CHANGING ATTITUDES BETWEEN PARTNERS - A CHALLENGE FOR CITIZENS AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT CASE STUDY FROM ROMANIA

Transcription

1 CHANGING ATTITUDES BETWEEN PARTNERS - A CHALLENGE FOR CITIZENS AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT CASE STUDY FROM ROMANIA Claudia Pamfil - Training Coordinator, Partners Romania Foundation for Local Development -FPDL (former FDLSP) Daniel Serban - Trainer, Partners Romania Foundation for Local Development, Training Coordinator, Chemonics International Inc. Foreword This paper aim to present a Romanian experience developed through different programs organized by Partners Foundation for Local Development - FPDL (former Foundation for Local Development and Public Services -FPDL) and by others to improve the relation between local public administration and public. The paper present shortly the FPDL activity in this field since 1995 and will focus on its most recent activities (1998 and 1999) and their results. Part of these recent activities are articulated in national programs for local public administration (funded by USAID and Open Society Foundation) in which also other organizations have participated with successful results. That is why, the paper will mention also accomplishments of other organizations which developed activities under the same macro-programs. Far away from being exhaustive in presenting entire Romanian experience in the field, the paper will discuss about some experiences which are interesting to be shared, in order to be improved by/ or maybe to improve other CEE countries experiences. 1

2 CONTENTS 1. Background 2. Short description of Partners Romania Foundation for Local Development and its activities in the field 3.The challenge of changing attitudes 3.1. Approach 3.2. Citizen Information Centers 3.3. Elected Leadership Training Program 3.4. Results - Changed attitudes 3.5. An example 4. Conclusions 2

3 1. Background The mission to enhance the democratic processes of governance through a real partnership between Romanian local governments and community members is emerging as a key area of intervention because changes toward a new and better way of governing at the local level. In 1996 national elections brought into power a government that pledged to implement a program of rapid decentralization. While rapid change did not occur, legislation was very recently passed which impacts local governments ability to collect taxes, impose fees and increased financial autonomy and responsibility. The decentralization of decision-making, especially on the field of financial management, is one of the crucial elements in the enabling approach. This is because it allows local levels of government, who are more close to the population, to have meaningful contribution in economic development. A major effort is required to change attitudes, especially amongst politicians and staff in local governments towards community representatives: citizens, NGOs, CBOs. Likewise, an effort is required to change attitude of community members towards the government. In mobilizing the resources and potential of communities, in solving the existing and potential problems, in managing various actions in the field of human settlements development, it is felt to be most effective to concentrate the effort on the interface between local governments and community. That is the reason, Partners Romania Foundation for Local Development - FPDL (the new name of Foundation for Local Development and Public Service - FPDL) considered necessary to involve itself, since 1995, in different activities to improve the relation between community and local governments, such as: Community-Communication training program for local governments representatives; Co-operative/strategic planning programs for local economic development; Pilot-program for NGOs-Local Council Relation Centers establishment; Elected Leadership training program for local governments' elected officials; Workshops for Dissemination of the Law on Local Public Finance; Training programs to enforce Local governments-ngos partnerships for representatives of Offices for Public Administration-NGOs Relation from county councils and prefectures. 2. Short description of Partners Romania Foundation for Local Development - FPDL and its activities in the field 3

