Strasbourg, 12 April 2017 CELGR(2017)1
Item 6.1 of the agenda
CENTRE OF EXPERTISE FOR LOCALGOVERNMENT REFORM
Annual Activity Report 2016
Annual Activity Report 2016
For information
Secretariat Memorandum
prepared by the
Directorate General of Democracy
Democratic Institutions and Governance Department
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1. Introduction
Established in 2006 following a decision of the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe (Warsaw, 2005), the Centre of Expertise was created to deliver good local and regional governance promoting European standards and best practice. Its capacity building programmes and legal assistance activities are increasingly aimed not only at local but also at regional and central authorities.
The Centre’s aim is to promote the 12 Principles of Good Democratic Governance through implementation of benchmarks, evaluation instruments and innovative methodologies (“tools”), inspired by the guidelines and recommendations of the Council of Europe’s intergovernmental Committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG). The practical and impact-oriented “country-specific projects”, often initiated at the request of member states, are implemented in cooperation with local, national and international stakeholders and aim at improving the legislation, and strengthening the institutional capacity of local, regional and central authorities.
The Secretariat of the Centre is in the Good Governance Division of the Directorate of Democratic Governance - Directorate General of Democracy. It consists of a small team of staff and relies on a network of qualified national and international experts and institutions and the senior officials of the CDDG to provide policy and legal advice, capacity-building, training, and access to state-of-the art expertise in the form of toolkits.
Since its creation it has been working in close cooperation with the Council of Europe’s intergovernmental sector (formerly the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR) and since 2014 the European Committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG)), the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (the Congress), and other relevant units across the Council of Europe.
The management of the Centre is overseen by a four-member Advisory Board – the Director of Democratic Governance, the Secretary General of the Congress, one member appointed by the CDDG and another one by the Congress – which serves as a platform for regular consultation between the Secretariat, the CDDG and the Congress on:
a) the development and implementation of the Centre’s strategic priorities and plans;
b) the lessons to be drawn from the evaluation of its achievements;
c) the opportunities for cooperation both within the CoE and with external partners.
At its own initiative, ten years after it was established, an evaluation of the Centre was conducted under the aegis of Directorate of Internal Oversight in the second part of 2016. The evaluators looked into both the substance of the Centre’s work and into the way it co-operates with other Council of Europe entities. The evaluation report concluded that the expertise of the Centre is highly regarded and it enjoys high levels of legitimacy because it crystallises the experience of all member states. It has operated principally in response to demands of member states and these demands have evolved with the trends in governance policies. The evolution of the Centre’s mission has mirrored this trend to provide technical assistance for multi-level governance at all levels of government. The Report concluded that « the Centre has efficiently developed itself as an emerging institution, securing sufficient recognition».
2. Overview of Main Activities in 2016
In 2016, the Centre organised activities in at least 25 member states. The most important projects were funded by external donors through voluntary contributions and were implemented in Albania (funded by Switzerland), Armenia (funded by Denmark), Greece (funded by the EU), Malta (funded by EEA Norway Grants), Serbia (funded by the EU), Ukraine (funded by member States in the framework of the Action Plan), and in the Eastern Partnership countries (funded by the EU). In addition, several small but high-impact projects were implemented through the ordinary budget in other countries such as Croatia, Cyprus, Italy, Lithuania, and Poland.
The Project “Strengthening Local Government Structures and Cooperation between Local Elected Representatives in Albania – Phase II (2012 – 2016) supported the creation of standards and indicators on modern human resources practices, implementation of the Civil Servants Law and the establishment of e-PAV, an electronic platform for public administration. Project activities also contributed to the establishment of the Consultative Council as platform of dialogue between local elected representatives and central authorities.
The “Support to consolidating local democracy in Armenia” project was funded by Denmark and ended in December 2016. The Centre of Expertise implemented components based on its Human Resource Management, Public Ethics Benchmarking and Best Practice Programme tools. Expertise and assistance were provided on community consolidation, inter-community unions, financial equalisation, and local referendums.
The new EU-CoE Joint Project “Technical Assistance on Institutional Enhancement for Local Governance in Greece” was launched in August 2016 and will continue until 15 February 2018. This is the first project of this kind implemented by the Centre of Expertise and CoE in general in Greece. It is focused on the provision of legal advice and capacity-building activities in such areas as distribution of powers, metropolitan governance, training needs analysis, best practice, inter-municipal cooperation, public ethics, and local finance.
The capacity-building programme in Malta was funded through EEA Norway Grants and completed in 2016; it focused on performance management, training needs analysis, leadership training and included the pilot benchmarking of the European Label of Governance Excellence (ELoGE).
An ambitious and very practical Human Resources Management Programme (HRM) for local authorities in Serbia was signed by the Council of Europe and the European Commission in December 2015 and launched from May 2016. The programme includes also a Training Needs Analysis (TNA), and development of the relevant policy recommendations.
