Transcript standing conference of towns and municipalities

Standing Conference of Towns and
Municipalities
Training and consulting services of
the representatives of local
communities
By. Marko Moračić
Standing Conference of Towns and
Municipality
 National association of LGs
 Advocacy
 Capacity building
 Project implementation
 Grand schemes
SCTM Services to members
 Training Centre
 Training, Facilitation, Project
development assistance, Research,
Publishing
 Advisory Centre
 Databases of national experts, advisory
support, Legal Bulletin, Help-Desk
Training Needs analysis
 Sets training priorities
 Estimates current knowledge and skills
 Includes capacity assessment of training
providers
 Background paper for the National Training
Strategy for LGs
 Annual update
TNA - Summary
 TNA process included:
 Development of the questionnaires and
interview guidelines
 Deciding on the sample municipalities for
the interviews
 Data collection – Quantitative analysis
 Interviews – qualitative analysis
The targeted professionals
 In each municipality there were four
key positions:




Mayors
Chiefs of Municipal Administration
Two chiefs of municipal departments
Administrative staff - clerks
Quantitative analysis
 Over 680 questionnaires were sent to
the local government units in Serbia
 Over 430 were returned
 Return rate of over 60%
Quantitative analysis (continued)
 Questionnaires included separate
parts with:
 Information about municipalities
 Personal information
 Training and consulting related
information
Summary of the findings
Positions
176
200
Mayor
150
100
76
84
86
Chief of
Administration
Chief of
department
50
Administrative staff
0
1
Summary of the findings (cont.)
Dominant sector of Economy
63.0
70.0
60.0
Agriculture
50.0
30.0
Tourism
21.0
40.0
7.4
8.6
Industry
Services
20.0
10.0
0.0
1
Summary of the findings (cont.)
Number of employees in the administration
44.3
50.0
40.0
25.3
30.0
15.2
20.0
10.0
12.7
2.5
0.0
0 - 25
25 - 50
50 - 100
100 - 200
Over 200
Summary of the findings (cont.)
No. of employees that attended training
1%
24%
Attended training
Did not attend training
Missing data
75%
Summary of the findings (cont.)
Municipal Information Centers
4%
33%
No
Yes
Missing
63%
Summary of the findings (cont.)
Portion of the budget devoted to employee training
44.8
50.0
38.8
40.0
30.0
9.0
20.0
7.5
10.0
0.0
None
0,001 to 0,5
0,5 to 1
Over 1 percent
Summary of the findings (cont.)
Portion of the budget dedicated to councillors
training
100.0
80.3
80.0
60.0
40.0
13.6
6.1
20.0
0.0
0.0
None
0,001 to 0,5
0,5 to 1
Over 1
Summary of the findings (cont.)
Priority trainingPriority
themes
training topics
4%
140
4% 3%
16%
Legal framework
Legal framewfinance
ork
Municipal
1274%
Municipal finance
Local economic development
120
100
Local
economic development
Service provision
4%
Communal issues
88
5%
10%
76
80
60
40
Organization and management
64
54 54 49
5%
Information and communication
Decentralizationissues
Communal
45 45 43 42
5%
Office and administrative w ork
37
9%36 32 32
Development of Municipal w ork
22
20
0
Public relations
Service
provision
Public
relations
Local democracy
and communities
Human resource management
Work on the Assembly sessions and commissions
Organization
and management
5%
8%
6%
1
6%
6%
European integration and international relations
Public procurement
Information and communication
Decentralization
Qualitative analysis
 A sample of 32 (20%of Serbia)
municipalities was selected according
to:




Geographic representation
Economic development and GDP portion
Population and Ethnic composition
Other demographic factors of less
importance
Qualitative analysis (cont)
 Over 120 interviews were conducted
including:
 Mayors
 Chiefs of Administration
 Chiefs of departments (budget, social
affairs, economic development,
communal issues, and others)
 Administrative staff and clerks
Qualitative analysis (cont)
 Interviews included questions on:
Municipal performance
Training experience in the past
Training preferences for the future
A number of training related topics
(duration, location, methods etc)
 Performance problems which can be
remedied by training
 Information on citizen participation and
services




Summary of the findings
 There is no professional training market –
especially on the supply side
 Expressed need for national coordination
and legal framework for employment and
professional development
 Training materials were mostly
unsatisfactory
 Municipalities are willing to fund training
and consulting
Experiences from Grant Schemes
 Lack of knowledge - LFA and other project
planning and drafting methodologies
 English language – loss of context
 Poor project management skills – mainly
administrative compliance
 NGO and expert organizations support –
Project drafting vs expertise
Obstacles
 Donor set priorities – Supply side
orientation
 Structure of the Municipal budget
 Lack of legislation
 Lack of donor programmes
coordination and long-term approach
to capacity building
Q&A
Thank you!
Marko Moračić