PERCEIVE workshop in Polonia was organized in Olsztyn (Warmińsko-Mazurskie region) with the participation of regional stakeholders representing regional Local Managing Authorities. Read further to find out the results.

Cohesion Policy Governance: greater focus on human resources and more flexibility in budget management

Providing highly qualified personnel for the Cohesion Policy at its implementation stage is one of the most important issues at the LMAs level. A certain phenomenon of the transfer of qualified personnel to the private sector (ie. banking sector demand for analysts) was observed. New staff, taking over the vacant positions had to be preceded by the training of new employees what was an additional burden.

The second problem is related to excessive responsibility concerning project assessment in light of the very detailed guidelines. Every failure to comply with obligations, even minor one, was eagerly pointed out by the controllers. A third defined problem was a career path. LMA officers’ career development is limited and wages are connected to the implementation period (usually 2-3 years with considerably high pay). After this period they usually seek better paid jobs, then they are replaced by new staff with lower expectations concerning the wages. On the other hand, LMAs offer usually a sustainable career path. Therefore, the development of a human resources management system that ensures relative stability of implementation team should be the subject of the attention of the European Commission, especially in relation to the lowest level employees.

The participants of the workshop noticed that in the current programming period, the assumptions adopted by the European Commission are too rigid. The economic and social situation of the region has been changing quite dynamically. Therefore, prepared programmes should have a greater tolerance for socio-economic changes, should enable responding to new challenges, i.e. by shifting resources between different priorities of the regional program. Currently, the process of making changes in programmes is very time - and efforts- consuming. 

What do citizens think of Cohesion Policy in the region?

Positive evaluation of the policy depends on the visible effects of its implementation. The share of direct beneficiaries of the EU funds in the region, which translates into the image of the EU funds and their impact on the region’s community, can be estimated as approx. 35 per cent out of 1.4 million people living in the region and this strongly influenced good assessment of the policy by community members.

Relations between the administration and the citizens is crucial trust, dialogue, transparency of principles. An important advantage of the region’s implementation team is its relatively young age which is accompanied by a change in the mentality of the public administration employees. Nowadays, they are aware that they are to serve the local community and not vice versa and they are open to offering support regarding the procedures for tackling different administrative issues. This directly influences the level of trust in administration and its employees among community members. Moreover, with the implementation of EU programs, the trust in the institutions among beneficiaries increases, as their experience in the implementation grows and funding mechanisms become more familiar.

Regions do not fully use the communication potential of Facebook, and on the other hand, those that use this tool do not succeed in communication with this instrument. It is important to improve the use of social media, and in communication must begin with the increased attention devoted to this communication channel. The approach to communication should focus, instead of just informing the public, on the process of actively building community and interactions.

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Disclaimer!

This contributes gives highlights on what is the work in progress of PERCEIVE Project research. By the end of the project, in August 2019, policy implementation and communication guidelines will be finalized as recommendations for policy-makers and practitioners.