The project “Decentralisation and Territorial Consolidation in Ukraine” supports the revision of the legislative framework in line with European standards, and strengthening of the public administration’s capacity to deliver reforms. Important activities included policy and legal advice on several draft laws, a peer review on decentralisation, and a study visit of MPs to France. Practical capacity-building activities were organised for the local authorities of amalgamated communities – in the areas of human resource management, performance management, and leadership. The Centre is also helping to prepare a National Training Strategy, and to establish a mechanism of certification of trainers and trainings. In addition, to help establish a sustainable local governance system in Ukraine, the CoE Secretary General appointed the former Head of the Centre of Expertise as Special Adviser to the Government of Ukraine on Decentralisation.
A three-year Partnership Cooperation Framework (PCF) between the EU and the Council of Europe started in January 2015 and will run until the end of 2017. Its beneficiaries are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus. The Centre of Expertise supports the on-going process of reform of local government in participating countries, including improvement of the financial management of local administrations through benchmarking, and capacity-building to help local authorities create inter-municipal cooperation arrangements.
At the same time, over a dozen of smaller projects and activities were funded by the Ordinary Budget of the Centre of Expertise or in cooperation with local stakeholders all over Europe:
In Austria, in cooperation with the Austrian Association of Cities and Towns and the Centre for Public Administration Research (KDZ), the Centre of Expertise presented ELoGE at several conferences. Furthermore, the Centre formalised cooperation with KDZ through its commitment within the Danube Governance Hub.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the LAP was presented to newly elected mayors, in cooperation with the Associations of Cities and Municipalities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska. The Centre also organised a first exchange of information about a possible support to the improvement of the Human Resource Management at all levels.
In Bulgaria, where ELoGE has been implemented regularly, an international conference on Good Governance was organised in cooperation with the CDDG on 30th March in the framework of the activities of the Bulgarian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. The first edition of the Best Practice Programme was also launched.
The first stage of the Leadership Academy Programme (LAP) was organised for mayors in Lithuania in cooperation with Dainava training centre.
An activity based on the Training Needs Analysis (TNA) Toolkit was organised in Poland, in cooperation with the Polish Foundation for Local Democracy.
Best Practice Programmes (BPP) continued in Hungary, Romania, and Moldova, and started in Bulgaria, with the support from the Centre.
For the first time, at the request of local authorities from Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, a special programme on Leadership Academy for Cross-Border Cooperation was launched to help several neighbouring municipalities from three countries build comprehensive and sustainable cross-border cooperation.
Finally, a special Summer School on “Trust-building and Leadership” was organised in cooperation with the European Network of Training Organisations for Local and Regional Authorities (ENTO) and the Institute of International Sociology (ISIG) in Gorizia, Italy. The Summer School was an opportunity for the Centre’s staff to improve their knowledge and competencies, and to learn about the new and updated tools of the Centre directly from the experts.
Appendix I contains more detailed information on the activities implemented in 2016 in each country. Appendix II provides a list of toolkits developed and applied by the Centre of Expertise.
3. Relations with Partners
Cooperation with the European Union and its institutions
The European Commission is an important partner of the CoE. It currently co-finances some of the biggest programmes implemented by the Centre of Expertise, such as the PCF for the EaP countries, Serbia, and Greece.
Within the EU Danube Strategy(), the Centre initiated coordination with the Priority Area 10 “Building Institutional Capacity and Cooperation”, in particular with the Urban Platform, the Capacity Building Platform and the Danube Local Actors Platform to promote good governance and other CoE tools.
Cooperation with the OSCE
The Council of Europe and OSCE have a framework agreement of cooperation on local and regional democracy. Regular contacts have been maintained with the Vienna and Warsaw offices, as well as field offices in the Balkans and Ukraine. The OSCE is closely associated to the implementation of legal assistance and capacity building programmes implemented by the Centre of Expertise in Albania, Serbia, and Ukraine.
Cooperation with the UN and UNDP
The Council of Europe and UNDP have a Memorandum of Understanding for co-operating in the field of local democracy. UNDP country missions are regularly involved in the implementation of the Centre’s sizeable programmes, in particular in Albania, Armenia and Ukraine.
In February 2016, the Centre participated in and contributed to the work of the Expert group on “Moving from commitments to results in building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels” at the UN Headquarters in New York, organised by the Division for Public Administration and Development Management, Department of Economic and Social Affairs). In 2017, the Centre is invited as an observer to the session of the Committee of Experts on Public Administration.
Cooperation with the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR)
CEMR has been a long-standing partner and a good platform for sharing of experience and expertise, as well as for promotion of the Centre’s tools: for example, it helped in rallying the support of its members to piloting the Local Finance Benchmarking and was a partner of the Centre in testing it in Portugal, Spain and Greece. The Centre of Expertise participates regularly in the CEMR Congress; the last one was held in Nicosia in April 2016. The Deputy Head of the Centre participated in the session on decentralisation reforms and contributed to the debate and the book on a vision of local and regional governments for Europe in 2030.
