Strasbourg, 18 September 2012                                                       CDLR-Bu(2012)24

                                                                                             Item 6 of the agenda

BUREAU OF THE

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY

(CDLR)

CDLR REPORT ON INITIATIVES TO STRENGTHEN GOOD GOVERNANCE, CAPACITY BUILDING AND CITIZENS’ DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION AT LOCAL LEVEL

Secretariat Memorandum

prepared by the

Directorate of Democratic Governance, Culture and Diversity

Democracy, Institution-Building and Governance Department


This document is public. It will not be distributed at the meeting. Please bring this copy.

Ce document est public. Il ne sera pas distribué en réunion. Prière de vous munir de cet exemplaire.


Introduction

As part of its terms of reference, the CDLR is expected to deliver a report on initiatives to strengthen good governance, capacity building and citizens’ democratic participation at local level.  With this report the CDLR is expected to provide guidance and technical expertise relating to the different practices of good governance, and to act as a technical forum to facilitate the development of such practices in the Member States.

The CDLR requested during its meeting of 2-3 April 2012 that a draft skeleton of the report on initiatives to strengthen good governance be prepared by the Secretariat. The paper that follows is submitted to the Bureau for comments and approval prior to being communicated to all CDLR members.

Action required

The Bureau is invited to comment and give instructions to the Secretariat on the attached preliminary paper on the preparation of the CDLR report on initiatives to strengthen good governance.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           


APPENDIX

CDLR report on initiatives to strengthen good governance, capacity building and citizens’ democratic participation at local level

The concept of good governance in the public sector

When exploring the literature on good governance in the public sector one may find different definitions of the concept of good governance. Summarizing the results, the concept of good governance in the public sector could be divided in two main interpretations:

§  Good governance interpreted as a concept for (new) public management with a strong focus on the  effectiveness and efficiency of management and control in and between the different levels of government[1],

§  Good governance interpreted as a concept for an interactive process of decision-making and policy implementing in cooperation with the relevant actors of civil society[2].

Having regard to the competences and the terms of reference of the CDLR, it is suggested that the report on initiatives to strengthen good governance should be based on the interpretation of good governance as a concept for interactive decision-making and policy implementation. This interpretation of the concept of good governance and the underlying goal to create what is described in literature as “polyarchal democracy”[3] matches the ambitions of the Council of Europe and the CDLR as described in the Warsaw Declaration: “… We are convinced that effective democracy and good governance at all levels are essential for preventing conflicts, promoting stability, facilitating economic and social progress, and hence for creating sustainable communities where people want to live and work, now and in the future. This can only be achieved through the active involvement of citizens and civil society…”.

Good governance and the Council of Europe

The European Charter of Local Self Government and its Additional Protocol, numerous recommendations of the Committee of Ministers and various reports and guidelines adopted by the CDLR provide sufficient background for a set of norms encapsulating the main features of good democratic governance at local level[4]. The Twelve Principles (Appendix 1) adopted by the Committee of Ministers upon endorsement by the European Ministers at their Valencia conference (2007) are the specific Council of Europe contribution to the definition at the European level of the principles of good governance which should inspire public policy at local level.


The implementation of the Twelve Principles is left to the initiative of each member state in particular but not exclusively through the acceptance of the Strategy for Innovation and Good Governance at Local Level. Some Council of Europe member states (Bulgaria, the Netherlands, and Norway) have accepted the Strategy while others (Belgium, France, Hungary, Malta, Spain, Ukraine…) are considering ways and means of doing so[5].

Yet experiences of good practice in innovation and good governance at local level exist even outside the framework of the Strategy and would deserve to be known and disseminated. Member states could draw inspiration from each other’s experience and action could be recommended or taken at the level of the Council of Europe, if appropriate. 

The report

The report should describe several best practices of good governance used in different member states. It could be of added value if the report also focussed on one or two main challenges for local and regional government regarding the concept of good governance, for example:

§  How to develop and to maintain a concept of good governance in an era of low democratic participation and a civil society that has partly lost trust in the (international) institutions?

§  How to develop a concept of good E-governance?

Additional or alternative topics could be identified though.

Having identified a number of good practices, the report should contain contact details of central, regional and local authorities (or institutions) willing to share their experience with other entities interested in improving their governance having regard to the experience and know-how developed by others.

Similarly, the Stakeholders’ Platform that oversees the implementation of the Council of Europe Strategy for Innovation and Good Governance could make use of the finding of the report with a view to supplementing and/or updating the existing benchmark used for assessing the implementation of the Twelve Principles by the municipalities competing for the  European Label ELoGE.

The modalities

The research could start with a desk research, since a variety of information on experience of good governance in Europe is already available. The second definition given above should be used as the benchmark for the research, to be conducted by a (small team of) consultant(s).

 


The information gathered should be systematised and cross-analysed in relation to (each of) the Twelve principles of good governance.

Based on this overview, member states with interesting measures to tackle the challenges of improved participation, trust in the institutions or good e-governance could be selected for an in-depth study to create a “data base” of the measures, experiences, efforts and effects.

This selection could be made in consultation with the Bureau or a small expert-group formed by a few CDLR members.

The report will describe how the measures were developed and which legal provisions (if any) were necessary to introduce the measures in the domestic framework.

The final report will be accompanied with a modest database preferably in EXCEL which can be used by member states for additional analyses and publications on the Council of Europe website.

Outcomes

Based on the systematisation of (their) domestic practices of good governance against the backdrop of the twelve principles, member states would be able to identify those policy areas where action (of legislative character or not) could prove necessary in order to fill the recorded gaps in matching specific Principles.

Member states would also have access to each other’s initiatives, measures and lessons learned to improve participation, regain trust in the institutions or introduce good e-governance.

Practical policy recommendations could be drafted by the CDLR and submitted for adoption by the Committee of Ministers.


Appendix 1

Twelve Principles of Good Democratic Governance at Local Level

  1. Fair Conduct of Elections, Representation and Participation

  1. Responsiveness

  1. Efficiency and Effectiveness

  1. Openness and Transparency

  1. Rule of Law

  1. Ethical Conduct

  1. Competence and Capacity

  1. Innovation and Openness to Change

  1. Sustainability and Long-term Orientation

  1.  Sound Financial Management

  1.  Human rights, Cultural Diversity and Social  Cohesion

  1.  Accountability



[1] Poluha, Eva; Rosendahl, Mona (2002). Contesting 'good' governance: cross-cultural perspectives on representation, accountability and public space.

"The IMF's Approach to Promoting Good Governance and Combating Corruption — A Guide". International Monetary Fund. 20 June 2005. http://www.imf.org/external/np/gov/guide/eng/index.htm.

[2] What is Good Governance?  UN: http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/governance/

[3]   Dahl, Robert (1999), On Democracy

[4]   The Tools produced by the Centre of expertise for Local Government Reform could also be mentioned in this connection.

[5]   In order to facilitate the implementation of thePrinciples the Secretariat is preparing a compilation of texts (CoE conventions, CM recommendations, Guidelines and Tools adopted by the Council of Europe and other international organisations) whose implementation would enable or facilitate compliance with individual principles.