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The Governance Health
Check has been tested in a number of European cities
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Governance Health
Check
Pilot Cities |
Baar
Switzerland
www.baar.ch |
Baar is a town of 20,000 inhabitants situated in central Switzerland
between Zurich and Lucerne and is one of the eleven municipalities
in the Canton of Zug. This innovative local authority, uniquely
in Switzerland, has no local council but is managed by seven
directly elected Board members. The most important decision-making
arena in the authority is the citizens assembly (Gemeindeversammlung),
comprised of all citizens, which can make binding decisions on
local issues. In 2000, the municipality of Baar won the Speyer
Quality Prize for excellence in co-operation between the elected
board members and the municipal administration. In that year
it also received ISO 9000 certification for the whole of its
local administration.
The motivation for participating in the Governance Test as
a Swiss pilot came from the conviction of the Board members and
public officials that even though there is already a high quality
of life in Baar there is scope for further improvement, in particular
with regard to improving relationships towards external stakeholders.
The findings of the 'Baar Governance Test' were very positive,
particularly in the fields of safety, education and public health.
Nevertheless, even though there are no 'red lights' showing at
present, the focus group participants identified a number of
future challenges such as economic development and citizen engagement
which need to be addressed by the local authority and its partners.
The findings of the project were presented in a public meeting
in
February 2004 to which all focus group participants had been
invited. More than 100 persons accepted the invitation. The objective
of the meeting was to strengthen the networks among the focus
group participants but also to discuss which proposals for improvement
should be taken further.
The local authority discussed the results of the workshops
held at the public meetings further in May 2004 and decided that
the following proposals should be implemented:
- The Board members are to undertake a 'walk and talk' (Politikerspaziergang)
in the local area in order to create an informal framework for
residents to talk to them and to meet 'hard-to- reach' groups.
- Furthermore, the Board members are also to visit the community
groups and clubs of foreign residents in Baar in order to learn
more about their views and concerns.
- Last but not least, a working group dealing with traffic
problems is to be established. The 'Governance Test' had identified
a number of approaches to reduce the problems of car traffic
in the local area and to increase the safety for pedestrians
and cyclists but it was felt that because of the high economic
importance of this problem an integrated solution is necessary
which needs some more thinking and discussions.
The local authority of Baar is highly committed to these new
initiatives. It has promised to implement the key recommendations
of the Governance Test and has already integrated them into the
annual action plan which is distributed to every household each
year.
If you want to learn more about 'good governance' practices
in Baar you may want to read a case study produced by GI in 2002.
Please download the case study in .pdf here.
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Barcelona
Spain
www.barcelona.es |
 Barcelona is the capital of the autonomous
region of Catalunya and the province of Barcelona in the north-east
of Spain. It has a surface area of 99 km2 and a population of
1,514,588 inhabitants. After a long period of manufacturing decline,
Barcelona has become, in recent decades, an economically competitive
city, dominated by services, with growth above the average for
Spanish cities. From the 1980s, once democracy was restored in
Spain, Barcelona City Council set in motion an administrative
modernisation process which included innovations such as the
introduction of public management approaches, geographical decentralisation
and e-government. The city council in Barcelona has provided
a catalysing role in the city, based on participatory principles.
Its commitment to community leadership was particularly evident
in the Olympic Games in 1992 - this was not only the starting
point for a major programme of cooperation with the private sector
and a regeneration of run-down areas of the city (such as the
new Olympic Village area) but it also set in motion an ongoing
strategic planning process which has become a model in many other
parts of the Spanish-speaking world.
The then Vice-mayor of the City of Barcelona, Ernest Maragall,
agreed that Barcelona would participate in the Governance Test
in order to get a clearer picture of the views of key stakeholders
on important strategic issues in the city. In addition to the
normal range of stakeholders, the City of Barcelona chose two
groups - young people and foreign residents - as stakeholders
who should receive special attention in the Governance Test,
because of their importance to the future of the city.
The Barcelona Governance Test showed that most focus group
participants were very pleased to work, study and live in Barcelona.
There were particularly favourable reactions to community safety,
education, culture and leisure, and public transport in the city.