Cooperation with the European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA)
ALDA is an international non-governmental organisation dedicated to the promotion of good governance and citizen participation at the local level. ALDA in particular focuses on activities that facilitate cooperation between local authorities and civil society; it is the umbrella organisation of the Local Democracy Agencies which are self-sustainable, locally registered Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) that act as promoters of good governance and local self-government. In 2016, the Deputy Head of the Centre of Expertise was appointed to represent the Secretary General of the CoE in the Governing Board of ALDA. The Centre also agreed to act as an Associate in some of the EU-funded projects implemented by ALDA.
Cooperation with the European Association of Local Chief Executives (U.Di.T.E.)
U.Di.T.E. is a federation of professional associations which today represents local government in 14 European countries: Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and United Kingdom. The Centre was invited to its meetings in Malaga and Elvas in order to discuss cooperation in the area of good governance. It was agreed that the Centre will support the implementation of a pilot project which will aim at benchmarking ELoGE in 12 municipalities – two from each of the 6 countries represented in the Governing Board: Belgium, France, Ireland, Malta, Portugal, and Spain. The benchmarking will start from a special workshop providing training and information to the participants in 2017.
Cooperation with the European Network of Training Organisations for Local and Regional Authorities (ENTO)
The Centre organises training activities with ENTO in order to train experts in the use and implementation of the capacity-building tools on leadership, ethics, HRM and good governance. In 2016, a joint Summer School on Trust and Leadership was held in Gorizia, Italy.
Cooperation with National Partners
All country-specific capacity-building activities are implemented in close cooperation with national partners. Most often, such partners are associations of local authorities and ministries in charge of local government. Information on the relations with these specific partners (Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) in Norway, National Institute for Territorial Studies (INET) in France, Centre for Public Administration Research (KDZ) in Austria, Association of Basque local authorities (EUDEL), Polish Foundation to Support Local Democracy (FRDL) in Poland, Institute of International Sociology of Gorizia (ISIG) in Italy is available in the description of country-specific and regional programmes (Appendix I).
The Centre of Expertise has Memoranda of Understanding with INET and ENA (France).
4. Prospects for 2017
The final 6 months of the current phase of the project in Albania will seek to consolidate outputs and outcomes in the field of Human Resources Management and Training Needs Analysis. A third phase is under discussion.
The project in Armenia ended in December 2016. However, as constitutional amendments of December 2015 require significant secondary and enabling legislation, CoE expertise and assistance are still needed. A follow-up project to provide additional legislative and institutional support should be launched in early 2017.
Under the Cypriot Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the Centre will organise a European Conference on IMC and Good Governance in cooperation with the Cypriot government and the Union of Cypriot Municipalities (UCM) on 8 February 2017 in Nicosia. The Centre is also planning to work with UCM on the implementation of Training Needs Analysis (TNA) in 2017.
In Greece, activities will include policy advice on the metropolitan areas and on management of local budgets. Capacity building will be organised on Local Finance Benchmarking, Public Ethics Benchmarking, Strategic Municipal Planning, and ELoGE.
The cooperation with Malta is planned to continue even after the Norway Grants project has ended. The Centre will support the Department for Local Government in the second phase of the implementation of the European Label for Governance’ Excellence (ELoGE), and in follow-up to the project results.
In Serbia, the on-going Joint Project will specifically address Human Resources Management practices and will continue to support the establishment of coordinated, continuous and sustainable system of professional training of local government staff.
In Spain, the Centre of Expertise will continue cooperation with the Basque country and its association of local authorities EUDEL, which, after implementing benchmarks on Public Ethics and Local Finance, is interested in LAP and ELoGE. In addition, the Anti-Fraud Office and the local authorities of the Catalan region expressed their interest in implementing the Public Ethics Benchmark (PEB).
In Ukraine, the project will support a decentralisation unit under the Cabinet of Ministers, and will start working in the Donbas region. The Human Resource Management component will be further developed. The Centre will also keep providing legal and policy advice on issues related to the on-going decentralisation reform.
In terms of regular activities, the Programme Cooperation Framework (PCF) Project for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus will run until the end 2017, focusing mainly on achieving objectives in the areas of Local Finance and Inter-municipal Cooperation.
TheLeadership Academy Programme will be revised and updated, with new modules on Ethics, Cross Border, and City to City Cooperation. LAP stages will continue in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece and Lithuania. A regional LAP for central authorities is planned in cooperation with the Regional School of Public Administration (RESPA) in the Western Balkans.
The regional LAP for CBC (Leadership for Cross-Border Cooperation) will continue. The second stage will take place in Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the third stage will be organised in Herzeg Novi, Montenegro.
In the area of Good Governance – ELoGE will be further promoted in Austria through the cooperation with partners such as the Priority Area 10 of the EU Danube Strategy, Austrian Association of Cities and Towns, KDZ, and Management Institute of Innsbruck. ELoGE projects are also foreseen for Poland, the Basque Country, and UDITE members. Overall, at least five requests for accreditation of ELoGE are expected in 2017.
