Training Needs of Municipalities within the Local Administration Reform Process

EU accession process and other global trends have been driving Turkish public administration to undergo a major reform along the democratic values of devolution-delegation of power, participatory processes in planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation and clear accountability mechanisms based on measurable performance indicators. To this end new principles and instruments of local public management have been introduced to local governments by the enactment of reform laws including, inter alias Public Fiscal Management and Control Act, Municipality Act, Special Provincial Administration Act. Besides, several other laws within the framework of public administration reform have been drafted.

All these three factors bring about a requirement especially for local administrations which play a pivotal role, to acquire new knowledge and skills apart from the basic or classical management techniques and instruments.

The workshop outlined the needs of local governments, especially municipalities, in managing the transformation process described above. Representatives of central and local administrations, academicians and NGOs participated in the workshop. Discussions held in the workshop will be integrated tothe training needs assessment report which expected be published in March 2006.