Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe

Sustainable Tourism in Times of Crisis

14/05/2012 17:39:44

Representatives of the NALAS Task Force on Sustainable Tourism participated at the conference “Destination Management and Branding in the Mediterranean Region: Sustainable Tourism in Times of Crisis”. Many subjects such as marketing, management and ecological & social effects of tourism were discussed within the framework of destination management. Special focus was put on the strategies in branding efforts and successful applications of the tourism destinations located in the Mediterranean Basin and the question how the region can receive a larger share from the tourism cake. Other topics discussed within the context of the Conference are: new trends in sustainable tourism (eco-tourism, creative tourism, agro- tourism), adaptation to environmental challenges, tourism network development, the roles of local community, social effects of tourism (ethical codes etc.)

Manual for Efficient Sanitary Landfill Management in SEE

20/04/2012 21:08:22

The Network of Associations of Local Authorities in South Eastern Europe (NALAS), supported by the Open Regional Fund for South East Europe (ORF), has initiated a project with a focus on landfill management.

At present, many of the landfills in the project region are not operated satisfactorily and cause negative impact on human health and environment. Thus, the project analyzed the current status of waste disposal in the region, and based on the findings developed recommendations for future improvements.

Publication website

Call for applications - NALAS Knowledge Manager

12/04/2012 17:26:33

NALAS seeks a highly motivated individual with a broad scope of expertise and experience in communication and knowledge management applying information technology. The position requires a creative attitude in delivering relevant information to NALAS members using different electronic communication tools and forms which should be appealing and user friendly. The position requires a communicative and fair-minded individual with high ethical standards, a strong work ethic and professionalism. Applications will be accepted by e-mail at info@nalas.eu. The deadline for submission is 17:00, Monday, April 30, 2012.

Terms of Reference NALAS Knowledge Manager

NALAS Application Form

Seventh gathering of the NALAS General Assembly

05/04/2012 20:21:28

The General Assembly of NALAS, consisting of 2 mayors from each member association, held its seventh meeting on 29 and 30 March 2012. This year the meeting was hosted in Prishtina, with a great support by the Association of Kosovo Municipalities.

Over 100 participants from South-East Europe and beyond - mayors, municipal officials, experts and guest - participated at the events and contributed in the joint call for renewing commitment to fiscal decentralization.

At the General Assembly, all NALAS former and future presidents also shared their views about the vision of NALAS network. They also called for extension of the Covenant of Mayors to South East Europe. In addition, the mayors from SEE presented their most successful municipal projects which contributed to improving decentralization in different municipal function areas in 2011.

Mr Ozgen Keskin, Mayor of Yildirim Municipality of Bursa (Turkey) was elected by the General Assembly to be the new NALAS president in the upcoming year. He will work closely at this position with the vice presidents Mr Anton Peršak, mayor of the Municipality of Trzin (Slovenia) and Mr Đuro Bukvić, mayor of the Municipality of Lukač (Croatia).

Event website

Pristina Declaration on Renewing Commitment to Fiscal Decentralization in South East Europe

02/04/2012 06:45:42

The Seventh NALAS General Assembly Meeting took place in Prishtina, on 29th and 30th March 2012. Over 100 participants from SouthEast Europe and beyond - mayors, municipal officials, experts and guest - participated at the events and contributed in the joint call for renewing commitment to fiscal decentralization.

The economic turbulence of the last five years has impacted the economies of South East Europe. In general, the period has not been a good one for local governments in the region and it has led to local governments and their leaders to call their central governments for renewing the commitment to fiscal decentralization.

This call was presented at the VII General Assembly Meeting of the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South East Europe (NALAS) organized on 30 March 2012, in Pristina. The co-host of the event was the Mayor of Pristina and the Vice President of the Association of Kosovo Municipalities Mr Isa Mustafa. The Association of Kosovo Municipalities was a co-organiser of this General Assembly of NALAS.

The Declaration on Renewing Commitment to Fiscal Decentralization in South East Europe which was adopted by the General Assembly calls the central governments “to systematically review the operation and functioning of intergovernmental grant and transfer mechanisms and to focus particular attention on improving equalization mechanisms which are weak in most of the region”.