The Centre plans to continue supporting BPP implementation in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova.
A Winter School will take place in March 2017 in Austria. It will provide training of trainers and Centre’s staff on three highly popular tools such as HRM, PMP, and SMP. It will also provide an opportunity for the strategic planning exercise for the Centre’s staff.
More toolkits will be updated and published on the Centre’s website, including two completely new tools – the Leadership Academy for national authorities and the tool on Municipal Amalgamation- as well as the revised and updated EDEN– electronic platform for cross-border cooperation - and PEB. The website itself will be improved and will migrate to the new platform.
Finally, the Centre will follow up on the recommendations of the Evaluation report – by implementing the above activities and taking a more impact-oriented approach, which requires a clearer strategic vision, and an inclusive strategic planning process. The Centre will also attempt to liberate more capacity at senior and middle management level to prioritise and optimise the use of resources, analyse results and impact achieved, retain lessons learned, and secure more continuous donor support. Programme staff, with more autonomy, will be encouraged to perform more autonomously. With the multiplication of demands and programmes under strict budgetary constraints, the Centre will also need to work more on fund-raising.
APPENDIX I – Activities in 2016
1. Albania
The Project “Strengthening Local Government Structures and Cooperation between Local Elected Representatives in Albania – Phase II” (2012 – 2017) supports the on-going decentralisation process and the consolidation of the principles of good governance. It is implemented in cooperation with the Congress and is funded by the Government of Switzerland. The Centre’s part of the project aims to strengthen local government structures through 1) improving conditions for and fostering the implementation of Inter-Municipal Cooperation (IMC) initiatives; and 2) supporting the creation of standards and benchmarks on HRM, transposed into legislation and practices.
In light of the comprehensive Territorial Administrative Reform, the IMC component was suspended in order to allow the newly formed municipalities to consolidate competences and familiarise themselves with new territorial map. In this context, the HRM component of the project took on added significance. The e-PAV, an electronic platform for public administration was developed by the project. This online platform and database helped the authorities roll out the territorial reform, facilitating communication between central and local authorities. Indeed the e-PAV was particularly useful during the transitional phase by helping to establish measures and frameworks to support local administrations adapting to the new environment. Key outputs so far include:
- An upgraded E-PAV to cover all local and regional councils and additional public agencies. E-PAV now has almost 200 HR managers as registered users;
- The online helpdesk on Civil Servants Law and Territorial Administrative Reform. It responded to 272 inquiries;
- A National Training Strategy and Training Plan for 2016-2019 based on the HRM tool.
An independent review of Phase II of the project noted that it has been effectively implemented and is fully in line with the Albanian reforms and priorities of the CoE and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation. However, although the project design sought to ensure sustainability and a transfer of ownership, further consolidation of local government units and substantial efforts to increase administrative capacity are needed. In this context, an agreement in principle has been reached to support an Exit Phase which would build on achievements of previous phases to consolidate progress made thus far and ensure ownership by Albanian partners and sustainability of outputs.
In 2017, as the project enters the final months of the current phase, every effort will be made to maximise impact and promote sustainability of its actions. In particular, the training Package for HR managers of 61 municipalities and 12 Regional Councils on Human Resources Management Information System (HRMIS) will be finalised; training cycles for HR Managers on use of the e-PAV tool and implementation of the Civil Servants Law will be developed; TNA methodology will be fine-tuned and adapted to relate to the Strategy and Action Plan for the local public administration; manuals, guidelines and model documents on the Civil Servants Law will be prepared in line with the HRM Tool.
2. Armenia
A comprehensive project on “Support to consolidating local democracy in Armenia” funded by the Government of Denmark has been implemented since 2013, in cooperation with the Congress. A large-scale constitutional reform, which took place in Armenia in 2015, necessitated significant corollary reforms in the field of local self-government and territorial administration, in addition to those already foreseen in the project. The main activities of the Project carried out in 2016 thus included:
· Support to legislative reforms (new laws and significant amendments to existing laws in order to ensure compliance with the Constitution and adherence to the European standards);
· Targeted capacity building (training activities for municipalities to ensure proper application and implementation of the new / amended legislation);
· Activities aimed at enhancing citizen participation and increasing transparency and accountability at local level (introducing live-streaming of Community Council meetings).
· Peer Review on Inter-Community Unions bringing together Peers from Poland, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine
· Participation in the Conference on International Practices in IMC - at the invitation of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional Council, in Gorizia, Italy.
In 2017, a follow-up project will provide additional legislative and institutional support.
3. Austria
After an initial attempt to launch implementation of ELoGE in Austria in 2012, a new effort was made in 2016 in cooperation with KDZ and the Austrian Association of Cities and Towns. The Label was presented and a possible implementation was discussed with representatives from the Austrian Association and KDZ. The Centre will work with KDZ on exchange of experts and on the conduct of a Training of Trainers (ToT) for LAP trainers.