4 Partners Romania Foundation for Local Development - FPDL is a non-governmental notfor-profit organization established by a group of experts in public administration and community development, in order to use their experience, knowledge and skills, acquired in national and international training programs, to support the Romanian society process of democratization. FPDL members are spread all over Romania and have attended national and international programs in Romania, USA, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Netherlands, etc., in the fields of urban management and planning, leadership, community development, public participation, training of trainers in the above and other related fields. FPDL is a founding member of ENTO - European Network of Training Organisations for Local and Regional Authorities - and established a wide range of contacts with similar organisations and professionals world-wide. FPDL mission is to enhance the democratic processes of governance through local governments' capacity building. FPDL capacity building programs are aimed to improve elected and appointed officials technical and managerial skills, local governments institutional development and the mechanisms of communication with the civil society. FPDL activities on improving relations between local governments and public: "Community-Communication" training program for local governments representatives The training program was focused on improving knowledge and skills of local governments representatives in order to remove the obstacles in promoting and establishing partnerships between local administration and community representatives in solving the local problems. The content of the program (series of workshops) followed a problem-solving process, identifying the role of civil society for each step. Co-operative/strategic planning programs for local economic development The objectives of the workshops were to challenge urban managers to improve the local urban development planning and implementation, to stimulate and support grassroots initiative of public-private sectors and to develop new patterns for urban policies elaboration and citizens participation in the process of managing change at community level. Based on concrete urban cases and designed as pilot projects, the workshops combined a training program objectives with the idea to support local strategy elaboration and to initiate a new type of strategic urban planning process. Pilot-program for NGOs-Local Council Relation Centers establishment 4

5 The program objective was to establish an institutionalised co-operation between 2 local councils and NGOs through: establishment of NGOs-Local Councils Relation Centers linked to the Citizens Information Centers, training programs for elected officials and centers staff, elaboration of cooperation plan and regulation adopted by local councils, information dissemination, preparing and launch firsts common projects, monitoring the activity. Elected Leadership training program, named "The Art and Science on Leadership for Local Public Administration" The training focuses on elected officials leadership knowledge and skills, in order to improve their roles performance and their work effectiveness and efficiency. The main goal of the program is to transfer knowledge and skills for capacity building and enhancing performances of local authorities in Romania in order to improve their efficiency and transparency of the local government. The training content focuses on eleven roles performed by elected officials: policy-maker, decision-maker, communicator, facilitator, negotiator, financier, overseer, enabler, power-broker, institution builder and leader. Workshops for Dissemination of the Law on Local Public Finance The program was organised through 8 regional workshops for the law dissemination, focused on identify changes brought by the new (Sept. 1998) law. The new financial autonomy of the local public administration means also new responsibilities in front of the citizens. Having as participants local public administration representatives and financial institutions, one of the objectives was to build awareness about public participation in local financial management. Training programs to enforce Local governments-ngos partnerships for representatives of Offices for Public Administration-NGOs Relation from county councils and prefectures This training program is the FPDL contribution to a program run by another foundation (Foundation for Civil society Development) having as objective improving relation between NGOs and government. The program contain the following steps: training for the staff of Offices for Public Administration-NGOs in NGO legislative environment and activities / training for the NGOs representatives in partnership with public administration procedure, basic skills training for Offices staff to improve 5

6 partnership between administration and NGOs and workshops for promoting participation of NGOs in public administration programs. FPDL is the organizer of the basic skills training program for Offices staff, a series of 4 workshops "Communicate-Facilitate-Negotiate in promoting partnerships between administration and NGOs" and will be involved also in the promoting participation workshops. Partners Foundation for Local Development has also an indirect contribution in the field of changing attitudes between partners involved in local development through its "WORKING TOGETHER" Regional Program for Local Governance Capacity Building in CEE countries. The program focuses on training of trainers activity for members of training organisations from CEE countries and on building a trainers network in order to change experience. Due to the training needs of all participant country, each training of trainers program approach the issue of public participation in decision making process and provide useful tools for future trainers in order to build an appropriate attitude of the local public administration. The most recent FPDL activities, Elected Leadership training programs, were developed under USAID Program for public administration. In the following, we will try to provide a general view of related parts of USAID Program in Romania, concerning the issue of citizens participation. 3. The challenge of changing attitudes 3.1. Approach For more than four years, USAID has supported local government reform in Romania through the Central and Eastern Europe Public Administration Assistance (CEEPAA) program. These efforts have sought to build transparency in local government, develop citizen information models, create municipal capacity in budgeting and finance management, to build capacity of local councils in order to facilitate citizen participation in decision making process. Efforts to foster direct citizen involvement in local government have been at the core of the program. This work has focused on creating Citizen Information Centers (CICs) at municipality and county level, training local public administration officials in principles and practices of citizen/community participation. This work has helped create constituencies for change at the local level, helped local governments be more responsive to citizen input, and provided mechanisms for local governments to divest themselves of activities better addressed by grassroots citizen groups. This initial effort has proven worth while: mayors and other elected officials, initially fearful of the concept of citizen participation, have embraced it in unthreatening 6

