The Cooperation Fund Foundation, together with the Association of Polish Cities and the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy, are launching the second edition of advisory support for local governments as part of the strategic project of the Strategy for Responsible Development – Advisory Support Center (CWD). During a conference held at the Ministry of Finance and Regional Development on Wednesday, May 25th, Minister Grzegorz Puda officially announced the launch of the second edition of the Advisory Support Center project.
Advisory Support Center – Pilot
During the meeting, the results of the pilot project were summarized. The 38 local government partnerships that participated, with the help of experienced experts, developed high-quality strategic documents, the implementation of which will contribute to the development of local communities.
The local governments also developed key competencies in strategic and project planning, including the ability to collaborate and utilize territorial instruments, and to further develop supra-local development strategies.
Over the 18 months of consulting, the partnerships prepared: 38 territorial strategies with project packages totaling 141 (two partnerships prepared strategies with a functional-spatial model), preliminary feasibility studies for 100 projects, and 38 projects received outlines for funding applications. The initiatives developed are intended to help the 380 local governments participating in the pilot, including: The project will contribute to the creation of new jobs and improve the quality of public services provided by local governments.
Advisory Support Center Plus
The new edition of the project, called CWD Plus, will be implemented until June 2023. Support under the project will be provided to both partnerships previously participating in the CWD pilot program (i.e., 37 partnerships) and 40 new partnerships creating functional areas in Strategic Intervention Areas (ASIs), i.e., medium-sized cities losing their socio-economic functions and areas at risk of permanent marginalization. A total of 77 partnerships from 16 regions will receive support.
The new edition of the CWD Plus project will continue to support the most vulnerable local governments collaborating in partnerships.
The CWD Plus project has a practical dimension. On the one hand, the advisory process will prepare strategic documents relevant to development and cohesion policy, while on the other, competencies for planning and implementing development projects implemented in partnership with other local governments will be developed. The partnership determines which strategic document will be prepared as part of the consultancy: an Integrated Territorial Investment (IIT) strategy, an Infrastructure and Territorial Investment (IIT) strategy, or a supra-local development strategy.
Furthermore, the project will aim to create a system for exchanging knowledge and experiences for the participating local government partnerships and the voivodeship government, through networking meetings, seminars, and the creation of a knowledge base.
The success of the CWD Plus project, understood as the achievement of success by the partnerships, requires the involvement of all partnership members, as well as good cooperation with the voivodeship governments, at all stages of the consultancy process regarding strategy development, project identification, and implementation, to agree on solutions that benefit all partners.
The CWD Plus project will be implemented by the Cooperation Fund Foundation and the Association of Polish Cities.
Poland’s significant role in supporting Ukraine demonstrates the long journey our country has come on its development path, from a beneficiary of development assistance to a donor and experienced partner, currently sharing financial and infrastructure resources, and in times of peace, its knowledge and best practices. This long path of development is also the contribution and credit of, and many would say primarily, Polish local governments. Local development is the foundation of the socio-economic transformation that has taken place in Poland over the past three decades. This success would not have been possible without the administrative reform of 1999, which unleashed in Poles a sense of agency and, therefore, responsibility for our small homelands.
– Tomasz Jegier, President of the Management Board of FFW