Cooperation with KDZ was also established through the Centre´s involvement in the Danube Governance Hub, an initiative to harmonise European standards in public administration and existing tools for its achievement in the Danube Region. The Danube Governance Hub, is coordinated by KDZ, includes RESPA and the Centre of Expertise and is open to all interested actors of the region.
In 2017, it is planned to promote ELoGE through universities and regions (e.g. Management Centre of Innsbruck - MCI, Tirol) and implement it through study projects coordinated between the universities and communities. MCI will also cooperate with the Centre to organise a Winter School for experts and staff.
4. Bosnia and Herzegovina
A comprehensive project proposal to Strengthen Good Governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina (including legal advice, HRM, PEB, and LAP) based on the needs assessment carried out in 2015 was developed and presented to international donors and local stakeholders. First discussions took place with the donors, Associations of Cities and Municipalities of the two entities and government representatives; an introductory workshop to present the Centre’s tool on HRM is foreseen for 2017 to evaluate a possible support and entry point.
The LAP component of the overall proposal was initiated in cooperation with the Association of Cities and Municipalities. The first Training of local trainers on LAP and a promotional event demonstrated strong interest, very positive feedback, and an urgent need for the innovative approach to leadership offered by LAP. The three stages of the Leadership Academy Programme will be implemented in 2017. A possible second LAP in BiH is envisioned with 16 “divided municipalities”.
5. Bulgaria
Bulgaria is regularly running and awarding the ELoGE to its local authorities. An International Conference on Good Governance was organised in cooperation with the CDDG to discuss implementation of the Strategy for Innovation and Good Governance and promote the Centre’s supporting tools. In addition, the first BPP was launched in 2016 with three thematic areas: the municipal support for civic initiatives, new management technologies and solutions, social innovation and partnerships.
6. Croatia
Following a City to City (C2C) workshop organised in Dubrovnik, the Centre of Expertise and the Institute of International Sociology of Gorizia (ISIG) helped several municipalities from Croatia, Scotland and Italy discuss and prepare cooperation projects in the areas of sport and water ecosystems. These projects were later submitted for the EU funding through the Europe for Citizens Programme. In 2016, the Centre and ISIG supported the BLUEWIN Project which was approved for funding by the EU. The project established cooperation between the municipalities of Zadar, Dubrovnik (Croatia), Highland Council (UK), Gorizia (Italy), Nova Gorica (Slovenia), and Kotor (Montenegro) in the area of water ecosystems. An international event with participation of students, universities, and local authorities from five countries was held in Zadar in spring. The development of other projects with other partners is being considered.
This cooperation was followed by more requests from the region. As a result, the first regional ToT and a LAP for Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) was organised in Dubrovnik for local authorities of Dubrovnik and neighbouring municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. The participants’ goal was to apply institutional leadership to develop consistent and efficient CBC in the region. Two more LAP for CBC stages will be held in 2017.
7. Cyprus
The Centre and the Union of Cypriot Municipalities were discussing implementation of a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) project, which will be carried out in 2017, as well as the organisation of an international conference on IMC and local government reforms, under the Cypriot Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers which began in November. The Conference will take place on 8 February 2017 in Nicosia, with CDDG members, European experts and local authorities from about 20 countries as participants.
8. France
Since 2008 and the signature of a formal cooperation agreement, the Centre has developed close ties with the French National Institute of Local Government Studies (INET), based in Strasbourg. The Institute trains the senior officials of French local authorities and is part of the French National Centre of Local Public Service. Four training sessions on average are co-organised every year at the Council of Europe. INET students are thus introduced to the main reform trends in Europe, the Centre’s tools and to European approaches to performance management.
The Centre also cooperates closely with the French National School of Administration (ENA) to implement the capacity-building activities in Serbia in Ukraine.
In addition, for the past three years, the Centre has been invited to present the Public Ethics Benchmark (PEB) and contribute to the training of international civil servants at the French National Service to Prevent Corruption. The French authorities are also actively participating in the Centre’s peer reviews and conferences in Greece and Cyprus.
In 2017, several French municipalities will be testing ELoGE within the Centre-UDITE project.
9. Greece
The project in Greece stemmed from the request for technical assistance made by the Hellenic Ministry of Interior to the Structural Reform Support Service of the EC (SRSS) to address priorities laid down in chapter 5 of the Memorandum of Understanding between the European Commission, the Hellenic Republic and the Bank of Greece signed in August 2015. The Centre of Expertise was identified as the most appropriate partner to provide policy advice and capacity-building assistance to the Ministry of Interior to (i) revise and improve legislation in the area of decentralisation and local governance; and (ii) strengthen capacities of local authorities to enhance implementation of reforms and improve delivery of services to citizens. The most important local partners are the Hellenic Agency for Local Development and Local Government (E.E.T.A.A); the Institute of Local Administration (ITA); and the Regional Development Institute (RDI).
