Strasbourg, 9 April 2009 CDLR(2009)17
Item 9.3 of the agenda
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY
(CDLR)
CENTRE OF EXPERTISE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM
Secretariat Memorandum
prepared by the Directorate General of
Democracy and Political Affairs
Directorate of Democratic Institutions
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Introduction
Created at the beginning of 2006 following the decision of the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government and confirmed in May 2008 by decision of the Committee of Ministers, the Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform aims at building capacity in local authorities throughout Europe by the use of effective, innovative and impact-oriented programmes.
This document contains a brief overview of the activities conducted in 2008 and planned for 2009.
Action required
The CDLR is invited to take note.
Appendix
The Centre of Expertise
Like in 2007, in 2008 the Centre strived to rise to the three challenges identified by its Advisory Board at its first meeting: maximise the level of its activity within the limits imposed by budgetary constraints, continue develop new tools and partnerships and develop towards Western and Nordic countries.
In 2008, the level of its activity reached a peak.
A new Toolkit including a tool on Benchmarking local finance (developed and road-tested in co-operation with the Open Society Institute) and another one on Benchmarking Public Ethics were finalised but, for budgetary reasons, will only be published in 2009. New tools on Performance Management and Municipal Planning are in an advanced phase of preparation and a new toolkit including these tools should be finalised and published in the second half of 2009.
In 2008, the Centre of Expertise implemented 26 programmes in 13 countries. It started to work for the first time in Chechnya (a series of four preparatory activities which should lead in 2009 to a fully-fledged programme), Hungary (two programmes) and Malta (one programme).
Specific co-operation agreements were signed in 2008 with the French INET and the Saint Petersburg Academy for Public Administration. A Memorandum of Understanding which includes possible co-operation on capacity building at local level was negotiated with the UNDP – Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS and should become operational in 2009. The Centre has also received a request for establishing formal co-operation from the Moscow City Government. The Centre has brought international input into the French OPPALE and has strengthened its co-operation with NALAS, which should lead in 2009 to a fully-fledged regional programme.
The Centre also assisted in the implementation of the Strategy, in particular as regards supporting the countries which have joined it, promoting the Strategy among European countries and local authorities, ensuring the secretariat of the Stakeholders’ Platform and defining the main criteria for granting the Good Governance Quality Label.
2009 will to be a challenging year. The Centre is expected to consolidate its capacity to provide effective and qualified assistance to member states and their local authorities. Country-specific programmes need to be pursued in response to rising demand. At the same time, new tools need also to be devised in order for the Centre to remain at the forefront of the expertise available. For this to happen, it must develop and further deepen its partnerships and networking, benefiting from the existing know-how and contributing to its development.
More and more interest and requests for support are received by the Centre of Expertise. However, as the Centre depends heavily on external sources of funding, prospects concerning the activity level are not all that optimistic.
On the one hand, the application rules for EC funding have evolved and more often than not the Centre of Expertise is no longer eligible to direct funding or even as applicant in the procurement processes. On the other, the current financial crisis and the necessary shift in both national and EU priorities that it may entail means that there is a high probability that the capacity of the Centre to raise funds both from joint projects with the EC and from voluntary contributions by member states might be affected.
The following tables present overviews of the activity in 2008 and of the prospects for 2009.
