Cyprus is currently one of the most centralised countries in Europe, but local government reform plans, including decentralisation and territorial consolidation, have been discussed extensively during the last decade. In March 2022, the Local Government Reform was finally approved by the House of Representatives, with a package of three bills that will reorganise the structure of Cypriot municipalities and communities.
What challenges will the local authorities face as a consequence of the Reform? How can their capacities be strengthened to ensure good democratic governance and the delivery of high-quality services to their citizens? The new Council of Europe project “Enhancing the Local Government Reform in Cyprus”, implemented by the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance, will try to identify the appropriate answers to these questions. The project is funded through a Voluntary Contribution by the government of Cyprus, from the “Cyprus Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-2026” financed by the European Union. It started on 1 January 2023 and will last 30 months.
On 17 January, the project was presented to mayors, presidents of community councils and other main stakeholders through a launch event. Among the speakers, representatives of the Ministry of Interior (the main project beneficiary), the Unions of the Cyprus Municipalities and Communities and the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance discussed the main deliverables and the relevance of the initiative for the Cypriot local authorities. The same entities, together with the Cyprus Academy of Public Administration, composed the Steering Committee of the project, and held a kick-off meeting on the same day to agree on the first steps of its implementation.
Through the project, the Centre of Expertise will offer policy advice to the Cypriot authorities; will organise a peer review; update the National Training and Capacity-Building Strategy for the Local Government of Cyprus; and strengthen the skills and knowledge of staff and elected representatives of local authorities and their associations through a package of capacity building activities. In particular, these will be based on the toolkits of the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance, focusing on 1) Public Ethics Benchmarking; 2) Strategic Municipal Planning and Performance Management Programme; 3) Resilience Building Strategies; 4) Inter-Municipal Cooperation; 5) European Label of Governance Excellence; 6) Leadership Academy Programme.
Watch the recording of the event
