TOOLS FOR CAPACITY BUILDING

The Centre of Expertise offers a range of capacity-building tools and programmes depending on the needs of the local authorities and their Associations. Some of them have been introduced in several countries and can be further extended. New tools and programmes will need to be piloted. Some are more complex than others and will require a greater degree of expertise.

Toolkit I includes the following programmes/tools:-

  National Training Strategy;
  Leadership Benchmark;
  Best Practice and
  Citizen Participation.

Toolkit on Capacity-Building for Local Government

National Training Strategies

In many countries local government training is under-developed. National and local training capacity may be weak. Training budgets may be minimal. Core training packages may not have been developed. Trainers may be insufficient and not properly trained. There may be no training standards for training programmes or materials. The development of a National Training Strategy, based on a comprehensive Training Needs Analysis, an analysis of the legislative framework affecting the training of local officials and a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) allows organisations with a stake in local government to establish a more professional training environment.

Leadership Development

Strong leadership, ie the capacity of local authorities to develop a clear vision for the municipality and to make it come true through strategic management and involvement of the local community, is an essential feature of an effective local authority.

The Centre has therefore developed a model “Benchmark of an Effective Democratic Local Authority” (The Leadership Benchmark) that sets out the expected levels of performance by a local authority in nine leadership competences. It can be used in several ways, including a powerful Peer Review methodology:

- through local workshops. This introduces mayors, senior officials and elected members to the leadership competences expected of them.

- through self-assessment. The leadership of the local authority systematically identifies its strengths and areas for improvement against the Benchmark and draws up an Improvement Plan.

- through Peer Reviews. A national pool of competent senior officials and elected representatives are trained as ‘critical friends’ (external assessors); a team of four peers is invited into a local authority to identify its strengths and areas for improvement against the Benchmark by assessing strategic documents, using interview and workshop techniques with key stakeholders and participating in relevant meetings. The recommendations of the Peer Review team provide the basis for the leadership of the local authority to develop an Improvement Plan.

Best Practice

There are local authorities in every country that achieve the highest standards in some aspects of their work. This best practice can be identified and shared with other local authorities. Learning from each other, rather than from an external expert, is indeed a best practice methodology.

The Best Practice programme applies a systematic approach, where best practice achievement in selected themes is identified and celebrated, but carries with it an obligation to pass on the best practice to other local authorities through a systematic training programme.

Citizen Participation

Local government is accountable to local people. Accountability starts with elections. But it should go beyond that. Local people and organisations want a say in the local authority’s vision and priorities, in how they raise and spend their revenues. Service users can contribute to the design and quality of services so that the service better meets local needs. Local organisations may be able to work in partnership with the local authority to deliver specific services more effectively.

How good is a local authority in engaging local people and organisations in local government? The Community Participation programme will enable a local authority to do a ‘stocktake’ of its performance in this field and draw up an Action Plan to drive improvements.

A third Toolkit, was published in early 2010, and contains two tools which have been prepared and tested in a number of countries (public ethics benchmarking and financial management benchmarking).

Toolkit on Benchmarking for Public Ethics

A fourth Toolkit, whose publication date is to be confirmed, will include tools on performance management and citizen participation.

The Centre of Expertise will also soon start work on a Toolkit dedicated to improving the management of human resources in local government.

Performance Management

Performance management is a key discipline local authorities can use to drive up performance in internal and external services. Local authorities and their Associations should identify those critical factors that determine good performance in a service (key performance indicators). Performance indicators can cover, for example, service efficiency and quality, users’ satisfaction, service accessibility, unit cost etc.

The Association can use research across local authorities and in other countries to determine what standards should be applied within each key performance indicator. Local authorities can agree performance targets with service managers to achieve or exceed the standard. Managers can use performance indicators to improve their own performance. Where performance indicators show weakness, action can be taken to initiate improvements.

Regular local authority reports with performance data will show the level of performance against the performance indicators over time and relative to other local authorities. The Association (with the Government where it has a direct interest) can use performance management to drive up performance across local government.

The Centre can offer a bottom-up approach to pilot a performance management system, including a list of model indicators, in priority policy areas.