Balancing National and Local Responsibilities

The chapters in this book were prepared under the “Local Government Policy Partnership” Program. This is a joint project of two donor organizations: the British Government’s Department for International Development (DFID), and the Local Government and Public Service Initiative (LGI) of the Open Society Institute, Budapest, which launched this regional program. The “Local Government Policy Partnership” (LGPP) projects intend to contribute to policy development and innovations in Central and Eastern European countries. LGPP hopes to develop expertise and to support professional cooperation among local government specialists throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Parallel to this, experiences from this region should be made available in Central and Eastern Europe, and in Central Asia. The core partner countries are the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. However, other countries have been invited to participate in these regional projects, which would help direct information exchange and comparison of policy efforts. Planned LGPP publications include policy studies and proposals discussed with government officials and experts in the countries involved. (fragment)