Strasbourg, 25 March 2013 CDLR(2013)9
Item D.1 of the agenda
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY
(CDLR)
CENTRE OF EXPERTISE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM
AND COOPERATION PROGRAMMES
For information and guidance
Secretariat Memorandum
prepared by the
Directorate of Democratic Governance
Democratic Institutions and Governance Department
 |
Introduction
This document (see appendix) contains updated information on the Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform and its priorities for 2013.
An overall presentation of the Centre’s working methods and results in 2012 can be found in the annual activity report of the Centre, which will be submitted to the Advisory Board at its meeting on 29 April 2013. The report will subsequently be sent to the Committee of Ministers and to the CDLR.
Action required
The CDLR is invited to take note of the information contained in this document and, if necessary, to give any relevant instructions to Mrs Greta Billing, who will represent the CDLR at the Advisory Board meeting on 29 April.
APPENDIX
THE CENTRE OF EXPERTISE IN 2013 AND BEYOND
SHORT-TERM PROSPECTS
In 2013, it is expected that the level of activity will diminish slightly compared with 2012.
Despite very high demand for the expertise of the Centre, in particular for capacity building programmes, the reason for a possible decline is twofold. On the one hand, two positions paid from the Ordinary Budget of the Council of Europe were lost in 2012 (In June and September respectively) and the two current secondments benefitting the Centre will expire in 2013 (in June and December respectively). On the other hand, financial resources are also dwindling: the available Ordinary Budget resources have diminished by 35% and are expected to continue to fall; Voluntary Contributions become, in the current economic context, scarcer; last but not least, the European Commission is imposing more and more often service contracts to which the Council of Europe cannot apply.
Despite all these trends, the fall in activity level should be modest and the Centre should continue to deliver around 28-29 programmes in 17-18 countries (more if the current negotiations on extra-budgetary programmes are successful).
The ambitious capacity-building programme in Ukraine (funded by Denmark and Switzerland) will continue until April 2014. Legal assistance will continue after the end of the SIDA-funded programme on a smaller scale thanks to a fresh contribution from Switzerland. The new Joint Programme for Serbia has been preliminarily approved by the European Commission but its start is subject to the Serbian government adopting three different documents (two pieces of legislation and a strategy). It is currently expected that it would start in summer 2013. The extensive programme in Albania (funded by Switzerland and implemented in co-operation with the Congress) has started. The programme in Malta (funded directly by Norway) should begin shortly. An ambitious capacity-building programme has been prepared for Armenia and Denmark has expressed preliminary interest in funding it. The same is true for Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the programme could be funded by Norway. Preparatory work for specific cooperation programmes in Morocco and Tunisia is underway.
Negotiations for new Joint Programmes are held in (with) Montenegro, Moldova, Turkey and Russian Federation.
A regional programme to analyse and deal with the impact of the financial crisis should be implemented on a comparative basis in pilot local authorities in Greece, Portugal and Spain and should be based on the Local Finance Benchmarking tool (updated to include the findings of the recent report on the impact of the financial crisis on local authorities in Europe). Cyprus and Italy have also expressed interest in joining the programme but for the moment the budget is not sufficient. This programme should be funded through a mix of ordinary budget, Open Society funds and, hopefully, Norwegian funds. Its implementation, in co-operation with the Congress and CEMR, should start in late April or early May 2013.
In co-operation with the Congress and following requests from interested countries, the Centre has started preliminary work in Tunisia and Morocco. In 2013, this work should lead to:
- Preparation of a national report on the state of and prospects for local and regional democracy in Tunisia: starting from the concept of national Structure and operation reports adopted by the CDLR, such a document should add substantial chapters including the current and envisaged reforms, the work and support offered by the international community and recommendations and strategic guidelines for future work;
- In the light of the findings of the above-mentioned report, the preparation and submission to donors of a fully-fledged programme for Tunisia; such a programme should include policy advice, legal assistance and capacity building components.
Based on specific requests from the government of Morocco, a draft project has been prepared and it should be soon circulated to donors.
