Strasbourg, 2 September 2009 CDLR(2009)39
Item 6.7 of the agenda
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY
(CDLR)
DRAFT REPORT ON THE
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
This document (see Appendix) contains the draft report on the Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform. Having been established in 2006 following the recommendation of the Ministerial Conference (Budapest, 2005), it is appropriate that a report on the functioning and achievements of the Centre is brought to the attention of the ministers themselves, particularly now that the Committee of Ministers has agreed to continue its operations beyond the initial three-year period.
Action
The CDLR is invited to review and approve this document, and agree to submit it to the 16th session of the Ministerial Conference.
Appendix
Draft report on the
Council of Europe’s Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform
Introduction
The Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform is a flexible, action-oriented unit whose mandate is to help reinforce the capacity of local authorities throughout Europe. It does so through effective, innovative and impact-oriented programmes.
The Centre was established in response to a recommendation by the 14th session of the Conference of European Ministers responsible for Local and Regional Government (Budapest, 2005), endorsed by the Council Europe’s heads of state and government at the Warsaw Summit of May 2005.
Through their initiative, the European ministers wished to reinforce the role of the Council of Europe in support of local and regional democracy by the provision of training facilities, the dissemination of best-practice and the establishment of tools that local authorities – and their associations – could use in order to strengthen their capacities.
The Centre (comprising three dedicated staff and a secondee from a member state and an operational budget of approximately 170,000€ per year) started being operational in 2006.
An Advisory Board was created to orient its activity. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR) and their respective secretariats are represented on the Board. In this way, the interests and concerns of both central governments (through the CDLR) and local and regional authorities (through the Congress) are raised and taken into account when drawing up the Centre’s programmes and implementing its activities.
I. Operation and programmes of the Centre
When it started in 2006, the Centre took advantage of the capacity-building work that already had a (short) history of its own. Since 2002, several activities in support of local authorities’ capacities had been implemented especially in Central and Eastern European countries. This had enabled the Council of Europe to gradually establish itself as a reliable and qualified actor in the field of innovation and improving the quality of local governance.
Thus, in 2006, the Centre’s first task was to consolidate its know-how capital and develop its links with similar institutions and agencies at European level and in member states. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the German technical assistance agency (GTZ), the Norwegian association of local authorities (KS), the agency for international co-operation of the association of Dutch municipalities (VNG International), the French Centre for territorial studies (INET) are among of its partners[1].
The second task is to provide training opportunities to local authorities across Europe. Although its operations were primarily directed to the countries with the most urgent needs – Central and Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus – the Centre’s mission is to assist local authorities across Europe.
Its activities include the provision of assistance and advice towards the establishment of “national training strategies” for local authorities’ staff in member states, the reinforcement of the capacities of the associations of local authorities and the strengthening of the capacities of individual local authorities through dedicated programmes. These programmes address such issues as: leadership, financial management, human resources, public ethics, etc. In 2009, 23 programmes are being implemented in 13 countries.
The third task is, on the basis of field experience and in relation with other partners, to develop and constantly update practical tools (handbooks including various assessment tools such as benchmarks and self-assessment forms, practical methodologies such as peer reviews, benchmarking, learning from the others and 360° reviews, recollections of case law and practical examples, etc) that can be disseminated and used by relay-institutions to replicate the same programmes. To date, three “toolkits” have been published in English, one of which is also available in French and Russian.
The Centre operates at the request of member states’ governments (the ministries in charge of local and regional government) or of the associations of local authorities, and a liaison between the two is always sought. The programmes are implemented in the municipalities and authorities that volunteer to do so and participate actively, including financially. The Centre does not provide funds but know-how and operates on the basis of mutual trust and motivation.
Several member and non member states have contributed financially to the Centre’s operations. Its activities in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Serbia, Moldova, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, inter alia, have been made possible by funding from France, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, the United States of America (USAID) and Japan.
The European Commission has also co-funded with the Council of Europe several “joint programmes” aimed at strengthening local authorities’ capacities in Serbia, Montenegro and the “former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”.
II. Current issues
Following the initial three-year period, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe confirmed the existence and activities of the Centre. It remains however a fragile creature whose main features are still in need of further consolidation. Its staff of only three severely limits its capacity to be at the same time at the cutting edge of innovation and change, operational in member states, and actively searching for outside support. Its budget enables it to keep a regular but still modest level of activities in comparison with that of other institutions active in the field of training and capacity-building. But a small budget and limited staff combined put a brake on the capacity of the centre to respond to the growing demand from both Western and Eastern European countries.
This demand nowadays focuses on the need to strengthen the capacities of local authorities not only to perform professionally the tasks and missions that domestic legislation entrusts to them, but also to deliver “good democratic governance” at local level. The Centre has been instrumental, through its programmes and acquired know-how, in developing the concept of the Strategy for Innovation and Good Governance that the European Ministers responsible for local and regional government endorsed at the 15th session of their conference, in 2007 in Valencia.
The Centre currently works on the elaboration of the main tools for the implementation of the Strategy and the assessment of the performance of municipalities that could qualify for the European Label of Good democratic Governance. The Centre will also be in charge of producing new and effective tools pertaining to the 12 principles of good democratic governance at local level which can be offered to local authorities seeking to improve themselves during the implementation of the Strategy.
III. Assessment and prospects
The Centre has undoubtedly met the expectations underpinning its establishment. Its potential has still to be fully tapped, provided some additional resources are put at its disposal. Member states could do so in several ways: they could finance (or take care of) the translation and dissemination of the toolkits, support in-country programmes through a voluntary contribution to the Council of Europe, fund in the countries of their choice (for instance, in the framework of national programmes for international development) programmes that use the Centre’s expertise and tools without transferring any resources to the Council of Europe. Other possibilities can be explored.
Since 2006, the Centre has gradually evolved from a “technical assistance” unit into a (still) small and flexible body that contributes to the outreach of the Council of Europe in all its aspects related to local and regional democracy: it helps member states to make full use of the Council of Europe’s acquis, it contributes to the strengthening of the capacities of local authorities, it supports the Strategy that in turn brings the values of the Council of Europe close to the citizens, through the improvement of the quality of governance at local level.
Developing this potential is the challenge of the years to come, exploiting to the full the synergy with the Strategy.
[1] More details on the Centre and its activities can be found in the annual reports (CLGR(2007)1rev, 2008)1 and (2009)1.