There was a also a strong belief that the City Council was transparent
in its decision-making and dealings with citizens.
It was striking that the focus groups interviewed on community
safety agreed that Barcelona is a relatively safe city, in spite
of the existence of some districts which are rather 'insecure'.
Most participants accepted that some minor crimes (e.g. pickpocketing)
were a nuisance but were to be expected in such a big city and
were at relatively low levels.
Participants were also very positive about the competitiveness
of the city as a business and tourist location - although they
suggested that there were some warning signs that this could
be endangered in the future.
There were some other warning signs, too. There was general
agreement that the issue of housing needs urgent action. Other
priorities for rapid action identified in the Governance Test
were education and social integration. In particular, many focus
group participants thought that parents should take more responsibility
for the wider education of their children (so that schools did
not have to take on this task alone) and that schools should
also train pupils in practical skills and not just prepare them
for university careers.
All focus group participants received written feedback on
the main findings of their session. The findings of the project
were presented to the City of Barcelona management team in April
2003. The Vice-Mayor and city managers expressed their satisfaction
that public discourse had changed significantly in recent years,
so that the Governance Test demonstrated that citizens now had
a strong sense of pride in and responsibility for their city.
Although some focus group participants still thought that the
'state' should fix all their problems, most participants believed
that local problems could only be solved if citizens, community
groups, business and public agencies found ways of working well
together in partnerships.
The improvement suggestions emerging from the Barcelona Governance
Test were discussed further in some workshops at the FORUM
BARCELONA 2004 and in other consultations with citizens.
You can download a press article on the Governance
Test from La Vanguardia from 20 February 2003 in .doc and .pdf
(in Spanish).
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Calderdale
UK
www.calderdale.gov.uk/
index.jsp |
 Calderdale
is a unitary district council with 192,400 inhabitants in the
north of England situated in West Yorkshire, centred on the charming
town of Halifax, a traditional centre of the wool textile industry.
The local authority has developed a strong emphasis on strategic
management, guided by a corporate plan - the Council's Vision
and Corporate Priorities - and a community strategy - the Calderdale
Futures Plan. Calderdale MBC has shown itself as an example of
best practice by working with other agencies, such as the health
and voluntary sectors, to improve the health of people living
in the Borough. The Council was awarded 'Beacon Status' in 2001-02
for its excellence in Local Health Strategies. In 2003-04 it
was also awarded 'Beacon Status' for transforming secondary education
(where its greatest strengths were described as "effective
leadership, the building of strong partnerships and well-focused
strategies, which have made a significant difference to the standards
of attainment by students in Calderdale").
In Calderdale, the GI Governance Health Check was sponsored
by Calderdale Forward, the Local Strategic Partership which includes
all major local stakeholders. At the time of the Health Check,
Calderdale Forward had been in existance for two years and there
was a desire to verify if the strategic priorities had been well
chosen. Furthermore, members of the LSP thought it would be useful
to collect 'subjective' performance information from different
stakeholder groups, in order to help to interpret existing 'objective'
performance data.
The focus group sessions were carried out in June and July
2003. The results showed that Calderdale was doing rather well
in the field of economic development, social well-being and sustainable
development. One area which emerged as being particularly effective
and well-managed was the Youth Parliament. The focus group with
young people and other focus groups made it clear that the members
of the Youth Parliament were taken seriously by the local council
and the young people themselves clearly thought that it was worth
while being engaged. Not surprisingly, the Calderdale Youth Parliament
has subsequently obtained Beacon Status.
On an another positive note, it also became evident that there
was a high awareness in most community groups and voluntary organisations
that there is a need for partnership working in the local area
and a high priority for ways of integrating members of minority
and ethnic groups. Indeed, Calderdale Council had specifically
initiated a People's Forum in order to help nonprofit organisations
to coordinate their activities better.
