Role of Local Government Associations of South East Europe in Training Delivery
to Local Authorities
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Is the training for local government regulated by law?
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Yes Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro,
Romania
No Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Republic of Srpska, Moldova, Slovenia
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Analysis of questionnaires submitted by NALAS member associations
During February 2008, NALAS surveyed its members to gather facts and best practices,
challenges and recommendations for strengthening their training capacities.
A total of 11 member associations out of 12 responded to the distributed questionnaire.
This Survey Report, The Role of Local Government Associations in Training Delivery
at Local Level, presents the most significant findings.
The questionnaire covers several important issues, including: the development and
implementation of a National Training Strategy, Training Delivery, the Training
Capacities of Associations and the funding of training; it identifies good and bad
experiences and sets out key questions in all these fields.
Training Strategies in South East Europe
Only 4 out of the 11 NALAS members’ countries have already adopted national
training strategies. The Moldovan government adopted their strategy in 2007, while
the Romanian and Bulgarian governments adopted or revised their strategies in 2006
and the Albanian in 2003.
Adoption of national strategies
The Romanian Federation of Local Authorities (FALR) and the National Association
of Municipalities from the Republic of Bulgaria (NAMRB) have identified the central
government institutions, including institutes of public administration in charge
of training at national level, as partners involved in the process.
In Moldova and Albania, the development of the National Training Strategy has been
supported by the Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform of the Council
of Europe, and both associations and non-governmental organizations have been involved
in the process. Currently, Montenegro is going through the same process and the
Strategy has recently been adopted.
The following concerns were expressed about the development of training strategies:
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In some cases, local authorities/LGAs were not involved in the process or were only
asked to send comments; the strategy was developed mainly by the central government
and its training institutions.
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In some cases, there was insufficient focus on developing a realistic Action Plan
and the Strategy was never implemented.
Training Needs Assessment
When asked how often they conduct training needs assessments (TNA), the NAMRB, ALVR
and SOS have responded that they conduct training needs assessment on a regular
basis. The AAM conducts training needs assessment once every 3 years. The others
(FALR, SCTM, UOM, ZELS, NLAMM and SOGFBiH) stated that they do training assessments,
but without a set framework. Therefore, it can be concluded that, while all associations
consider the TNA to be an important step in planning their training activities,
it can be done in different ways ranging from a complex and costly process to regular
feedback from training events.
Training needs assessment
Training Delivery
Associations were asked about the number of trainings they have delivered in 2007
and the number of participants they have trained.
SOS has been most active in 2007 with 65 training sessions and 2000 trained participants,
followed by SCTM with 57 training sessions and 1155 participants.
Most training programs have been targeted at municipal employees (73 out of 80 listed),
few uniquely to elected and appointed persons (6 out of 80) and only one has been
targeted for other professionals (social workers).
All associations together have listed 80 training programs as having been implemented
in 2007, out of which SCTM implemented 21 programs, SOS 17, AAM 12, NAMRB 9, ZELS
5, ALVRS 4, SIGFBiH 4, AKM 3, UOM 2, NLAMM 2 and FALR 1. Most of the associations
developed and implemented the training in the field of finances (11 out of 54),
internal management and ethics (10), municipal services (6). The other areas common
for several associations are local economic development, project management, public
relations and access to EU funds. Additionally, SCTM has important training activities
in strategic planning, while other topics (skills, environment, water supply) are
covered by only 1 or 2 programs.
All associations have had a positive experience with using local expertise (municipal
officials) as trainers.
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