Three activities were implemented as a priority in 2016: Training Needs Analysis with a view to proposing a National Training Strategy; the Best Practice Programme on local economic development; a Peer Review on distribution of competences between the State and Local Authorities of both tiers.
The BPP has encouraged positive competition among municipalities and unearthed existing good practices in local economic development (in the fields of tourism, agriculture, renewable energy and new technology) which will be celebrated and shared in Greece and abroad. A number of in-depth interviews and focus groups with different stakeholders were organised to feed into the preparation of the Training Needs Analysis, a broad study which will define the baseline of the project. The analysis will benefit from an extensive quantitative data collection thanks to the high rate of response to the dedicated questionnaire addressed to Mayors and Head of Local administrations. Both BPP and TNA have been complemented by the peer review, which brought together outstanding civil servants and experts from 6 different countries, Greek senior executives, local elected representatives, officials from the Greek Ministry of Interior, Heads of Regions and members of Parliament. This comprehensive exchange of views led to the preparation of a policy advice report which was handed to the Ministry of Interior to support the revision of the Kallikratis legislation.
In 2017, the project will focus on delivering results in the areas of fiscal decentralisation, metropolitan areas and the capital city, leadership, and public ethics. The request for accreditation and implementation of ELoGE is also expected.
10. Hungary
A regular Best Practice Programme (BPP) round is being implemented by the Hungarian Association of Local Authorities, with support from the Centre. In 2016, the best practice areas were 1) Public employment, 2) “For the family and the community”: good examples of the political and civil participation of Roma women, and 3) Cooperation of local civil guards and local governments.
11. Lithuania
The first stage of the Leadership Academy Programme (LAP) was organised in cooperation with the Dainava training centre in November. Eighteen mayors were trained on how to provide institutional leadership and good governance in their municipalities. The Centre also delivered a special training for 12 local trainers to ensure sustainability and local ownership of the programme in the future. In light of very positive feedback from local participants, trainers and the partner organisation, agreement was reached to conduct 2 remaining stages in early 2017.
12. Malta
The Creative Governance project funded by the EEA Norway grants, which included TNA, NTS, PMP, LAP, and ELoGE was finalised. In 2016, the third stage of LAP, and the final project component of ELoGE were implemented. About 15 mayors and executive secretaries received their LAP certificates, and 15 municipalities participated in the ELoGE benchmarking. The project ended with the Final Conference which presented and discussed the main results and a follow up to each component in November 2016. The feedback from participating municipalities and associations was very positive, all participants agreed that there was a need to establish a more in-depth and long-term cooperation of the Centre in order to ensure sustainability of results, build on them, and encourage the reform process in Malta.
The Department for Local Government) expressed its wish to cooperate with the Centre in 2017 directly, in order to organise the second phase of the ELoGE and follow up on the Creative Governance project results.
13. Republic of Moldova
- The Centre continued providing support to the government and the Association for the implementation of the BPP and the decentralisation reform. The BPP areas in 2016 were Integrity, good governance and transparency in the decision-making process
- Local economic development and intercommunity cooperation models
- Sustainable solutions for energy efficient communities
- Efficient management of local public services.
Moldova is also a part of the Programmatic Cooperation Framework project for Eastern Partnership countries (PCF) which is managed by the Centre’s team in the Council of Europe’s Chisinau office (see PCF below for more details).
14. Poland
Following the first round of LAP which was organised in cooperation with the Polish Foundation to Support Local Democracy (FRDL), starting from 2016, the Foundation organises and provides the LAP independently, with the help of the Council of Europe-trained experts.
A very comprehensive TNA was conducted in cooperation with the Foundation at the end of 2015 – beginning of 2016. It included a survey of almost 2000 local authorities and the process contributed significantly to the revision and updating of the original tool. The results of the Polish TNA and the updated tool were presented at a large international conference in Warsaw in June 2016. The Polish case study was included into the revised tool for Training Needs Analysis and National Training Strategy (TNA-NTS).
In 2017, the Centre is planning to work with the Foundation on the implementation of ELoGE.
15. Romania
The State Agency of Civil Servants implements for a number of years the Best Practice Programme. This year it associated the Centre of Expertise with the concluding event, an international conference on “Innovation and Quality in the Public Sector” held in October in Bucharest. The competition identified best practice of municipalities in the fields of transparency of public institutions, social inclusion, education and waste reduction. The next round of the Best Practice Programme is expected in 2017.
16. Russian Federation
An introductory On-line training module on 12 Principles of Good Governance was developed and piloted in cooperation with Russian experts and universities in 2016. Specific on-line training modules for each principle of good governance will be developed in 2017, with the view of adapting them to and delivering them in other member states.