Legal assistance is more difficult to plan as it is very demand-driven and it is typically provided very shortly after the demand has been received. It is currently expected that, in 2013, such assistance should be provided to Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Romania and Ukraine. Substantial legal assistance components are included in several programmes which are in advanced stages of negotiation, but it will only be provided if the funding is secured in 2013: Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro,
The Centre will continue to provide support to the Strategy for Innovation and Good Governance at Local Level and will help with the organisation of the various peer reviews and seminars to be decided by the CDLR.
In 2013, the Centre of Expertise should host one lab on Good governance at local level to be included in the World Forum for Democracy (Strasbourg, November 2013).
The following list sums up the activities which should be implemented in 2013.
Country-specific programmes in 2013
Albania
Human resources management*
Inter-Municipal Co-operation*
Armenia
New programme prepared, funding expected
Belgium
Flanders: Conference and peer review on merging of municipalities
Bulgaria
Leadership Academy
Croatia
Inter-municipal co-operation
France
4 training sessions on performance management for INET
Georgia
New programme being prepared, funding not secured
Germany
Testing of ELoGE in several municipalities in Baden-Wurttemberg
Hungary
Best Practice programme
Leadership Academy programme
Italy
Performance management
Inter-municipal co-operation
Malta
National Training Strategy
Best Practice Programme
Performance Management
Leadership Academy
ELoGE (testing and preparing the national Platform)
Moldova
Best Practice Programme
Russian Federation
North-West Russia
Cross-border Co-operation Programme
Chechen Republic
Three new training activities
Serbia
Human Resources Management*
Switzerland
Best Practice Programme in the Ticino canton
Turkey
Leadership Academy Programme
Ukraine
Follow-up to the Public Ethics Benchmarking Programme*
Best Practice Programme*
Performance Management Programme*
Local Finance Benchmarking*
Leadership Academy Programme*
Strengthening of local government associations*
Support to the implementation of the Strategy and ELoGE
Regional
Local Finance Benchmarking in Greece, Spain and Portugal
Strasbourg – Training of Trainers on Leadership Academy Programme for NALAS.
Other
Kosovo[1]
Best Practice Programme*
Tunisia
Report on the state and prospects for local democracy
* Programmes implemented with financial support from the EC or from member States
Development and publication of tools in 2013
Because of a shortage of funding and the new communication policy of the Council of Europe, the Centre will refrain from publishing new toolkits in paper version. These will therefore only be published in electronic version. After the publication of the Toolkit on Human Resource Management in early 2013, two other toolkits have been finalised and are already published in electronic format. Their publication was delayed by the need to develop and include chapters on gender mainstreaming in each of them. The Toolkit on Inter-municipal co-operation, developed some time ago in co-operation with UNDP and OSI has also been published on the webpage of the Centre of Expertise.
Publication of the Toolkit on Leadership Development in Local Authorities (based on the tools developed for the Leadership Academy Programme)
Publication of the Toolkit on Cross-Border Co-operation (in co-operation with the Nordic Council)
Publication of the Toolkit on Inter-municipal co-operation developed with UNDP and LGI/OSI
The toolkits and methodologies on which they are based have raised considerable interest from departments inside the Council of Europe and external partners as well. Several other tools are being considered; if interest is confirmed, these tools could be based on benchmarking methodologies and combine the experience of the Centre of Expertise on such methods with that of colleagues on the substance:
- A tool on municipal policies on culture and heritage;
- A tool on municipal educational policies;
- A possible tool on municipal policies for integration of the Roma.
LONG-TERM PROSPECTS
The reform process of the Council of Europe is impacting significantly on the Centre of Expertise, which needs to find new and creative ways to maximise its footprint in a context of diminishing resources.
The decentralisation of a significant amount of the work towards the ten Council of Europe country offices is an important evolution. It is expected that this trend will continue as more and more of the actual operational work will be delegated to country offices while the Centre will continue to offer conception, fund raising, supervision and quality assurance. It is hoped that more of the financial management tasks, which take a substantial management time, will also be decentralised to field offices.