I. General overview of activities implemented in 2008
Development of tools
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Finalisation of Toolkit III including the following tools (based entirely on the work of the CDLR): - Public Ethics Benchmarking - Financial Management Benchmarking, developped jointly with OSI Further development of the Performance Management tool, which should be finalised and published in 2009 Development of a new Public Ethics and Transparency tool (successfully tested in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” Development of a new Leadership Academy concept programme, after consultation with a substantial number of national and international stakeholders which is being tested in co-operation with |
Country-specific programmes
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Albania - Leadership Programme Armenia - Updating the Training Needs Assesment Bosnia and Herzegovina - 3rd Round of the Beacon Scheme/Best Practice Programme Bulgaria - Follow-up to the Performance Management Programme Georgia - Municipal Councillors Training Programme - Strategic Municipal Planning - Assistance to Municipal Emergency Planning Hungary - Leadership Benchmarking Programme - Best Practice Programme Malta - Local Government Association strengthening programme Moldova - Best Practice Programme: 3rd Round - Public Ethics Benchmark – second part Montenegro - Preparation of a National Training Strategy for local government - National Programme for Fighting Corruption at Local Level - Leadership Benchmark Programme - Best Practice Programme |
Romania - Public Ethics Benchmark Russian Federation - Leadership Academy Programme in NW Russia (Chechnya) - Preparatory activities: Workshop on Leadership Benchmark, in-house training,, workshop on Citizen Participation and study visit to Austria for Chechen Administrators . Serbia - Continuation of the Leadership Programme - Best Practice Programme - Implementation of a new Performance Management Programme involving Serbian, French and German Municipalities “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” - Leadership Benchmarking Programme - Public Ethics Programme “Transparent Municipality” - Best Practice Programme Ukraine - Public Ethics Benchmark |
Partnerships and communication
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- International Conference “Towards sustainable training systems and effective capacity-development programmes” organised in September in Strasbourg by the Centre of Expertise in close co-operation with UNDP. The Conference was attended by senior officials from the Committee of Regions of the EU, UN-HABITAT, OSI-LGI, OSCE, ENTO, NALAS, national local government associations, local elected representatives, and representatives of relevant ministries in several countries from Europe. - European Workshop on Effective Local Leadership organised in April in Strasbourg with support from the Academy of Sustainable Communities in the UK. The workshop was attended by senior local government officials and elected representatives from Bulgaria, Hungary, Malta, Russia, as well as from international partner organisations (OSI-LGI, UN-HABITAT, etc). - Co-operation with the OSCE in the framework of the Albania Leadership Programme and the 2nd and 3rd Rounds of BiH Beacon Scheme/Best Practice Programme - Support from the OSCE in the implementation of the capacity-building programmes and support from the Centre to the development of model codes of conduct in Montenegro - Bilateral meeting with UNDP and preparation of a draft MoU - Trilateral co-operation project between the CoE, UNDP and OSI on intermunicipal co-operation - Co-operation with NALAS continued – support of the Centre to the organisation of a meeting on National Training Strategies, participation of the Centre in the meetings of the NALAS Task Force on capacity-building. The Peer Review Programme for local government associations in SEE was discussed and agreed by the governing board of NALAS, but postponed for lack of funding. - Co-operation established with SNV ((Dutch development organisation), on the National Training Strategy (NTS) in Montenegro and on the Toolkit “Towards a Modern LGA” in Albania, Montenegro and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” - Co-operation with VNG International (co-operation branch of the Dutch LGA) – co-ordination meeting in July. Joint evaluation meeting in Montenegro. A co-operation agreement between the Centre and VNG International has been drafted. - Joint funding application prepared for a capacity-building programme in Moldova and are under preparation in Croatia, Montenegro and Turkey. - Co-operation with the French National Institute for Local Government Studies (INET) and the French Association of Finance-Management-Evaluation of local authorities (Afigese) in the framework of the Centre’s membership of the French Observatory of Local Authorities’ Performance (OPPALE) - Co-operation with the French Centre National de la Fonction Publique Territoriale (CNFPT) France Coopération Internationale (FCI) : joint organisation of a Forum for training in local government in the Balkans (July, Sofia); bilateral meetings; joint development of a Toolkit on Human Resources Management has been launched; a co-operation agreement is being discussed - Co-operation initiated with the Committee of Regions: information on the activities of the Centre, participation of the CoR in the Conference on sustainable training systems co-organised CoE-UNDP in Strasbourg - Contacts with the University of Pau, as well as the Cities of Pau, Tarbes and Lille in France with a view to develop in 2009 new co-operation projects - Organisation of a Workshop on “European Approaches to Performance Management at local level” in the framework of the 8th Edition of the “Entretiens Territoriaux de Strasbourg (ETS)” , organised by the French National Institute for Local Government Studies (INET) and the French National Centre of Local Public Service (CNFPT)
- Participation to a fact finding mission in Belgrade with representative of the Union of German Cities in Cologne (Germany), in order to prepare the likely participation of German municipalities to a joint Performance Management Project, to be implemented in 2009, with French and Serbian municipalities. - Co-operation with the USAID Local Government Activity and OSCE in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” on the Best Practice Programme. |
II. General overview of activities to be implemented in 2009
These tables present an overview of the activity envisaged for 2009. However, not all these programmes are fully funded. For some, negotiations are still being held but are very advanced and there is reasonable hope that they will be funded and implemented; these programmes are marked “t.b.c.” (to be confirmed). Implementation of programmes marked “p.m.” (pro memoria) depends on funding discussions which are only in an initial phase.
