Local Government Support Program-Central Europe

The Local Government Support Program–Central Europe (LGSP-CE) was a three-year (2001-2004) regional project being carried out in the four Visegrád countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic) by the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI), in partnership with the International Centre for Sustainable Cities (ICSC) and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). The project focused on capacity building within municipalities and municipal associations in order for them to deal effectively with their senior levels of government and to co-operate at an intermunicipal level. Practical demonstration projects also sought to strengthen existing municipal commitments to urban sustainability. The intended outcome of the project was efficient and strengthened local governments in Central Europe that are able to effectively meet the needs of their constituents.

Funding Agency
Canadian International Development Agency (Central and Eastern European Branch).

Timeframe
2001-2004

Geographic Focus
Hungary , Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia

Project Partners
A number of local partners in each of the Visegrád countries were involved in the implementation and administration of the project. These partners include:

• Hungary – Municipal Association of Towns and Villages (TÖOSZ); City of Budapest, District XX (Pesterzsébet); Town of Nagykáta; Office of the Prime Minister.
• Poland – Association of Polish Cities (ZMP); City of Warsaw; City of Katowice; Ministry of the Interior.
• Czech Republic – Union of Towns, Cities and Villages (SMO); Training Centre for Local Administration of the Czech Republic (FALA); Town of Sumperk; City of Zlin; Ministry of the Interior
• Slovakia – Association of Towns and Villages of the Slovak Republic (ZMOS); Town of Strba; City of Sturovo; District of Nové Zámky; the Orava Region; Ministry of the Interior.

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Background
After the collapse of communism, the countries of Central Europe were faced with the unique challenge of democratizing their societies, while at the same time converting a centrally planned economy into a market-based one. The resultant legislative reforms of the early 1990s were based on strengthening the rights and autonomy of local governments, but the pace and extent of the reform process has varied greatly among the Visegrád countries. All of these countries were, however, facing some common challenges. Most notably, in order to achieve accession to the European Union (EU), all four countries still had to work towards a decentralized governance framework that ensured the stability of their political institutions. The challenges facing local governments in the region included: the lack of funding and revenue generation mechanisms to support their new service delivery responsibilities; inefficient administrative, management and service delivery systems; and weak civil society involvement and inter-governmental/inter-agency cooperation.

Reform was hampered across the region by the fact that the central governments had retained traditional revenue streams despite the decentralization of responsibilities to local governments. In addition, the lack of strong municipal associations hindered the ability of local governments to co-ordinate their efforts in dealing with senior levels of government. In this context, it was important to provide the municipalities of these countries with the capacity to deal with such obstacles to the exercising of good local governance.

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Project Description
The goal of this cooperative program was to increase the effectiveness of sub-national reforms by developing the capabilities of local governments and their associations in the Visegrád region.

The objectives of this project were to:

• Strengthen the capacity of municipal associations to represent the interests of their constituencies toward their respective national governments, provide better services to their members and expand their membership,
• Strengthen the capacity of municipalities to better prepare them to carry out their new responsibilities in their respective decentralized governance systems and
• Create synergy among the three Canadian partners and develop sustainable systems for cooperation and sharing of lessons learned amongst the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

Results included:

• A smooth transition in the decentralization of responsibilities between national and local levels of government.
• Strong municipal associations capable of negotiating with the national government.
• Strengthened municipal capabilities to assume greater responsibilities for service delivery, revenue generation and financing.
• Practical experience for local governments in pursuing sustainable urban development and, where appropriate, in taking action to implement Local Agenda 21.
• Established processes for involving stakeholders and citizens in local government decision-making.
• Effective linkages developed among local and Canadian partners.

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Approach
I. Capacity building for municipal associations.
By building the capacities of municipal associations to represent their constituents to their national governments, the project helped to strengthen the voice of local authorities in national level policy dialogues. Also, by providing technical assistance to help improve member services, the project built the institutional capacity of municipal associations and strengthened their legitimacy and competency to act and speak on behalf of local authorities in governance and development issues. In addition, by utilizing municipal associations as a vehicle through which to deliver capacity development and training activities to municipalities, the project aimed to build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for long-term institutional strengthening of local authorities to carry out their newly decentralized responsibilities.

II. Capacity development activities for municipalities.
Capacity development activities for municipalities were designed to improve their management capabilities to carry out their new responsibilities in their respective decentralized governance systems. Training activities were delivered through Visegrád municipal associations to increase the number of municipalities benefiting from project activities and to ensure the long-term sustainability of these activities by way of “training the trainers”.

III. Demonstration projects.
Demonstration projects were undertaken in cooperation with participating municipalities and municipal associations. Activity focused on identifying priority projects in a democratic manner and undertaking these projects through the preparation of project work plans and budgets and identifying EU funding sources for implementation. Emphasis was placed on projects that could realistically be implemented, serve as good demonstrations to other local governments, be easily replicable elsewhere and were a high priority in the democratically developed action plans of the participant local governments. The demonstration projects supported the sub-national reforms and helped to strengthen local government and municipal associations by building on multi-stakeholder commitments.

IV. Communication and dissemination.
An important objective of the LGSP-CE was to share lessons learned and maximize the exposure and impact of the project’s activities to municipalities, associations, universities and other interested organizations. Some tools used to accomplish this objective included maintaining and continually updating the project web site that functioned as the project’s “nerve centre” and bi-weekly electronic updates to project partners.