Exemplary Practices Acknowledged by the National Development Agency Too18 May 2010
The Hungarian National Association of Local Governments (TÖOSZ) announced the Exemplary Practices Award for the third time running. The aim of this competition relates to mapping and presenting the best local government practices to other local governments in the country, as well as possibly to the international professional audience later on. Similarly to the Agency’s earlier practice, the National Development Agency presented special awards to the best local governments.
Mapping new and innovative local solutions and disseminating the knowledge and experience of local governments offering such solutions among local governments struggling with similar problems may result in better public services and higher performance in settlement management. The knowledge transfer process initiated by the programme announced by TÖOSZ may not only provide help to local governments opting to implement new solutions, but to the local governments that came up with these solutions, since knowledge transfer is not only realised in a written form, but also during the course of open days and consultations with colleagues. These consultations also provide an excellent opportunity for the transmitting local government to further develop the practices they have established.
Beyond offering a prize of one million HUF, the Best Practices Award officially acknowledges local governments, about which their employees, as well as locals may be proud of.
This year, awards were presented to the best local governments on 12 May, on which occasion a professional open day was also held. Projects could be submitted in the following three themes:
• Strengthening Roma integration and social cohesion
• Best practices in the domain of use of renewable energy resources and/or energy efficiency
• Joining forces at a community level to promote local developments within the framework of the LEADER programme
The National Development Agency presented a 500,000 HUF award to the best projects submitted under the first two themes. Tímea Paszternák, Vice President for Implementation at the National Development Agency, presented an award to the local government of the Municipality of Mohács in the theme of Roma integration, and to the settlement of Hernád in the theme of renewable energy resources.
The settlement of Mohács managed to make exemplary progress with the help of EU funding in stopping segregation in primary schools and implementing integrated education within the framework of a project implemented in this settlement, which may serve as an example to every local government.
Within the framework of a project financed by the Norwegian Fund, the settlement of Hernád resolved the insulation of the local school and kindergarten building; replaced windows and doors with high-efficiency windows and doors and installed a heat pump heating system, as well as a solar hot water system. As an outcome of this project, the exterior of the school and the kindergarten became more attractive; gas consumption decreased significantly by installing these new heating systems and subsequently insulating the buildings; moreover, this development will, in the long run, help children and their parents understand the importance of energy efficiency.