About the Programme

Urban development by strengthening the competence of self-government units, social dialogue and cooperation with civil society representatives 

Programme Operator: Ministry of Infrastructure and Development, Poland

Total costs of the Programme: 10 993 712 euro

EEA grant : 9 544 500 euro

Polish co-financing: 1 449 212 euro

Amount of grant for the project under open call for proposals:
The minimum 350 000 euro, the max. cannot exceed 550 000 eur

Programme Agreement signed in Oslo, April, 17TH, 2012, between The Financial Mechanism Committee and The Ministry of Regional Development for the financing of the Programme.
Programme Agreement  (8,5 MB)

Objective of the Programme

The objective of this Programme is to achieve better economic and social cohesion at the national, regional and local level through the development of mechanisms of effective cooperation both among local government units and between those individuals and representatives of civil society and entrepreneurs, in order to make joint decisions concerning the given area or solving important problems of that area. In particular, under the assumption that cities, especially metropolitan areas, are currently the main source of development in the regions, these areas require necessary intervention in this regard.

Measures implemented under the Programme

1) development of integrated development strategies for the whole city area (city and its functional area) - of a general, or sectoral character,
2) Development of operational plans (local action plans) – i.e. “program used for achieving [strategic] objectives” . They constitute tools for the implementation of actions foreseen in the strategic documents that are implemented within the urban functional area, or on the territory of several local government units. 

This should cover, in an integrated manner, the problems/issues relevant to Local Government units and local communities, in particular:
1. at the level of general/sectoral strategies:

• combating social exclusion;
• local labour market;
• educational tasks (in particular labour market analysis in respect of needs of the education system at the province/commune level);
• housing policy as a way of solving social problems (social function) and economic problems (growth of population mobility, increasing investment in housing infrastructure);
• shaping of public space, particularly the revitalization of degraded areas and development activities for public spaces to strengthen local social ties;
• problems of demographic change, in particular adaptation of cities’ "offers" to human life cycle; projects for children and young people, people of working age and in retirement, the development of services in the field of education, healthcare, culture and recreation.

2. social participation - strengthening public participation in local decision making; consultations with partners on local laws, strategies and development plans for communes, allowing partners to influence the actions implemented by local authorities;
3. transport infrastructure - the development of urban infrastructure in accordance with the principles of sustainable development, promotion of public transport, improving communication systems, public safety issues - communication, and other dimensions;
4. other strategies / issues important for the development of a local area, especially within 11 structural funds’ priorities of the European Union for the  period 2014-2020.

The activities envisaged in the Programme will be implemented through partnerships implemented at different levels: partnerships between adjacent communes, partnerships in agglomerations (central city with cities/communes belonging to the functional area), partnerships between communes in a similar situation (the axis of cooperation will be similar themes), partnership between different levels of local government: cooperation e.g. of metropolitan and voivodeship authorities, cross-sectoral partnerships

Predefined project

The predefined project “Building competences for inter-municipal and inter-sectoral cooperation as tools for local and regional development” is implemented within the programme. Its main objective is to prepare potential beneficiaries to apply in the open call for proposals and to implement the relevant projects.

Predefined project is implemented by the Association of Polish Cities, as the lead beneficiary, in cooperation with the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities and the Union of Rural Communes (Gminas) of the Republic of Poland and the Association of Polish Counties (Poviats). All of these units successfully implemented the project "Building the institutional capacity of local government units to improve the quality of public services" (2007-2011) in the perspective of the Financial Mechanism 2004-2009.

More information on this project is available on the website of the Association of Polish Cities

Eligible beneficiaries

Partnerships concluded between different self-government units or between local government administration and social partners. Partnership  of at least two self- government units  is required, including one city or urban and rural commune. It will also be possible to implement the relevant projects in partnership with local government units from donor states.

Two phases of the programme

I phase

The implementation of the predefined project in order to increase competences of the representatives of the local government units. This aim will be gained through activities such as: trainings, counselling , study visits, exchanging experience between self government units, assistance in the preparation of the applications in the open call for proposals.

The predefined project has been implemented since June 2012.

II phase

Open call for proposals.

A notice of the open call is planned on the end of December 2012.