Prof. Dr. Manfred Schneider – Doctor Honoris Causa of Sofia University

The Ambassador of Japan in Sofia – Doctor Honoris Causa of the Musical Academy

At a solemn ceremony held in St. Kliment Ohridski Sofia University prof. Ronald Walter Marti was decorated with an honorary insignia with blue ribbon

Six Bulgarians became Knights of the Order of Academic Palms

On December 16, 2003, the grand edifice of the French Embassy in Sofia hosted the ceremony on giving the prestigious French prize “Knight of the Order of Academic Palms”. His Excellency Jean Loup Kuhn Delforges, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Bulgaria, awarded four university lecturers with the order, saying:

“This evening we have been brought together by the idea of a society based on education and knowledge, which would open up the path to modernisation. Universities in Sofia will receive acknowledgement of that, through awarding their representatives with the order “Knight of the Academic Palms”. Three of these university representatives are heads of francophone departments: Mrs. Anna Krusteva, Mr. Ivan Momchev, Mr. Antony Todorov. The fourth, Mr. Georgi Zhechev, is a French language teacher and President of the Bulgarian Association of French Language Teachers.”

Successful steps towards a constructive dialogue between the local and central authorities

On November 27-28, 2003, the Central Forum Hotel hosted the \"Bulgarian Municipalities – Competent Participants in the Utilization of EU Funds\" conference, which was held as a closing stage of the project, implemented during the past year by the Foundation for Local Government Reform with the financial support of the Open Society Foundation, Sofia.

Over 110 representatives of the ministries, the municipal and the district administrations, non-profit organizations and experts attended the conference. They received comprehensive and up-to-date information on the existing opportunities for funding of municipal projects under the PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD pre-accession programs. At the same time, the conference brought forth a discussion on the extent to which the Bulgarian municipalities are prepared to utilize the funds under the European financial instruments and the difficulties and challenges they are facing.

The representatives of the municipalities shared there is a keen need for a long-term module training both for the municipal officials and for the municipal experts, who are directly involved in the working out of projects proposed for financing under European funds. They also believe that actions should be undertaken on national level as well, aimed at ensuring the training and the implementation of adequate measures for improving the capacities of the local authorities in the planning and programming processes on a local level. The problem related to the inability of the municipalities to provide the compulsory percentage co-financing, when applying with their own projects, proved equally important.

A number of municipalities presented their successful projects: the Madan Municipality (within the frameworks of the PHARE program), the Topolovgrad Municipality (a project for sustainable development of rural regions), and the Targovishte municipality (a waste water treatment plant construction project under the ISPA program). The smaller municipalities are facing difficulties with the preparation of the projects; they need a more comprehensive knowledge about the application procedures, project cycles and language skills.

\"Foundation for Local Government Reform will render assistance to the rural municipalities in developing similar projects, funded by the pre-accession financial instruments,\" Ms. Ginka Kapitanova, Executive Director of the Foundation said. \"The preparation of projects can not be an aim in itself, it is a stage of the overall development of the municipalities, which should be aware of their key priorities for development. The municipalities should be able to identify their objectives and prepare their programs according to them.\"

Ginka Kapitanova has been an FLGR Executive Director since its establishment in May 1995. She was its founding member as mayor of Zlatograd Municipality and Chair of the Association of Rhodopes Municipalities (the first regional association of local authorities). With a group of municipal mayors, she established the foundation with the purpose of supporting an effective local self-government and civic participation in it. The FLGR Executive Board includes as its members not only representatives of the local self-government but also businessmen, representatives of the university circles, and experts in the field of self-government in order to ensure a broader public support for its initiatives. Presently, the foundation relies on a 24-member team of strongly-motivated young professionals. A system for studying the needs of the municipalities and for preparing aim-focused programs for them has been established, its major purpose being to support the municipalities with smaller administrative capacities and smaller chances in order to help them be competitive in national programs and programs funded by national funds.

Mrs. Kapitanova pointed out as an example the Danube River Initiative Program, implemented with the support of USAID. \"It was aimed only at the municipalities, bordering the Danube River. We focused our activities in several directions – building centers for information and services to citizens, developing social projects, mainly in the sphere of water supply, sewage systems and the improvement of the living environment. We had a remarkable success with our centers for information and services to citizens, which improved the quality of municipal services provided to the citizens and decreased the time for their provision.

The Foundation for Local Government Reform works in the following spheres: local economic development, regional development, territorial management, and civic participation. It organizes public forums and discussions for various interested parties, in cooperation with the Committee for Local Government, Regional Policy and Public Works at the Bulgarian National Assembly, with which it signs working programs every year. It prepares translations of bills of other countries, which enables it to utilize their experience in the drafting of our legislation (primarily in the field of local self-government).

The activities of the organization are covered in a monthly printed edition and in a weekly electronic bulletin, which also provide information on various financing programs, and on the materials in the library of the Local Government Information Network (LOGIN). The foundation also publishes legal commentaries on laws, made by the experts who participated in their drafting. It also publishes diverse thematic editions. It offers various one-day seminars and training module programs. Once the municipal experts cover the set modules, they receive a certificate for a completed course of training. The certificates are jointly issued with the University of National and World Economy and Sofia University. The latest implemented program was the program for specialists in international cooperation and project preparation. The Foundation also prepares paid training programs for various municipalities or municipality groups on individual topics, requested by them.

\"Another successful program of our foundation is the technical twinning program between Bulgarian and American municipalities,\" Mrs. Ginka Kapitanova explained. \"We realized 17 partnerships under it during the past five years. The program is aimed at the local economic development. The American experts train the municipality teams on how to prepare marketing information and how to become professional partners of the investors. How to seek investors, conduct negotiations, how to present the advantages of their municipality, its resources and offer one-window servicing.

For a second consecutive year, we are giving an Annual Innovative Municipality Award. Laureate of the 2002 award was the Silistra Municipality and the Sliven Municipality won the award for 2003.

We also boast activities as a financing organization. We fund primarily projects of the regional associations of local authorities and the organizations of municipal experts. Currently, we are supporting with expert assistance the Gabrovo Municipality to establish an Internet connection with the municipalities on the territory of the district.

We also organized the visit of a number of Bosnian municipalities to Bulgaria. We familiarized them with the activities of the centers for information and services to the citizens in 70 municipalities, established with our assistance.

We are currently working on 18 individual projects, which are funded by various donors. The United States Agency for International Development is one of our key donors but we also rely on the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Open Society Institute (OSI), Budapest, the Open Society Foundation (OSF), Sofia, and PHARE Democracy Program of the European Union. We rely on the paid services as well, which we have been implementing with some of our clients.

The availability of a partnership network of organizations, the main beneficiaries of the work of which are the municipalities, is of key significance for the local self-government. They offer a wide range of opportunities for informational exchange, professional development and consultations; they form the local self-government development policy and stimulate the process of decentralization.\"

Tatiana Petrova