Special Report - National Training on Participative Action Planning for Local Support Groups, a Helping Hand from URBACT's Trainers

The seminars form part of a broader URBACT training initiative to support its beneficiaries and to help them deliver better results during the course of 2013 and beyond. The National Training Scheme for Local Support Groups will complement the Training Seminars for Elected Representatives, which began with the first session in April in Brussels. Two further sessions will be held towards the end of the year.
 

National Training Scheme Objectives

For partner cities in URBACT, a key focus is on creating an LSG that reflects the community at large and is able to develop a Local Action Plan to tackle their problems. Both tasks require a variety of skills. But how can those skills be improved, for the benefit of all concerned? That's the question being addressed by the national training scheme for the Coordinators and key members of Local Support Groups that started in Hungary on May 9-10, and will bring together projects from 24 EU Member States before its finishes in December.

The scheme has several objectives, with the starting point being to provide a deeper understanding of the URBACT method and how to develop a participatory approach that includes all the relevant stakeholders. The training also aims to provide a broad set of skills that will help coordinators and key members to run their activities efficiently throughout the life of the project. Enabling them to exchange ideas and to share experiences with their peers is a further objective, as is developing their ability to engage with their project's Managing Authorities.
 

Common Content, Different Languages

The scheme aims to provide two training programmes per country - or group of countries - each lasting two days. Though the seminars vary according to the local language, the content is the same throughout. For Béla Kézy, the Training Facilitator for Hungary, the course structure has made a promising start.

"I would say it was successful; there was a good atmosphere, people were really active, working together, and they worked long hours," he said. "They were passionate about understanding this approach." His session was attended by 15 members of Hungary's three URBACT projects, representing RE-Block (Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods) in Budapest District XVIII; URBACT Markets (Urban Renewal) in Pecs; and JOBTOWN (Active Inclusion) in Nagykallo. All the projects were at a very early stage, and were constructing their URBACT LSGs.
 

Learning Skills and Sharing Experience

Day One began with a presentation of URBACT and its method, delivered by Iván Tosics, an URBACT Thematic Pole Manager who also addressed the URBACT training for elected representatives in Brussels. A more interactive session followed on the role and importance of the URBACT LSGs, with the next step being a presentation by delegates of their particular URBACT project in the form of a poster. "They were all interested in each other's projects, even though the problems and the projects are very different, they still gave each other good advice and ideas, were really interested in each other's project,' Béla Kézy recalled.

The next step – stakeholder analysis – is a clearly a huge subject, as it involves building a matrix of all the possible stakeholders, describing the important characteristics, interests and the measures to involve them. Though the analysis technique was made clear during the session, it was not possible to complete a detailed analysis in the time available for every single stakeholder group. Finally, the day's training ended with an overview of the URBACT LSG Coordinator's role.
 

Tools for Solving Problems

Day Two of the Hungarian training seminar similarly combined information delivery, skill development and practical experience – starting with a presentation on a rehabilitation project that has been running since the late 1980s in Budapest's Ferencvaros district. A session on the assistance available from the URBACT National Dissemination Point in Hungary was followed by a presentation by Ivan Tosic on two approaches to integrated development - Community-Led Local Development and Integrated Territorial Development – which are due to feature in projects during the 2014-2020 funding period.

However, the centrepiece of the day was devoted to problem definition and analysis, notably using techniques such as the Problem Tree. "It made clear that a joint definition and a common understanding of the core problem is crucial in having a strong project and a Local Support Group that can work towards the same goals," said Béla Kézy. Finally, attendees were divided into small groups and asked to look at some of the implementation challenges they cited on Day One – such as how to better involve elected representatives - and to work on potential solutions.

Improving Participative Processes

Collaboration is, of course, at the heart of the URBACT approach. However, it is not always instinctive in the local authority environment, which for historical reasons can be more hierarchical. Helping to introduce a different way of working was an objective for Piotr Wolkowinski, the Training Facilitator for Poland and an expert within the My Generation At Work (Active Inclusion) project in Gdansk. "I really feel that it is very important to cover the two main areas of problem solving and participatory technique," he said, while preparing to train 35 delegates from 10 different URBACT projects. "In Poland, a top-down system of thinking is still quite present and I think that even in a small way, URBACT is definitely contributing to helping to change things."
 

Forthcoming National Training Seminars

• Denmark-Finland-Norway-Sweden, 29-30 May, Malmo
• Estonia-Latvia-Lithuania, 5-6 June, Riga
• France-Belgium, 11-12 June, Saint-Denis (Paris)
• Germany, 27-28 June, Berlin
• Greece-Cyprus, 6-7 June, Athens
• Italy-Switzerland, 23-24 May, Rome
• The Netherlands-Belgium, 5-6 June, The Hague
• Poland, 16-17 May, Warsaw
• Portugal, 6-7 June, Lisbon
• Romania, 21-22 May, Bucharest
• Spain, 6-7 June, Madrid
• UK-Ireland, 6-7 June, London

Read more:

• Special Report - Launch of URBACT Training for Politicians on Sustainable Development - URBACT website
• URBACT National Training on Participative Action Planning - URBACT website