Central and Eastern Europe public administration assistance [CEEPAA] : Romania -- final report

The project was a success. Years 1 and 2 provided direct, intensive TA to 10 local government units (LGUs) in citizen participation, customer service and information, economic development, public management, and budget/finance. Year 3 extended earlier work by wholesaling best practices through advisors and counterparts trained in years 1 and 2. In all, 176 municipal and county governments received training in at least one program component, most in three or more. The project, which trained 1,374 participants, produced all required deliverables and achieved significant results, exceeding USAID/Romania"s R4 framework targets. Major conclusions and recommendations are as follows: (1) Besides its contribution to project sustainability, CEEPAA"s strong reliance on Romanian professional staff and local consultants and trainers helped convince counterparts to take time from their jobs to attend training courses and seminars. Expatriate consultants learned the valuable lesson that Romanian trainers could get the job done and disseminate appropriately developed technical information. (2) Most of CEEPAA"s program areas will continue to need USAID assistance. Program budgeting for 1999 must be carried out for cities, counties, and other institutions, most of which will need follow-up workshops and cluster assistance. Although revenue generation and maximization are critical, local taxes, assessments, and collection are only words to most LGUs. Complex training programs in this area are needed. Other public management program components requiring continued assistance include personnel management, procurement, organizational development, handling paperwork, and administrative duties of LGU managers and mayors. Citizen participation continues to be difficult to address. Local officials are often reluctant to involve the average citizen in LGU affairs; training will need to continue. One possible model is to provide direct TA to two or three LGUs that are willing to create citizen advisory committees on major issues. Volunteerism attracted the interest of almost every CEEPAA study tour participant, both as a way to stretch local budgets as well as a valuable citizen participation tool. Training in developing volunteerism to support city and county activities would be valuable. Periodic customer service training should be continued, and a second edition of the manual should be produced to promote best practices used by the citizen information centers located throughout the country. Media relations will continue to need assistance as media outlets strengthen and officials lose their ability to control press coverage. Economic development assistance continues to be needed at a basic level. Expectations are often unreasonable, an issue that needs to be addressed from the beginning. Nearly all Romanian cities and counties express interest in developing tourism, but few could support tourist activity due to poor infrastructure and in many cases a lack of real tourism potential. This issue should be addressed in a realistic manner. Earlier efforts to establish economic development foundations and organizations, community-wide committees, and downtown merchant associations should be revived. Other recommendations are to: help cities use their annual festival to increase revenues; continue to assist fledgling associations; plan and provide staff for citizen satisfaction surveys; expand study tours and require participants to attend pre-departure preparation; and promote citizen participation by forming an advisory committee for the Local Government Assistance project.