COUNTRY SPECIFIC PROGRAMMES FOR CAPACITY BUILDING
 

Activities in 2011
 
ToT event to introduce TÖOSZ representatives to the Council of Europe LAP methodology
LAP material translated in Hungarian and
1st and 2nd session of LAP held in September and November with the participation of 17 Mayors 
A Best Practice programme cycle took place in 2011
In the framework of the activity, a call for application was published on three themes:
   -    communication activity of local government in order to involve the inhabitants into public
        decisions
   -    local governments activity for increasing the local identity of the inhabitants
   -    local government initiatives for roma integration
 

Activities in 2010

Best Practice programme:

The Best Practice Programme raised considerable interest and the practices collected were of high value. The programme should continue in 2011.

Themes
Roma integration
Development projects with cooperation between communities
Renewable energy projects

No. of applications received
21 applications were received, from them there were 18 approved by formal aspects.

Organisers
The Steering Committee (composed of various Partners’ representatives: Hungarian Municipality Association, Association of Hungarian Villages, National Development Agency, Ministry of Interior) conducted and evaluated the process with the help of the Selection Panel.

Publicity for the programme
The programme was disseminated through different channels: ÖNkormányzat newsletter, online newsletters, conferences, workshops connecting with local governments in the given period.

Award procedure
After receiving the best practices from LGs, the Steering Committee had a meeting about the schedule of the programme and nominated the experts in Selection Panel. Selection Panel prepared a short list from them, after reading and evaluating the applications. Experts visited the projects and the Steering Committee decided at the final conference the “winners”, who receive the prizes - one million HUF (about 3600 euro) in each themes and the other prizes.

Training for participants
Before closing conference, the representatives of LGs who participated in the final competition received a one-day training about presentation methods. At the final conference, which took place on 12th of May in Budapest, each municipality applied for best practice status and had 15 minutes for introducing their good practice to the 150 LGs representatives who participated in this event. The main activity currently under way is the dissemination of knowledge and the training of the representatives of Local Governments on how they can help other Local Governments to multiply their know-how.

TÖOSZ survey
Before inviting local authorities to submit their applications for 2010 TÖOSZ carried out a survey. It found that more than half of the members know about the Best Practices Programme; from other questions it became clear that transfer of knowledge is an important issue for the Mayors. The approval rate of the question was 4,2 point which can be considered as strong. All Mayors answered this question.

The most important factor for the Mayors when they decide about whether to apply or not was the long time frame (80%), before the general attention what could be achieved with the program (56%) and the prizes (48%). We made a diagram about the popularity of the topics for the next application period.

Activities implemented
Meeting of Steering Committee (SC) with 13 participants for 1 day (1/2/2010);
Expert meeting with 10 participants for 1 day (18/2/2010)
Visits of short listed LG projects (11/3/2010 – 31/03/2010)
Workshop for the short listed projects owners with 18 participants for 1 day (29/04/2010)
Closing conference with 150 participants for 1 day (12/05/2010)
Training for leaders and experts of leading municipalities (18/11/2010) our leading expert, Dr. Katalin
Dissemination Conference for 100 participants for 1 day (25/11/2010)..

Leadership Development Programme

Two new peer reviews were conducted in 2010 in Berhida and Dunaföldvár.

Peer examined the leadership practices of the host municipalities and made recommendations for improvement. On this basis, the municipalities under peer review prepared and started to implement improvement plans.

Previous activities

Two capacity-building programmes

Dates:
2008-2010

Programmes
Leadership Benchmarking Programme and
Best Practice Programme.

In co-operation:
National Association of Local Authorities in Hungary (TÖOSZ)
Ministry of Local Government and
Other associations of local authorities in Hungary:

Activities
Four successful Peer Reviews were implemented, of which two in 2009: in Alsózsolca and Alsómocsolád. All of the relevant documents can be reached on TÖOSZ website:
 
http://www.toosz.hu/digitalcity/homepage.jsp?dom=AAAAZJWX&fmn=AAAAYHMM&prt=AAAAYFAP&bem=BAAFKLQT&men=AAAAYHML

Two rounds of the Best Practice Programme
All the relevant news and information on these activities can be found on TÖOSZr webpage, including all the applications and case studies received to date:
 
http://www.toosz.hu/digitalcity/homepage.jsp?dom=AAAAZJWX&prt=AAAAYFAP&fmn=AAAAYFAX&men=AAAAYFAQ&bem=AAABEQAZ