„Rural Closer to Cooperation” is a project aimed at making cooperation between local government units, particularly in rural areas, and NGOs a disseminated practice that will develop and gain importance in the area of local socio-economic development activities.
The aim of the project is also to implement good cooperation practices, contributing to the improvement of effectiveness of activities of non-governmental organisations with local administration officials. In the submitted project, activities will be carried out concerning both better substantive preparation of a group of employees of local governments from rural areas to carry out tasks on the basis of partnership with the third sector and aimed at its integration, as well as creating favourable conditions for its active involvement in the development of social initiatives and inclusion of non-governmental organisations in the process of local socio-economic development.
Since the beginning of its activity, i.e. for almost 12 years, the „MOST” Association has been cooperating with local government units. We cooperate in projects implemented by the Association and in the framework of current activities, counselling and training concerning the development of social activity and issues of the third sector. In the Silesian Voivodeship, so far about 15 plenipotentiaries for cooperation with NGOs have been appointed in local governments, i.e. such a solution applies to less than 10% local government units (the total number of communes and districts in the Silesian Voivodeship is 184). In addition, this function is practically absent in rural municipalities and occurs incidentally in rural districts. In these self-government units, designated officials are assigned additional responsibilities related to cooperation with organisations, or as in a large part of rural municipalities, there is no distinction of such a scope. Our observations show that „administering” cooperation with organisations within a local government unit most often increases the number of conferences, seminars and training sessions organised by offices for organisations and this can be regarded as a positive phenomenon. On the other hand, it is difficult to talk about building cooperation, developing a good model of communication or a mode of consultation - what dominates are time-consuming grant procedures to which practically every year, within (or without) the cooperation resolution, insignificant changes are introduced. This is particularly evident in rural areas, where there is a small number of traditional organisations, whose support by the local government is considered permanent and is usually spent on the same tasks rather than on expanding cooperation.
The following has been in force for 5 years Law on Public Benefit Activity and Volunteerism, in which the obligation of cooperation between local administration and NGOs is written into. For almost 4 years, broad opportunities have been opening up for participation in various European programmes, including the ESF, which show the benefits that cooperation between different partners can bring, including the advantages of partnership between the administration and the third sector. Wider activity of Polish NGOs on the international forum, in particular the EU, contributes to learning about various new models of NGO activity and a gradual change of views on conducting activity in the 3rd sector. In March 2004, for the purposes of activities carried out by the „MOST” Association in several municipalities in the Silesian Voivodeship and concerning problems with the application of the provisions of the Act on Public Benefit Activity and Volunteerism, we have prepared a study entitled „Problems of cooperation between local administration and NGOs”. At the time, it was difficult to assume that our assessment of the problems at the time and the opinions expressed by organisations and local government employees would still be valid. This is confirmed by information obtained from the „Closer to Cooperation” project implemented with the CIF in 2007. In reality, the cooperation between the administration and organisations usually goes little beyond declarations of good intentions, and the creation of professional staff and the employment of employees in the social sector is still a controversial and marginalised issue. Both authorities and organisations have a stake in maintaining this state of affairs. Instead of setting up areas for more advanced cooperation, time and energy are wasted on finding each other's reasons for not making concrete contact for common tasks.
Existing legislation obliges to „refer in some way” to cooperation with NGOs, but who and how, on behalf of the local government administration, deals directly with NGOs is a matter for the authorities to decide. Four patterns of „administration” of cooperation with NGOs in authorities can be distinguished:
- assigning additional responsibilities to designated officials (usually from the publicity or civic affairs departments, but this is not the rule and departments can vary),
- the handling of organisational matters by the „thematically” relevant departments,
- appointment of a plenipotentiary for cooperation with NGOs (most common in urban areas),
- mixed system - in different areas, cooperation is organised differently, for example, the plenipotentiary deals with cooperation with organisations, e.g. by organising forums, seminars, training sessions, while individual departments conduct competition procedures for subsidising the implementation of tasks,
Any of these models may be correct, as the needs and possibilities are different. The problem is that the cooperation system should suit the participating partners, and such important matters as the organisation of the cooperation are hardly consulted by the authorities with the organisations.
The specific nature of NGOs located in rural areas also has a huge impact on cooperation. Most often, these are Rural Housewives' Associations, sports clubs, Volunteer Fire Brigades and breeders' associations which, despite the presence of a large social potential among them, are not often considered by the authority as a useful partner in solving local problems. Additionally, in order to adapt to changing conditions, these organisations need institutional support in their immediate environment, which should be provided by the local government. An official responsible for contacts with representatives of non-governmental organisations in rural areas should acquire specific skills enabling him/her to take active steps to develop sectoral and inter-sectoral cooperation, including motivating and encouraging the local community to become active within the third sector.
An even more important problem is the level of preparation of designated local government employees for cooperation with organisations. Matters of cooperation with NGOs are often handled by casual persons for whom cooperation with organisations is often an additional duty next to promotion or fundraising. It is practically a rule that designated employees and appointed plenipotentiaries, start their activities with little knowledge of the principles of civic organisations. Personnel changes in offices, following elections, result in changes for positions considered to have little responsibility and no substantive training, which are therefore treated as synecracies. In our experience, those appointed to lead cooperation with organisations should not count on a permanent position. It is all too often the case that by the time they have acquired the necessary knowledge to work with organisations, they have been replaced by the next employee who is „new to the subject”. Also the employees themselves often make no secret of the fact that their aim is to get another, judged to be a better position in the office. It is also all too common to adopt the attitude of a decision-maker towards organisations and to ignore the competence of the people working in organisations.
Well-prepared NGO officers who are interested in their work and see it as a career prospect are needed for the development of local partnerships and the NGO sector. The use of third sector infrastructure organisations and occasional training, are no substitute for a programme explicitly aimed at this group. This is evident from the results of the „Closer to Cooperation” project implemented by the Association in 2007, addressed directly to civil servants. It is also necessary to initiate mutual contacts between officials dedicated to integrating them with organisations or preparing them to use the potential of the third sector. Both the Plenipotentiaries for People with Disabilities and for Alcohol and Drug Problems are in a better position to participate in relevant programmes and to contact each other. The „Closer to Collaboration” project has delivered the expected results both in terms of increased competence among participants and in activating local NGOs. We now want to target rural and rural-urban areas, where there is a greater need to initiate activities with organisations.
The project contributes to the objective of the CIF by increasing cooperation between organisations and local government in the implementation of public tasks through measures aimed at levelling opportunities for organisations from rural areas.
The target group is local government officials - employees with contact duties with NGOs. The group will consist of up to 15 participants (from 11 municipalities), 7 of whom have already worked with the MOST Association. The territorial scope of the project is the central, western and northern sub-region of the Silesian Voivodeship (former Katowice and Częstochowa Voivodeships).
For the implementation of the task, it is crucial to include a group of NGO representatives in the implementation team. The aim is to convince the participants of the target group of the competences of people working in the third sector, to introduce into the workshop scenario elements similar to real contacts between local government officials and representatives of the third sector, to promote integration and to objectivise the monitoring of activities and the evaluation of results. Five people initially declared their participation in the project. We will invite another 6 - 10 people to participate in the project, selected from among the participants of the projects cooperating with the Association: „Without the circular”, „Let's work together”, RO ESF, Partnership for Professionalisation of the Third Sector within IW EQUAL, „Closer to cooperation”.