17. Serbia
A Joint Programme “Strengthening of administrative capacities in area of local self-government" (2016-2017) was launched in spring. Significant progress has been made in the project implementation so far. The main activities included:
- The Training Needs Assessment (TNA), which was carried out by a team of local and international CoE experts. It involved in-depth interviews, study visits and surveys for the main stakeholders. The results have been shared with the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, and will be presented to the donors, local authorities, and the Council for Professional Training of LSG employees (once it is established).
- Municipal Support Packages (MSPs) to improve Human Resource Management function in line with the CoE standards have been developed and will be piloted in 2017 in 20 selected municipalities. Based on the feedback from the pilots, the Packages will be reviewed, published, and disseminated throughout the country.
18. Spain
The Association of Basque local authorities (EUDEL) shared its experience of implementation of the public ethics (PEB) and financial benchmarking tools. EUDEL expressed its interest in continuing cooperation with the Centre, especially on the Leadership Academy Programme (LAP) and the European Label of Governance’s Excellence (ELoGE), which is being planned for 2017.
The Centre was also contacted by the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia, which requested assistance on PEB, in cooperation with the local government association.
19. Ukraine
The “Decentralisation and Territorial Consolidation” project focused on:
- The provision of legal expertise for the revision and improvement of the legislation related to the local government reform in line with the European standards: 14 opinions and thematic reports delivered on request of the Government and the Parliament, one peer review on sectorial decentralisation organised in Kyiv and led to a full report with recommendations;
- The improvement of the central authorities’ knowledge related to decentralisation: setting up and sustaining of small expert teams with the Ministry of Regional Development and the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers, one study visit on inter-municipal cooperation and the prefect organised in Strasbourg for members of the parliamentary specialized Committee, one study visit to the Sejm of Poland organised for the secretariat of the specialized Committee;
- The strengthening of the public administration capacity to deliver reforms: leadership capacities of elected representatives and officials of newly amalgamated communities and of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions increased, curriculum of the National Academy for Public Administration complemented with a leadership in local government module;
- The best practices in local government and the best national media coverage of the local government reform were promoted and awarded, and
- The provision of expertise in the field of human resources management and inter-municipal cooperation agreements.
Thanks to the project activities, a major impact has been achieved in both capacity-building and policy development – hundreds of municipalities have been able to improve delivery of services, train staff and elected officials, learn from the best European experience. Crucial laws have been adopted, including the laws on Inter-municipal cooperation and on territorial administration. Fruitful cooperation with the Cabinet of Ministers, the National Academy for Public Administration and the National Agency on Civil Service started. Cooperation with the Verkhovna Rada Specialised Committee and the Ministry of Regional Development continued. The communication was reinforced through a press conferences and an all-Ukrainian opinion poll.
More details are available on the project’s website at http://www.slg-coe.org.ua/?lang=en
In 2017, in addition to the expert support which will be provided to the central authorities (Cabinet of Ministers, Verkhovna Rada and Ministry of Regional Development), the project will be contributing to reforming the training system for all civil servants, modernising the human resource management in amalgamated communities and implementing activities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
20. Regional Projects
Programmatic Cooperation Framework (PCF) - Eastern Partnership: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus
The establishment of a transparent, reliable and efficient local self-government system, in line with the provisions of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, is one of the commitments undertaken by the Eastern Partnership countries. In 2016, the Centre helped them in meeting these commitments by providing assistance on a range of important issues - over 40 activities were organised so far, including support to the leadership capacity building. At the regional level, the baseline reports, country studies and recommendations developed under two main components (Local Finance Benchmarking (LFB) and Inter-Municipal Cooperation (IMC)) by the joint working groups for the shared use of all beneficiary countries, provide a solid basis for further work and paved the way to initiating the bilateral activities.
Area needs assessments were conducted for Moldova and Georgia in order to streamline the project action and avoid duplication with other actors. Baseline studies on LFB and IMC were completed and are available on the project’s website, including country-by-country assessments. LFB piloting was completed in Moldova; results will be presented in Armenia and Georgia in 2017. Two IMC initiatives currently underway in Moldova; an IMC pre-feasibility study was launched in Georgia. Full course on Leadership Development for effective Human Resources management was delivered in Belarus. Capacity development activities took place in the Gagauz Autonomy, Moldova, in co-operation with Gagauz authorities and the Moldovan Parliament - 40 staff members were trained in 4 training sessions on topics related to the legislative procedures and techniques, transparency, consultation, current legislation and sources of information. The Gagauz Governor sent a letter providing a positive feedback, requesting more, training and mentioning that there was a perceivable improvement of the staff's skills.
Study visits and training workshops on IMC for the representatives of all PCF beneficiary countries and their Italian peers took place in Gorizia. Participation of the additional Armenian mayors was made possible through the project “Support to consolidating local democracy in Armenia”.