7 contexts, such as special event advisory committees. The opening of CICs has proven to be a highly successful pilot program that recognises the citizen as the customer of government and provides a center for information sharing with citizen. The need to train local elected officials, not only on informing them about the legal frameworks but on analysing and improving their roles in the management and development areas and their attitude toward community, appear among the most urgent areas of capacity-building for local development and municipal management. Having gained this initial acceptance, the project is now in position to increase the scope of citizen involvement through mechanisms such as citizens advisory boards, planning boards, budget committees and public hearings. Many trained elected officials were "played their roles" enabling community participation in solving local problems. The USAID CEEPAA Program in Romania was implemented by Chemonics International Inc. USA through its consultants and different subcontractors, such as Partners Romania Foundation for Local Development -FPDL. The authors were involved in this national program activities, as training coordinators Citizen's Information Centers (CICs) -Daniel Serban Establishment of new CICs and capacity development/ service expansion included onsite training of local staff, including training in media relations and publicity, and technical advice and assistance on centers facility and operation. A number of 20 CICs are now opened, and other 12 are in process of opening all over the country. Number of users of Citizen Information Centers was in 1998 more than 100,000, but the CICs recorded almost only requests for information or service which requires written follow-up. In 1998 a number of 11 workshop were conducted to train 197 local elected and appointed officials from 80 local governments units in order to encourage the participants to launch the preparation for such a centers in their locality or county. The topics presented the benefits of the Citizen's Information Center, the useful tools for creating a CIC, the methods to maintain the CICs activity and the appropriate attitude toward the citizens. Work in the area of capacity development/ service expansion included response to ad-hoc requests for advice on CICs, both new and existing. Organisational assistance was provided for the formation of a Citizen Information Center Network, which include CIC directors and staff members. Citizen participation in CICs and other cities/counties functions was enforced through a citizen participation plan and distribution of citizen participation plan materials to be used by public administration. Training in mass media strengthened public administration ability to inform citizen and increase customer service. Training in customer service strengthened the relationship between leaders and citizens, allowed the latter genuine place at the table in determining the goals and activities of the government. 7

8 A citizen information manual was developed, including a step by step guide for use by local government units who wish to establish a CIC in their jurisdiction. The manual included CIC staffing, information materials, and operation guidelines gleaned from experience in establishing the pilot CICs Elected Leadership Training Program -Claudia Pamfil A Training Program of three Workshops for Elected Representatives was organised in 1998 by Partners Romania Foundation for Local development, as part of USAID Program Central and Eastern Europe Public Administration Assistance (CEEPAA). The training was focused on elected officials leadership knowledge and skills, in order to improve their roles performance and their work effectiveness and efficiency. The main goal of the program was to transfer knowledge and skills for capacity building and enhancing performances of local authorities in Romania in order to improve their efficiency and transparency of the local government. The specific objectives of the program were: To train Romanian elected local government officials, in order to improve their knowledge, skills and attitude in performing their leadership roles; To increase communication and experience exchange among the participants. The training content followed eleven roles performed by elected officials: policy-maker, decision-maker, communicator, facilitator, negotiator, financier, overseer, enabler, power-broker, institution builder and leader. The training programs has been field tested and implemented in Romania by FPDL in collaboration with The United Nation Center for Human Settlements-UNCHS (Habitat). In 1995 FPDL organised a Training of Trainers (TOT) Program for Elected Leadership, and trainers from five Central and Eastern European Countries have been trained. Since 1995, FPDL trained in these Programs, over 350 elected officials and 15 trainers from Romania, as well as more than 70 trainers from different other countries such as Poland, Slovakia, Moldova, Romania, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Pakistan. The training materials are published originally in English, by UNCHS (Habitat), having as authors Prof. Dr. Fred Fisher and Prof. David W. Tees (USA). The training materials have been successfully used in many others parts of the world, being translated in more 10 different languages. The translation, adaptation and publishing into Romanian, has been realised through the coordination of FPDL, with the financial support of the Local Government Initiative Program of Open Society Institute. Each participant received the set of 13 manuals and also other additional Romanian and foreign materials handouts. The training methods were dynamic, interactive and participatory. The training contents is client-centred, focusing on stringent issues faced by local governments representatives. 8