NALAS Prishtina Declaration

Fiscal Decentralization Indicators for South-East Europe

26/03/2012 07:07:42

This report has been prepared by the Fiscal Decentralization Task Force of the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South East Europe (NALAS). Its purpose is to provide national and local policy makers, researchers, and interested outside observers with reliable comparative data on municipal finances and intergovernmental fiscal relations in South East Europe.

Like its object of analysis, the report is a work in progress. It represents a first attempt by NALAS to assemble from its member associations basic data on fiscal decentralization. Over time, NALAS hopes to expand and deepen the analysis in response to requests and suggestions from both member associations and interested observers. For the moment, however, the report provides a snap shot of the structure, functions, and financing of local governments in South East Europe, as well as an overview of how intergovernmental financial relations have evolved over the economically turbulent period 2006-2010.

The report is divided into four sections. It begins with a brief discussion of the data and some of the methodological issues surrounding its use and interpretation. It then presents basic information about the size and structure of municipal governments in South East Europe, as well a few key macro-economic indicators. The report continues by examining the composition of local government revenues and expenditures and concludes with a few observations about trends over the last five years.

NALAS-FDIndicators.pdf

Urban Governance Capacity Building: Awareness Raising Workshops on "Cities without Corruption - Cities with Future" (March 5-14 2012)

23/03/2012 06:09:35

As a part of Urban Governance capacity building activities of the WB-Austria Urban Partnership Program, we organized a series of Awareness Raising Workshops on "Cities without Corruption - Cities with Future" targeting municipal decision makers and other local government officials. The workshops were organized in on March 5 in Zagreb, Croatia; March 7 in Tirana, Albania; March 13 in Belgrade, Serbia and March 14 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In total there were around 110 participants from four countries. Participants were comprised of Mayors, Deputy Mayors, City Managers, Heads of Urban Planning, Administration, Finance departments as well as LGA representatives, NGOs and international organizations (including USAID, GIZ, Regional Anticorruption Initiative Secretariat for SEE, etc.). Workshops offered to participants an innovative and practical approach on how to treat and prevent the vulnerability of local governments to corruption, to enhance the efficiency, transparency, and accountability of services delivered at the city level. The approach implies a strategic and participatory process conducted inside local governments. A case study from La Paz, Bolivia was featured to illustrate the systemic approach, which was disseminated and adapted successfully in CEE/SEE local governments through the joint efforts of FPDL (Partners Foundation for Local Development - Romania) and WBI, attracting the interest of mayors, practitioners and academics. In 2011, this innovative approach was granted the UN Public Service Award, a prestigious international recognition.

During March-May of 2012, through a transparent competitive process, one local government from each of those 4 countries will be selected to receive Program experts' support, to identify vulnerabilities to corruption in their local governments and best strategies to address them. If you would like to apply this approach in your city and receive expert's support in treating and preventing vulnerability to corruption please see www.fpdl.ro for more information.

In December 2012, participating local governments will be invited to present their strategies during an International Conference to be attended by other countries' representatives with similar experiences.

Urban Governance Capacity Building: Awareness Raising Workshops on "Cities without Corruption - Cities with Future" (March 5-14 2012)

22/03/2012 09:42:22

As a part of Urban Governance capacity building activities of the WB-Austria Urban Partnership Program, we organized a series of Awareness Raising Workshops on "Cities without Corruption - Cities with Future" targeting municipal decision makers and other local government officials. The workshops were organized in on March 5 in Zagreb, Croatia; March 7 in Tirana, Albania; March 13 in Belgrade, Serbia and March 14 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In total there were around 110 participants from four countries. Participants were comprised of Mayors, Deputy Mayors, City Managers, Heads of Urban Planning, Administration, Finance departments as well as LGA representatives, NGOs and international organizations (including USAID, GIZ, Regional Anticorruption Initiative Secretariat for SEE, etc.). Workshops offered to participants an innovative and practical approach on how to treat and prevent the vulnerability of local governments to corruption, to enhance the efficiency, transparency, and accountability of services delivered at the city level. The approach implies a strategic and participatory process conducted inside local governments. A case study from La Paz, Bolivia was featured to illustrate the systemic approach, which was disseminated and adapted successfully in CEE/SEE local governments through the joint efforts of FPDL (Partners Foundation for Local Development - Romania) and WBI, attracting the interest of mayors, practitioners and academics. In 2011, this innovative approach was granted the UN Public Service Award, a prestigious international recognition. If you would like to apply this approach and receive Expert's support in treating and preventing vulnerability to corruption in your city please see www.fpdl.ro for more information.