Development of tools
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- Preparation of a new tool on municipal planning - Finalisation and publication of a new Toolkit, including tools on Performance Management, Municipal Planning and possibly the CLEAR tool. - In co-operation with CNFPT, prepare a first version of a new Toolkit on Human Resources Management - In co-operation with the Assistance Programmes, OSI and UNDP, preparation of a new Toolkit on Inter-municipal Co-operation. |
Country-specific programmes
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Albania - 2nd Round of the Leadership Benchmarking Programme Armenia - Up-date of Training Needs Assesment Azerbaijan (p.m.) - Strengthening the capacity of local government associations Bosnia and Herzegovina (t.b.c.) - Performance management Programme - Citizens’ participation programme - Public ethics programme Bulgaria - Follow-up to the Performance Management Programme Georgia - Strategic Municipal planning Programme - Assistance to Municipal Emergency Planning Hungary - Best Practice programme - Leadership Development Programme Malta - Toolkit “Towards a Modern Local Government Association” Moldova - Best Practice Programme: 4th Round - Programme for strengthening local government associations (t.b.c.) Montenegro - Practical support in the implementation of anti-corruption plans, and of the municipal codes of conduct - Transparent Municipality Programme - Follow-up to the National Training Strategy |
Romania - Extension of the Public Ethics Benchmark (p.m.) Russian Federation - Leadership Academy Programme - Performance Management Programme (p.m) Chechnya - Five preparatory activities: workshop to democracy and best practice, seminar on municipal elections, study visit in a European country, workshop on the legal framework, workshop on strategic development - Regional Best Practice Programme (t.b.c.) Serbia - 2nd Round of Performance Management Programme - Programme of Human Resources Management at Municipal Level “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” - Leadership Benchmarking Programme - Public Ethics Programme “Transparent Municipality” - Best Practice Programme - Local Government Association Strengthening Programme (p.m.) - Performance Management Programme Ukraine - Follow-up to the Public Ethics Benchmarking Programme (p.m.) |
Partnerships and communication
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- Technical expertise provided to the Council of Europe Strategy for Innovation and Good Governance - Memorandum of understanding with the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe - Programme on public ethics in Montenegro to be implemented jointly with OSCE - Co-operation with the Division for Democratic Stability, UNDP and OSI on the development of a Toolkit on Inter-municipal co-operation. - New Memorandum of Understanding with the Norwegian Local Government Association (KS) concerning the implementation of the 2nd Round of Strategic Municipal Planning programme in Georgia - Joint Publication with NALAS: “Best Practice in Local Government” - Co-operation with NALAS: Peer Review programme for local government associations in South-Eastern Europe - Participation in the French Observatory for Public Performance in Local Government (OPPALE) - Ongoing co-operation with the French National Institute for Local Government Studies (INET) following the co-operation agreement signed in 2008 - Co-operation with the University of Pau in the field of Performance Management at local level - New participation in the 2009 Edition of the “Entretiens Territoriaux de Strasbourg (ETS)”, organised by the French National Institute for Local Government Studies (INET) and the French National Centre of Local Public Service (CNFPT) - tbc - Co-operation with CNFPT and Europa on the preparation of a Toolkit on Human Resources Management - Joint application with VNG International for external funding in Moldova and possibly in other countries - Memorandum of Understanding with the Moscow City Government |