The Governance Health Check identified citizen participation
as an area for potential improvement, as focus group participants
either did not feel sufficiently involved in such exercises or
did not feel that the results of such exercises were taken seriously
by the public sector organizations in the area. Other areas for
potential improvement also emerged from the focus groups - participants
from some areas of Calderdale were dissatisfied with the level
of community safety (although in most areas there was a general
feeling that Calderdale remained a relatively safe place to live
and work) and many users of public transport were dissatisfied
with the existing bus services. Governance International made
a number of recommendations for these areas based on suggestions
which had emerged during the discussions in the focus groups
and 'good practices' in the other GI pilot cities.
The overall report, including the 'Governance Balanced Scorecards'
was submitted to the Local Strategic Partnership in August 2003.
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Ulm
Germany
www.ulm.de |
 Ulm is a city of 115,000 inhabitants
situated on the Danube in the state of Baden-Württemberg.
On the opposite bank of the Danube, in the state of Bavaria,
is Ulm's sister city Neu-Ulm. Ulm is known throughout Germany
for its Gothic Minster which has one of the world's highest spires.
The local authority has a strong commitment to citizen engagement,
social and ecological issues. Local Agenda 21 has been driving
many other participatory projects such as the development of
a social agenda for the City of Ulm, which was agreed by the
city council in 2000 after a comprehensive consultation process
with citizens and other stakeholder groups. The local authority
has now started to implement 8 of the proposed 25 projects which
are part of the social agenda and has also started to experiment
with 'participatory budgets'. Ulm also cooperates with local
business and schools to improve the environmental quality of
life in the city. It has gained national prizes in Germany for
its initiatives in solar energy. In spite of a severe budget
cut in 2003, the local authority is determined to continue to
strengthen civic society in Ulm.
The participation of the City of Ulm in the pilot project
Governance Health Check was motivated by the following factors:
- Ulm is already strongly involved in citizen engagement -
the Governance Health Check explores new ways to reach out to
citizens who have not been engaged so far.
- The Governance Health Check gives a systematic assessment
of the current situation and trends in Ulm which allows the city
to design projects related to citizen engagement, social planning
and economic development more effectively.
- In this way, the Governance Health Check helps to achieve
savings, which is very important given the current fiscal crisis
in Ulm and elsewhere in Germany
Furthermore, Ulm is also interested in 'good governance' practices
from elsewhere which might help the city to improve further its
current initiatives and to find some new ways of working.
The focus group sessions took place in December 2003 and February
2004. The discussions in the focus groups showed that most participants
were well aware of the difficult budget situation of the city
and understood that savings and even cuts were necessary. They
considered that the current emphasis upon citizen engagement
would be even more vital than before in dealing with difficult
situation. Many focus group participants praised particularly
of the 'round table' initiative of the directly elected mayor
(Oberbürgermeister). Furthermore, the groups thought
that Ulm was an economically competitive city and a safe place
in which to live and work.
On the other hand, some negative trends were identified in the
focus groups. For example, all focus groups agreed that the economic
situation and jobs had deteriorated in Ulm, as indeed they have
elsewhere in Germany. As in Baar, Barcelona and Calderdale, the
participants of the Ulm Governance Health Check identified a
specific economic problem in the skilled manual sector of the
workforce, since young people no longer considered these jobs
to be attractive. Most focus groups also suggested that the level
of social integration and the level of policy sustainability
had both suffered from the poor national economic conditions
and the difficult budget situation in the City of Ulm and other
public agencies.
The results of the Governance Health Check have shown that quick
action is needed on a number of fronts, particularly in relation
to the marketing of skilled manual jobs to young people, the
strengthening of policy sustainability and improving the coordination
and partnership working between clubs and nonprofit associations.
These issues are to be taken further by three working groups
which were set up by the mayor after Governance International
presented the results of the project to all focus group participants
and members project steering group on 21 July 2004. The brief
given to the working groups, which consist of participants from
different focus groups in the Health Check, emphasizes the need
to identify concrete solutions which can be quickly implemented.
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Informal Discussion |
Use this form to arrange an informal
discussion with a GI director about the Governance Health Check.
Now click on the "Send"
button |
Dr. Elke
Loeffler
Chief Executive
Governance International
PO Box 10884
Birmingham B1 2XG UK
tel/fax: + 44 (0) 121 643 5724
email: elke.loeffler@govint.org |
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