opening, customer protection, and transparent pricing. USAID assists BiH stakeholders to reform and restructure the internal natural gas sector in accordance with the Energy Community Treaty obligations and best international practices. Key actions and activities for successful public outreach for Component 1 include conducting an analysis of the current situation, identifying objectives, defining roles and responsibilities, developing content and key messages, selecting communication tools, writing articles, news, and press releases for media outlets and social media, and developing media content (animations, infographics, videos, and the like). The key activities of Component 1 that should be used to communicate key messages to target audiences include lobbying relevant decision-making bodies in BiH to adopt the state and entity laws on natural gas, developing an infographic to present key findings of the annual report on possible transmission pipelines, drafting legislative and regulatory amendments to ensure that the BiH natural gas infrastructure permitting regime is consistent, transparent, and investor-friendly, and developing guidelines on meeting the preconditions to join the regional natural gas market and obtaining access to natural gas storage facilities. The target groups for Component 1 include authorities at all government levels, NGOs and expert associations, the international community, and the general public. The period of implementation for these activities is from November 2019 to April 2021. Component 2 of the project focuses on Electricity Technical Assistance. USAID assists BiH stakeholders to reform and restructure the internal electricity sector in accordance with the Energy Community Treaty obligations and best international practices. The key activities of Component 2 that should be used to communicate key messages to target audiences include developing an infographic to present key findings of the annual report on possible transmission pipelines, drafting legislative and regulatory amendments to ensure that the BiH electricity infrastructure permitting regime is consistent, transparent, and investor-friendly, and developing guidelines on meeting the preconditions to join the regional electricity market and obtaining access to electricity storage facilities. The target groups for Component 2 include authorities at all government levels, NGOs and expert associations, the international community, and the general public. The period of implementation for these activities is from January 2020 to September 2024. Component 3 of the project focuses on Cross-cutting Assistance on EU Accession Requirements in the BiH Energy Sector. USAID assists BiH stakeholders to reform and restructure the internal energy sector in accordance with the EU accession requirements and best international practices. The key activities of Component 3 that should be used to communicate key messages to target audiences include developing an infographic to present key findings of the annual report on possible transmission pipelines, drafting legislative and regulatory amendments to ensure that the BiH energy infrastructure permitting regime is consistent, transparent, and investor-friendly, and developing guidelines on meeting the preconditions to join the regional energy market and obtaining access to energy storage facilities. The Public Outreach and Lobbying Plan will be implemented by Advanced Engineering Associates International, Inc. (AEAI) and will be supported by the USAID Energy Policy Activity. The plan will be developed in line with the USAID EPA Work Plan and will follow key project activities in all components. The plan will identify the key EPA activities in each component that have the most potential for public outreach and communication throughout the term of the project (January 2020 – September 2024).