| Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform | |
| On 1 January 2006, the Council of Europe’s Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform was established within the Directorate of Democratic Institutions (formerly the Directorate of Co-operation for Local and Regional Democracy). It aims to support member states in the delivery of effective democratic local government. | |
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The Centre builds on the achievements of the Directorate’s local government capacity-building programme over the last few years. Its establishment was recommended in February 2005 at the Budapest Conference of Ministers responsible for local and regional government and subsequently decided in May 2005 at the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe in Warsaw. Through this initiative, the member states recognise the on-going importance of decentralisation and the essential role of effective local authorities in a sound democracy. It responds to the challenge of building up the capacities of local authorities – and their Associations – to be able to provide good leadership and deliver local services to European standards. A portfolio of practical capacity-building programmes and tools, drawn from the best of European experience, is offered in such areas as leadership development, performance management, community participation, training strategies and best practice exchange. The Centre has published four toolkits todate (see right navigation bar) and will start work soon on a Toolkit dedicated to improving the management of human resources in local government.
These tools offer local authorities very concrete ways of improving
their practice in essential fields of local government. Upon request,
the Centre of Expertise can help the local stakeholders to adapt and
implement programmes that make use of these tools. |
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