A Regional Conference “Towards a More Efficient Local Government in Eastern Partnership Countries: new ways and tools, sharing the experience” was organised on 7-8 July in Batumi, Georgia. The Conference was organised upon request of the Georgian representatives and provided an important opportunity to exchange and learn the best practice in the area of IMC. Among other important results are approved decisions on initiating IMC through different forms of co-operation, including the creation of common municipal enterprises, in several participating municipalities in Georgia and Moldova. The municipalities have increased their capacity to co-operate among themselves and deliver better services to their citizens; they also improved their fundraising capacities. An IMC agreement was concluded in Adjara region, Georgia. In Armenia, two IMC clusters have been identified and agreed with the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development; two additional clusters are being discussed.
Under the LFB component, 22 municipalities (5 in Armenia, 7 in Georgia and 10 in Moldova) implemented the benchmark and received tailored recommendation on improving local finance management. The strong partnership with national associations of local authorities and line ministries provides a good base for further scaling up and dissemination. In addition, special LFB software is being elaborated to ensure sustainability and dissemination of results. Armenia requested LFB pilot extension for another 15 newly amalgamated municipalities to improve local finance management, and to foster fiscal decentralisation.
In Belarus, 35 representatives of the local administrations have been trained in providing institutional leadership, human resource management, and good governance during three sessions of the “Human Resource Management for Local Self-Government through Leadership Academy”.
In 2017, Local Fiscal Database and Indicators project in Moldova, Georgia and Armenia will be completed and piloted; a web application will be developed. At least 3 executive trainings are planned in co-operation with the EIPA on enhancing the public governance and financial management in the European municipalities. Study visits and workshops on IMC and LFB in Bilbao are planned; capacity-building will continue in the Gagauz Autonomous Region; development of the full on-line e-learning module on Good Governance is envisaged.
More information is available on the project’s website: http://www.coe.int/t/dgap/localdemocracy/EAP/default_en.asp
http://www.coe.int/t/dgap/localdemocracy/centre_expertise/local_finance_benchmarking/default_en.asp?
http://www.coe.int/t/dgap/localdemocracy/EAP/IMC-mapping_en.pdf
APPENDIX II– Current Tools
The development and promotion of new innovative capacity-building tools is among the Centre’s priorities. The tools are also being regularly revised and updated. All relevant institutions are encouraged to use those tools, provided that the copy right is respected, qualified experts are used, and the Centre of Expertise is informed. Currently, the Centre implements projects based on the following toolkits:
Democratic Participation
CLEAR - Citizen Participation
Citizens Engagement - Increasing Civic Participation in Frameworks and Activities of Cooperation between Municipalities
Human Resources and Leadership
HRM - Human Resources Management
TNA - Training Needs Analysis and National Training Strategy
LAP - Leadership Academy Programmefor local authorities
LAP for central authorities (under preparation)
LAP for CBC Leadership for Cross-Border Cooperation
Quality Public Services
PMP - Performance Management
SMP - Strategic Municipal Planning
Strengthening Capacity of Local Government Associations
Local Finance and Public Ethics
LFB - Local Finance Benchmarks for local and central levels
Territorial and Cross-border Cooperation
IMC - Inter-municipal Cooperation
Territorial Amalgamation (under preparation)
CBC - Cross-Border Cooperation
C2C - City to City Cooperation
Good Governance
ELoGE - European Label of Governance Excellence Benchmark
All tools are available at http://www.coe.int/t/dgap/localdemocracy/WCD/Toolkits_en.asp.
The website is being updated and improved.
APPENDIX III – List of Abbreviations
ALDA: European Association for Local Democracy
BPP: Best Practice Programme
C2C: City to City Cooperation
CBC: Cross-border Cooperation
CEMR: Council of European Municipalities and Regions
CDDG: European Committee for Democracy and Governance
CDLR: European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy
CLEAR: Can do, Like to, Enabled to, Asked to, Responded to
CoE: Council of Europe
EaP: Eastern Partnership
EEA: European Economic Area
ELoGE: European Label of Governance Excellence
ENA: French National School of Administration
ENTO: European Network of Training Organisations for Local and Regional Authorities
E-PAV: Electronic Platform for Public Administration
Eu/ European Union
EUDEL: Association of Basque local authorities
FRDL: Polish Foundation to Support Local Democracy
HRM: Human Resources Management
IMC: Inter-municipal Cooperation
INET: French National Institute for Territorial Studies (Institut National des Etudes Territoriales)
ISIG: Institute of International Sociology of Gorizia
KDZ: Centre for Public Administration Research
KS: Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities
LAP: Leadership Academy Programme
LFB: Local Finance Benchmark
NGO: Non-Governmental Organisation
NTS: National Training Strategy
OSCE: Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
PCF: Programmatic Cooperation Framework
PEB: Public Ethics Benchmarking Programme
PMP: Performance Management Programme
RESPA/ Regional School of Public Administration
SMP: Strategic Municipal Planning
TNA: Training Needs Assessment
ToT: Training of Trainers
U.Di.T.E: European Association of Local Chief Executives
UNDP: United Nations Development Programme