New date of the Conference!

DECENTRALISATION
- TWENTY YEARS OF POLISH LOCAL GOVERNANCE:
A MODEL FOR TRANSITION?

UN-HABITAT together with the Polish Foundation in Support of Local Democracy are organizing a conference "Decentralisation - Twenty Years of Polish Local Governance: A Model for Transition?".

The conference will be held in Warsaw, on January 27-28, 2011.

A date of the conference was changed (it was planned for November 25-26, 2010) due to the date of Polish Local-Government Elections.

The Conference will be spread over two days.
On the first day the participants will be invited to discuss the Polish experience of decentralization and local government reform. Discussion will focus around both the successes and the shortcomings of the Polish experience with especial reference for what it has to offer to the ongoing transition in parts of Europe and beyond.
The second day of our event will consist of a workshop session exploring the possibility of creating a Network in Support of Decentralisation in the countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. The idea of the network is to create a body which can support the UN-HABITAT "International Guidelines on Decentralisation and the Strengthening of Local Authorities" and the "International Guidelines on Access to Basic Services". The workshop will discuss self-assessment instruments for monitoring progress and initiatives for supporting countries who are or may in the future be seeking assistance with their decentralization efforts.

The participants of the conference are expected to be: central government officials, local government representatives, experts and representatives of NGOs. The conference will be held in the English language with translation available on the first day into the Polish language.

The conference is supported by the Mazowieckie Province Governor.

Registration forms for participation in the conference are available on both the Foundation in Support of Local Democracy and the UN-HABITAT Warsaw Office websites.

A preliminary Programme of the conference.

The list of hotels, in which the rooms are reserved, will be available from the 10th of September 2010 on the FRDL and UN Habitat website.
Neither trip or hotel will be funded by the conference.

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The twentieth anniversary
of the Foundation in Support of Local Democracy

Read about Foundation's history and experience


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The Foundation in Suppport of Local Democracy (FSLD) is a non-governmental, non-partisan, independent and non-profit organisation.
It was established in 1989 and over the years FSLD has grown to incorporate a network of 16 Regional Training Centres and four Colleges of Public Administration. We are one of the oldest and largest organizations of this kind in Central and Eastern Europe, and the largest employer among NGOs in Poland.

FSLD's mission is to promote the idea of civil self-governance as the fundamental form of democracy. To fulfil its mission, the Foundation supports the activity of local authorities and non-governmental organizations, thus contributing to the development and reinforcement of the civil society in the region.

We pride ourselves that over the 20 years we have provided training courses for 1 million people in Poland and abroad.

The Foundation has implemented a large number of complex projects. Our expertise, coupled with an impressive network of Regional Centres spanning the entire country, has allowed us to win and implement important and prestigious projects. All of our projects are guided by the principle of effectiveness, thus ensuring the maximum possible impact.

For a number of years, the Foundation has been active in the field of migrating Polish experiences of the systemic transformation to the countries still on the path of reforms.
The wealth of experience allows the Foundation to effectively assist countries undergoing systemic transformation in a number of fields, through direct technical assistance, as well as through implementation of activisation programmes. The Foundation began its international activities in 1994, and has been expanding both in scope and a number of projects ever since. Migrating Polish experience to countries of Central and Eastern Europe forms a formidable basis of our international activities. However, FSLD's experts use sophisticated, tailor-made methodology to create the greatest impact in the existing legislative, socio-economic and cultural environments.

We are proud to present the latest book by prof. Regulski on the condition and perspectives of Local Government in Poland.
The author is the President of the Foundation in Support of Local Democracy, and has been the Minister responsible for creating a framework in which Local Government functions today. His extensive knowledge and experience of Local Government ascertain an interesting read, reliable source of information and unparalleled analysis.
The book is divided in three parts describing the chronological development of the Local Government in Poland; analysing transformations in specific areas of Local Government; the third part assesses the extent of decentralisation, methodology and tools employed to reach the conclusions.
The book was published by Open Society Institute - Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative in Budapest.

Local Government in Poland [PDF format]