NALAS EXPERTISE REACHES IRAQ

12/03/2012 20:59:19

Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South East Europe NALAS shared the local government experience of the region with the Iraqi local and national officials. Members of Iraqi Parliament and officials of Baghdad Governorate and local councils highly appreciated the expertise provided by NALAS in a conference held in Erbil/Northern Iraq.

NALAS Knowledge Center accumulates the experience of member local government associations and makes them available for local governments in South East Europe through different forms and methods. Extending its knowledge disseminating capacity to broader neighbourhood, NALAS co-organised with IRD/USAID a conference in Erbil/Iraq in order to share the region’s know-how in local government reforms. The Conference in Iraq held last week showed vividly that the use of such experience-based knowledge is of high value even beyond the geographic area of South East Europe (SEE). This is the case especially in countries with emerging democracy, where the local government system is just taking shape and where the multi-ethnic societies heal wounds from violent clashes. At the closing session of the Conference, the Member of the Iraqi Parliament, Mr. Kadhim al-Shimri, congratulated the organisers for what he qualified as “the highest quality conference held since 2003 in Iraq”, since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. For security reasons, the event took place in Erbil/Northern Iraq.
The conference titled "Cooperation between local governments in South East Europe and Iraq and Experience Sharing" was organized by the USAID funded Iraqi Community Action Program with support of NALAS. Over 100 representatives of Baghdad Governorate, district and sub-district councils as well as four members of national Parliament attended. NALAS experts presented the state of decentralisation in SEE with the special focus on local government reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia and Turkey. Council Members of Baghdad showed great interest in SEE experiences to shed light on their search for local government management model.
The Slovenian Association (SOS) Secretary General, Ms. Jasmina Vidmar explained the interaction between members of city council and citizens in EU countries, portraying her own experience as a Council Member of the City of Maribor in three mandates. While the Director for International Cooperation of the Union of Municipalities of Marmara, Mr. Murat Daoudov delivered his presentation in Arabic language on local government system in Turkey and the role of UMM in providing services to municipalities. NALAS Executive Director, Mr. Kelmend Zajazi provided an overview of the local government legislation in SEE, the reform drivers, including the Charter of Local Self Government of the Council of Europe, as well as the common obstacles which the countries in transition have faced in their decentralization path.
At the second day of the conference, Mr. Amir Kupusija explained Bosnia and Herzegovina experiences in involving citizens in the local government function, while Mr. Mladen Ivanovic from the Croatian Association of Communes described how decentralisation in Croatia served as the main instrument to restore trust and reconcile in the aftermath of recent wars in the Balkans. Finally, Ms. Natasha Acevska from NALAS Secretariat provided more details about the fiscal decentralisation reforms with an overview of the local government revenue structure in SEE.
No doubt that the Balkan experience in transitioning from the legacy of centralised socialism into a local democracy in a post conflict context drew great level of interest from Iraqi officials who face tremendous challenges in searching for the right model to develop their local government system and in the same time overcome internal ethnic and religious conflicts. Over 200 Iraqi local government councillors have been killed in the past few years during the civil unrest. However, it was impressive to see how these local leaders are interested and committed to move the process forward amid the security threats of their own lives.
Encouraged by the experience of Erbil conference, NALAS and IRD intend to organises a follow-up event for Iraqi local officials in South East Europe. Commenting on the success of the event, NALAS President Vladimir Moskov said: “In line with its Strategic Plan, NALAS will extend its knowledge sharing to neighbouring regions and broaden the geographic scope of its cooperation to the emerging democracies”.

Calls for experts for Development of a Cost and Financing Model in Solid Waste Management

24/02/2012 20:41:11

NALAS is starting a project on Development of a Cost and Financing Model in Solid Waste Management with an aim to improve the methodological and organizational framework for the establishment of sustainable refinancing systems in the field of solid waste management in the NALAS operational region of South Eastern Europe (SEE). For this project, NALAS publishes the following two terms of reference:

Terms of Reference for External consultant services (Regional Expert) on the project Development of a Cost and Financing Model in Solid Waste Management
Invitation to NALAS members to participate in the project Development of a Cost and Financing Model in Solid Waste Management