Sustainability and Development Opportunities for Twinning Partnerships

Antoaneta Mateeva, FLGR

No. 4/2000

The Bulgarian Technical Twinning Program coordinators, FLGR and ICMA, held a round-table discussion on sustainability and development opportunities for the twinning partnerships established in Phases 1 and 2 of the program. The round-table was held in Auburn, Alabama, USA. The Bulgarian municipalities included in Phases 1 and 2 Blagoevgrad, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Razgrad, Rousse, Stara Zagora and Haskovo were represented by their mayors. The American partners were represented by the city managers of the twinned cities and some leading experts. The work sessions and the discussions were facilitated by the FLGR and ICMA program teams. FLGR s executive director, Mrs. Ginka Kapitanova, and ICMA s Resource Cities Program s director, Mr. Jon Bormett.

Although the City of Auburn is twinned with the Municipality of Blagoevgrad, their hospitality was so exceptional that it made the representatives of all other municipalities feel as if they were their equal twin cities. The work sessions began with a discussion on the general concept of local government in the United States and on what aspects are applicable to Bulgaria. The Bulgarian mayors and the American city managers shared their experience in the implementation of successful practices, management techniques and approaches in several areas: citizen participation; pro-active approach of municipal management teams to the economic development of their municipalities; budget planning and adoption; municipal GIS, etc. The Auburn hosts presented their experience and success in local economic development and in solid waste management. They stressed that all of their efforts are coordinated on the basis of 20-year local development strategy. Mr. Philip Dunlap. Auburn s economic development director, was very convincing in presenting his understanding of the leading role of the municipality and the necessity of being pro-active in trying to attract potential investors to develop industrial parks. The participants visited some sites in one of the new industrial parks in the city. The discussion continued during the site visits. In an effort to provide support for small and midsize businesses, the City of Auburn has created a business incubator. The Bulgarian participants were very interest in its operations, as most of the municipalities are in the process of initiating such a project or already have an existing incubator. Everyone felt it was very useful to study their hosts experience in this field.

The work sessions on the major topic of the round-table began with a discussion on the current status of the projects developed under the Bulgarian Technical Twinning Program. Even after the end of the program, the twinned cities had continued their joint efforts to finish the projects that were initiated. The Bulgaria mayors once again stated that the Bulgarian Technical Twinning Program has given them exceptional opportunities to access new and useful management practices and has helped them rethink some aspects of their work. As a result of the discussion, the participants shared that they were ready to replicate or expand at least three projects developed under the Technical Twinning Program and successfully applied by some of the seven municipalities. The following projects were mentioned most often: strategic planning with wide citizen participation; public-private partnerships in town planning; establishment of development boards; and business incubators.

One of the most important work sessions was based on a discussion on the necessity for closer efforts on project implementation, with assistance on behalf of the American partners. The participants discussed the partnership sustainability factors and their individual significance with regard to the development opportunities for each partnership. It was unanimously accepted that the decisive sustainability factor is municipal managements commitment and their willingness to continue their relations. The participants underlined the great importance of the following factors: support to the partnership on behalf of the municipal councils; maintenance of contacts at all levels (management, expert, staff); the development of a wide basis for the partnership by encouraging contacts between similar organizations within the twinned cities and by expanding the cooperation between such organizations (universities, NGOs, chambers of commerce, private businesses, city libraries, etc.)

There was a general discussion at which the participants identified activities and projects that could be implemented without additional funding. Then the representatives of the individual twinned couples met separately to discuss the opportunities for joint work on projects that would require additional funding. Each of the partners carefully evaluated the municipality s own capabilities to provide financing: local organizations (the Rotary and Lion s clubs); charity organizations and foundations; private businesses, etc. The partners also identified other organizations they could apply to; of course, the first item on the list was the involvement in the third phase of the Technical Twinning Porgram. Other potential funding sources included: USAID-sponsored EcoLinks Program; FLGR s Support to Local Government Reform Program; the British Know-How Fund; the European programs for support to local government, etc.

The round-table discussion in Auburn achieved its goals and ended with some positive results. It allowed the twinned municipalities in which there were management changes to re-establish the personal contact between newly elected leadership. To all the others, it provided an opportunity to continue their cooperation and to reconfirm their commitment to the future development of technical cooperation and bilateral relations in general. The participants adopted the view that the general meetings of program participants are extremely useful and should be continued. It was decided that the mayors of the seven Bulgarian municipalities would meet as soon as possible. The next meeting will focus on Municipality of Blagoevgrad s experience in strategic planning.