9 The trainers used their skills and knowledge in order to built the appropriate environment of communication and idea exchange among participants and to promote the team building methods. Also, the trainers designed dynamic and flexible training sessions with exercises and constructive debates in order to generate new solutions to solve local problems. A key point was to stress on the benefits of community participation in each administrative step. Each leadership role is based on transparency and clients (community) involvement in administrative processes. The Workshops were attended by 64 elected officials from 53 Romanian local government units from the municipal/city level as well as from the county level, being Councilors, Mayors, Vice-Mayors, County Council Presidents and Vice-Presidents. Based on the End of Training Program Evaluation results one can conclude that the overall training programs were very successful. The participants gave highest appreciation for the relevance of the program to their responsibilities and their awareness concerning the benefits of community participation in decision-making process Results-Changed attitudes between partners Citizen participation concept was difficult for Romanian local public administration, but began to functioning because of the CICs citizen committees and elected officials training programs. Council sanctioned citizen advisory committees function now in several Romanian cities and counties (Pitesti, Oradea, Sibiu City/County, Ialomita County and Baia Mare) where the reception of change was most evident. While these citizen committees were primarily limited to "soft" issues such as theater festivals, Christmas fairs and so forth, the successful work of these groups became the basis for trust in expanding citizen involvement. Public hearings were held in several location to support the local budget or local economic strategy (Targu Mures, Sibiu, Arad). Citizen participation also extended to economic development activities where many citizen based groups played an active role in identifying needs for change. That was possible with the help of their local public administration now having a different attitude about this. Using participants case studies in exercises (role-playing, simulations, action planing) combined with theoretical presentations, The Art and the Science of Leadership for Local Government series of FPDL training programs organised in 1998 generated a lot of participants ideas to solve their local problems involving their community An example Community Project: Sewerage network, Medgidia, Constanta County Medgidia, a south-eastern city of Romania, faced difficult problems due to lack of a sewerage infrastructure in the north area of the city, where 176 private houses have no sewerage system. A project for creating a sewerage network in the area is a long time 9

10 need, but the public resources were always insufficient. That cause a lot of citizens complains addressed to the City Hall. An idea developed during an exercise in the Training Program The Art and the Science of Leadership for Local Government was implemented by the City Hall of Medgidia: create an environment where citizens can meet their own needs through their own efforts. The mayor and the vice-mayor of Medgidia, Mr. Mircea Pintilie and Mr. Marian Iordache, promoted in the City Council a strategy to solve the problem of sewerage in their city, together with the creation of new jobs for build and maintain it. The promoted project proposes the construction of a sewerage network of 2,270 meters length, covering nine streets of the northern area of the city. An action plan was developed and followed step by step in order to implement the project: meetings with citizens, evaluation of the project costs, communication of the results to the citizens, creation of the initiative groups of citizens to promote the collection of money contributions. The technical support (geological, topographical and technical projects) was financed by the local budget and finished in July The construction of the sewerage will began in August The total cost of construction was estimated at 902,917,653 lei covered with 176,000,000 lei by citizens contribution, 280,000,000 lei by City Hall contribution and 622,741,653 lei by citizens volunteer work. City hall specialists will provide the technical assistance. 4. Conclusions A common understanding of all these activities is that the improvement of the relationship between the administration and public is an endless process. The approach advantage was the development of improvement activities through different stakeholders: citizens, public administration, NGOs. The main conclusion of this program is that it was already created a sustainable activity in this field, even not all over the country and not efficient overtime. The sustainability of the citizen/community participation is guaranteed by changed attitudes both of local public administration and citizens. Even a lot of progress is desired, this Romanian experience could be duplicated in former CIS and CEE countries with some adapted inputs. 10