Data access and use are essential elements of a responsive, effective and financially sound public administration. Ethical and competent leadership is a further vital element for good democratic governance. This week in Hungary, the Council of Europe’s Centre of Expertise for Good Governance organised two activities to support local governments in these critical areas.
On 29 June, the second meeting of the Working Group on Local Finances took place in Budapest. Hosted by the Hungarian National Association of Local Authorities (TÖOSZ), the Working Group brings together municipal representatives and experts from the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Finance, the State Treasury and the State Audit Office, data and local finance specialists. Its current focus is the design of a new data analysis platform to support the use of actionable evidence on local finance and service performance by local authorities, drawing on a wealth of existing but not always easily accessible data. During the meeting, analysis of information needs of local leaders, access to diverse public data sources and priority indicators were discussed. These insight will feed into the design of the information tool as well as future capacity development efforts to support evidence use in policy-making and local public administration.
From 29 June-1 July, mayors and heads of office from 9 municipalities across the country joined their first session of the Leadership Academy Programme (LAP) at the European Youth Centre Budapest. The programme aims to enhance the leadership capabilities in Hungarian local governments. From June-December 2023, two cohorts of elected officials and senior staff of Hungarian municipalities will participate in the Leadership Academy. Key themes covered are core leadership and management capacities and their application with particular regard to the 12 Principles of Good Democratic Governance, Public Ethics, Performance Management and Local Finance Management. The programme, also hosted by the Hungarian National Association of Local Authorities (TÖOSZ), is highly interactive and designed to support peer learning, sharing ideas and building networks for ongoing collaboration.
The Leadership Academy Programme is one of the capacity building components of the project ‘Local Government Public Finance Development and Municipal Capacity Building in Hungary’ project, co-funded by the European Commission’s DG REFORM via the Technical Support Instrument 2022 and implemented by the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance.
