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Project Partners
The project was resourced by a consortium formed by the Canadian Urban
Institute (CUI) and the Malpolska School of Public Administration (MSAP).
Participating organizations included: GHK International (Canada) Ltd.,
Chartwell Inc., UMBRELLA Association of Consultants, Altkom Academy, and
Foundation for Economic Education.
Toward improved public administration for local authorities: Polish Ministry of Interior and Public Administration, Canadian Urban Institute and Malo-polska School of Public Administration launch the project in Warsaw (09/01) |
Background
With a view to joining the European Union, the Republic of Poland began
a program of comprehensive government reform in January 1999. The reforms
included changes to administrative and financial structures by decentralizing
some public service delivery to two new structures of democratically elected
self-government: the Marshal's Office at the regional level and the Poviat
at the local /district level (including usually 5 to 10 local municipalities
or gminas).
It was generally considered that, even at the outset of the institutional
reform, the institutional capacity of the sub-national government units would
require strengthening in order to effectively manage the newly decentralized
competencies. The main symptoms observed during the first full term of newly
elected self-government units were: inadequate funding sources, overlapping
competences between various tiers of self-government and changing government
legislation, especially those affecting delivery of public services.
Project Description
The Institutional Development Program (IDP) was aimed at increasing the
effectiveness and efficiency of selected local and regional government pilot
units in primarily rural communities of Poland and at developing and testing
a methodology of institutional analysis (IA). The implementation priorities
selected by local government taskforces were based upon a prioritization
of activities from the institutional development (ID) plans and a catalogue
of local and regional government management tools. The IDP results from an
understanding of the organization's state of development in each management
area as a result of an institutional analysis, and in the setting of priorities
for improvement.
During the first 12 months of the IDP, a team of international and Polish
professionals, led by the Canadian Urban Institute, worked together with
a Task Force in each of the Pilot Units to develop institutional development
(ID) plans in 33 local and regional government units. This was done in order
to build the capacity of the units' administration and management. During
the following 15 months (phase two) of the project, the ID plans were implemented.
Key outputs for phase one were:
- A report on both Polish and International best practices
in the project's nine management areas with the purpose of formulating
a vision of desired state of management in each area;
- A framework
for evaluating the level of organizational development or relative
advancement of government administration in nine management areas
was developed through a series of indicators for each management
area;
- An organizational analysis of each of the pilot units was
undertaken utilizing the above framework (methodology); and
- The
development and approval by the pilot unit authorities of a plan
of institutional improvements (or Institutional Development Plan).
Key outputs for phase two were:
- Priority areas were identified by pilot units;
- Institutional Development Plans were implemented in Pilot Units;
- The methodology was refined, finalized and documented in the form
of a manual, ready for dissemination; and
- An effective and low-cost methodology of organizational analysis
and improvement for self-government in Poland was produced.
The original contract included fourteen outputs to be delivered in Phases
1 and 2. An additional six outputs were added during the course of the project.
The project outputs, covering mainly analytical and institutional improvement
instruments and tools, are to be disseminated to other governments throughout
Poland.
Approach
As lead agency, the CUI was responsible for overall contract management and
for ensuring effective transfer of knowledge to local partners and consultants.
It executed this role by:
- Providing direct technical expertise to the development and implementation
of the institutional analysis methodology for the 33 pilot units.
- Producing relevant international best practices in local and regional
government management areas.
- Building the skills and competencies of pilot unit personnel through
developing and executing training programs.
- Coaching and mentoring local project consultants, staff and stakeholders
through a series of workshops and field-visits. This included providing
input into the refining and finalizing of the Institutional Development
plans by documenting strategies and recommendations in the form of
a manual.
- In all cases the CUI operated in close cooperation with project
partners and local consultants to ensure local ownership and buy-in.
Results
The following is a list of some of the key results of the project:
- 100% of all ID Plans approved by Pilot Units (actual output exceeded
minimum planned output of 20 pilot units approving ID Plans).
- 99% of the 221 approved tasks were fully implemented (actual output
exceeded minimum planned output of 133 tasks (60% of tasks approved).
- 60 full-day workshops in 19 different topics for approximately
1,200 local and regional government employees/representatives
- Over 97% of the over 100 participants of the final IDP conference
stated that changes in their units, as a result of the project, will
be sustainable.
The following outcome-level results were achieved:
- Innovative approaches for improving the management processes and
structures of pilot units in Poland.
- Partnerships for long-term institutional development by reinforcing
the importance of inter-governmental cooperation and facilitating
communication within the units, and between other important stakeholders,
such as citizens, non-governmental organisations, and business.
- Enhanced pilot units' ability to deliver services to its citizens
in a sustainable manner and increased operational efficiency even
beyond the project's graduation.
- Enabled pilot units to mainstream social and economic development
approaches into public administration.
- Built the overall capacity of pilot units, thereby substantially
strengthening their role as key players in the transformation and
modernization of public administration both locally and regionally.
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