The Centre is also looking for partners who can be trained to work with the tools developed by the Centre and who can continue to ensure impact of the Centre's work without a direct and heavy involvement in the management by the Centre. In some countries, programmes (e.g. the Beacon Scheme in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Leadership Academy in Bulgaria…) launched by the Centre continue with no involvement from the Centre. In others, there is very limited input, generally in the form of expertise, while most of the costs are covered and management is performed by the local partners (e.g. programmes in Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, North-West Russia, Switzerland...). Yet in others (e.g. the four programmes to be implemented in Malta), national authorities will cover all costs, including costs with expertise, while the Centre will only provide (free of charge) management time for supervision and quality control.
An interesting example is offered by one of the most recent programmes developed by the Centre, the Leadership Academy Programme, which met with a success which went beyond initial expectations. In fact, the success was such that the original leadership programme, based on the more demanding and time-consuming methods of benchmarking and peer reviewing, was practically abandoned. Before even the publication of the toolkit, the programme was already implemented on a sustainable basis, with local authorities covering most of the costs, in Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Turkey, and Ukraine. It was also implemented in North-West Russia and Montenegro and its implementation will start shortly in Malta. In 2012 and 2013, the National Association of Municipalities of the Republic of Bulgaria (NAMRB) offers this programme, with very limited input from the Centre of Expertise, to sister associations in "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" and Greece.
Moreover, as mentioned in the first part of the document, several partners asked the Centre for the authorisation to use this programme in their future training offer: the Management Centre of Innsbruck, the Local Authorities’ Training Centre in the Ticino Canton (Switzerland) and NALAS. A training of trainers was organised in Bellinzona (Ticino) for the Swiss and Austrian partners (but also for some trainers from Ukraine and Malta), and another one should be organised in 2013 in Strasbourg for NALAS. Following these trainings, the above-mentioned partners should be able to receive the authorisation to make use of the Leadership Academy toolkit in their work while the Centre should gain access to new experts who can be used in its programmes and new partners who will be implementing its programmes.
Such business model, whereas the Centre trains and authorises partners to do the work in its stead could be extended to other programmes which met with significant success, such as the Best Practice Programme, the Public Ethics Benchmarking Programme, the Human Resource Management Programme etc.
Relations with the Schools of Political Studies could be improved. In some counties (i.e. Ukraine), the co-operation is very good; several alumni of the Ukrainian School are used as local experts and the School co-operates with the local team and is interested in taking over some of the programmes of the Centre. In other cases however, an improvement of such co-operation can be explored.
Another interesting development could be the launching of European or regional, and not only national, programmes. In 2012, the Best Practice for Coastal Towns programme was the first of this kind and met with significant interest, despite the very limited timeframe available and very reduced promotional efforts. Such programmes could be launched with the help of the Congress (like the programme on Best Practice for Coastal Towns) and regional partners, such as NALAS. A SEE regional Best Practice Programme was discussed, but funding has not yet been identified. The regional programme for benchmarking local finance in Greece, Portugal and Spain (in co-operation with the Congress and CEMR) should be launched shortly, while a similar regional programme for South-East Europe is being discussed. A regional programme for Eastern Partnership Countries (including Leadership Academy, Inter-municipal Co-operation and Human Resource Management) has been fully prepared and has a fair chance of obtaining funding and of starting in early 2014.
The (limited) contacts the Centre had with two South Mediterranean countries show that there is demand for support, in particular in respect of capacity-building programmes in the region. Moroccan and Tunisian training institutions and authorities have expressed high consideration and interest in Toolkits I and IV (unfortunately, for financial reasons, only these 2 of the current 8 toolkits have been translated into French) and Moroccan authorities have already formulated very specific needs for assistance.
The co-operation with the Congress is very important for the Centre and should continually be enhanced. After the successful co-operation in Albania and Ukraine and in the above-mentioned European Best Practice programme, the Centre and the Congress are co-operating on the planning of programmes for Morocco and Tunisia. Common programmes have been prepared for Armenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Regular meetings between the Secretariat of the Congress and the Centre have resumed which will undoubtedly bring new and strengthened co-operation.