Inter-municipal Cooperation in Planning and Service Delivery: Analysis and Recommendations

Daniel Serban - Local Development Group

Paper commissioned by UNDP

Inter-municipal cooperation - why?

• delivering public service at local level - the value of cooperation

• concept and benefits of IMC in the framework of local governance and decentralization

• main factors influencing IMC• degree of decentralization;

• tiers and size of the government

• legal framework/incentives;

• EU funds - donor orientation,

• history, tradition, trust

Overview on IMC in Finland (OECD country) - high degree of autonomy

• 250 joint authorities (regional councils, hospital districts, district for care of disabled and joint authorities to perform functions in public health and education.>specific task on permanent basics = are independent legal public entities governed by municipal legislation.

• Municip. can purchase services from other municip = service agreement.

• Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities runs a project on service competition

• Sub-regional cooperation: economic development policy and lobbying, traditionally. In the future: land use pollicy and planning, municipal engineering, communication networks, envirnmental care.

• Sub-regions intiative the project, the MOI and Association of Local and Regional Authorities support the project.

Finland - Inter-municipal organization in Oulu region (business environment policy)

• 2002 - SEUTU (county) national government programcounty council = strategic managerof co-operation• No of cooperating municipalities: 10 • Type of public service:planning and coordinating• Service:business environment policyAchivement:“the organization is based on activities, not

administration.”Challenge:planning and coordination add high costs.

Romania – Oradea metropolitan area (public utilities and planning&coordination)

• No of cooperating municipalities: 8 (260,000 inh.)(out of which 3 Hungarian majority)• Service: public utilities provisions, infrastructure investments, planning and coordination

Political decision: The Council of Mayors Operational framework:project basedand/or OMA administration office

Achievement:impressive CIP and bussinessChallenge: to re-organize the body of authority

Policy Recommendations

• in response to territorial fragmentation of service delivery

• designing an appropriate legal framework for inter-municipal cooperation on service delivery

• increasing municipal capacity

• improving public service management

IMC IS A NOT A MEAN IN ITSELF, BUT A TOOL FOR BETTER PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY!!!

In the afternoon:

• Who needs IMC? Why? Factors/pre-conditions influencing IMC in your countries.

• To what extend the municipalities need legal incentives and in what context?

• What challenges would you face while assisting municipalities on IMC? How do you plan to meet them?

• Recommendations/suggestions for manual improvement