Banas

Paulina

Banas

Ad-Hoc Expert

Generic Skills

B.1. Understanding of integrated and sustainable urban development:

My professional background brings together the experience of working for EUROCITIES – the network of major European cities, with a Master’s degree in Public Policy and professional experience in community-based services (social work). As a policy coordinator at EUROCITIES, I have worked with the city administrations on integrated and sustainable urban development in practice. I facilitated mutual learning between city practitioners, produced reports and publications on good practices, coordinated development of common positions and communicated information emerging from this work to the European institutions and other stakeholders. I was responsible for the cross-cutting portfolio in the social affairs team – which entailed identifying and promoting local projects that integrated social, environmental, educational, employment and economic development objectives. I was also involved in EUROCITIES’ work on migration and integration, Roma inclusion, demographic change, European funding, accessibility of public spaces and services, and social clauses in public procurement.

B.2. Understanding of exchange and learning processes at transnational level:

As a policy coordinator at EUROCITIES, I have gained extensive experience in designing, organising and facilitating various types of learning activities at the translational level for the staff of city administrations of large European cities. This included organising and programming study visits, seminars, peer reviews, working group meetings, conferences and forum meetings. My responsibilities included liaison with the host cities and working group or forum Chairpersons, shaping the agenda, selecting, inviting and briefing experts and partner organisations, identifying practices to present, selecting formats and methodologies, moderating sessions and overseeing logistical arrangements. I demonstrated the ability to shape the programmes of these activities to benefit both the lead (host) city and all participants, providing them with knowledge and exchanges that had a high practical value for them. With experience, I have developed and deepened my understanding of the most effective and efficient formats for learning and collaboration between the cities. The learning activities that I was responsible for have consistently received high appraisals from the participating cities.

B.3. Proficiency in English:

My written and spoken English are fluent. I have completed two university degrees in English at the levels of Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. For the last 16 years, I have worked in companies where English was the main working language including in the UK and in Belgium. I have published reports and provided presentations in English in the European setting. I am able to communicate proficiently both in formal and informal settings and I am able to adapt the communication to the English language level of my conversational partners accordingly.

Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:

Summary Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:

I am a former EUROCITIES staff member who has organised around 30 transnational and learning activities for city administrations across Europe. This included larger and smaller events, such as working groups and task force meetings, peer reviews and study visits, forum meetings and conferences on a range of topics. I have employed a variety of techniques, meeting formats and methodologies to facilitate mutual learning between the city practitioners, and I have demonstrated to have a very good intuition with regards to what works in which context. Due to this extensive experience I am able to support programming and organisation of transnational learning events in such way that the participants’ time is used to the maximum: I aim to provide them with knowledge and exchanges that have a high practical value, benefit their daily work, inspire to innovate and deepen their knowledge and insights on approaches used by their peers in other European cities. In addition to writing up reports and summaries from these events, I prepared a range of reports and publications on good practices, coordinated development of common positions and communicated information emerging from this work to the European institutions and other stakeholders. I hold a Master degree in Public Policy and have direct hands-on experience with providing services in the local context. This makes me well-positioned to act as a bridge between the local and EU policy levels.