IMS Romanian Training Hub

Romania has more than 3200 local authorities, 9% of them are small and 4 % municipalities with approx. 3.000.000 inhabitants. Local Authorities are facing servere "basic" problems such as water supply and waste water management, energy efficiency and renewable energies, qualification and jobs - specially for young people and hopefully in Green Economy, how to plan and implement "sustainable" infrastructures...

The concept of sustainable development is known in Rumania since the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The first management tool proposed to the local communities was the Local Agenda 21. In 2008, the National Strategy for Sustainable Development coordinated by the Ministry of Environment and Forests was approved. In the first "Romanian National Report" from 2008, measures and first results have been published.

Since 2003, a scientific consortium formed by INCE- Romanian Academy, the University Lucian Blaga Sibiu, and CRFCAPL Sibiu, has realized various projects focusing on local communities and sustainable development with the objective to elaborate a model for local authorities.

These strategies are based on the results of sociological investigations and the main objectives are:
- Rational use of natural resources at local level
- Environmental protection
- Protecting and developing cultural heritage
- Sustainable development of economy and increase employment jobs
- Development of sustainable tourism

The methodology is transferable to the majority of local authorities in Rumania. In most of the cases it is still too early to evaluate the implementation and the results obtained. Sibiu and the Association Drumbrava Narciselor are included as positive examples in this brochure.

Fundatia de Perfectionare Profesionala in Administratia Publica uses the results and lessons learned from the strategies in training courses for staff of public administrations and has been able – thanks to ICLEI - to enrich the experience in Rumania with knowledge from other countries.

But there is still a big need for training of politicians and technicians in local authorities. So far, local administrations are not used to a management approach which considers economic, ecological and socio-cultural aspects in an integrated manner. Rumanian communities need more to exchange experiences and to learn from the few but positive examples in the country and also from experiences in other European member states. Furthermore, integrated sustainability management will increase transparency and contribute to a better implementation of programmes and projects.

These are aspects of high importance for European and international funding institutions. IMS will therefore increase the possibilities for Romanian Local Authorities to obtain funding which they need urgently to solve important environmental and social problems. Last not least it is of high importance that Rumanian local authorities become an ethical ideal (Vorbild) regarding sustainable planning and acting and start to live the principles of participatory democracy and the spirit of tolerance. Only then they can request the support of stakeholders and citizens and motivate them to change behavior.

Fundatia de Perfectionare Profesionala in Administratia Publica believes that the Integrated Management System is a valid instrument to enable Rumanian local authorities to face global and local challenges and to contribute to improvement of quality of life for the citizens in our country.

Tailor-made IMS approaches for German cities

In Germany, local constitution is a matter of the 16 federal states. This is why the implementation of local sustainability is highly connected with the federal state level. Therefore the German CHAMP Partners – ICLEI and the Lake Constance Foundation – anchored action not only at national but also at Federal State level. These Federal States particularly support training and coaching to individual cities, which led to an adapted CHAMP-training approach in Germany.

One good example for this successful cooperation is the Federal State of Rhineland-Palatinate with the city of Speyer. During the CHAMP project Speyer has started its integrated sustainability management system. Actually they are elaborating the indicator set for their Baseline Review. There is a ppt available about the local development of Speyer in the cities solution section.

Another German example using IMS fighting Climate Change is the City of Nordhausen in Thuringa. Stakeholder Integration and public participation are crucial for the local responsibles. Therefore they organised in cooperation with ICLEI, two stakeholder fora and a public information event. Further information you get here.

An interesting source for further information on local sustainability in German is the webportal nachhaltigkeitkommunal.eu.

Do you know any other good examples of German cities being active fighting climate change and fostering a sustainable future?

Trainings of Integrated Sustainability Management in Hungary

CHAMP encourages and supports local authorities to implement IMS (Integrated Management System) for sustainability in response to climate change effects. An extensive 5 steps training was carried out in four countries during the project period. The training method focused on how to respond more efficiently to climate change, and awareness raising about IMS. Integrated Management System is an answer to adapt to the climate change. How the CHAMP project could help for example Local Government of Fonyód in reaching the environmental objectives?

"By learning, we learnt what kind of targets can be set and how to reach these targets. We know that targets must be continuohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifusly developed; it is not enough that we set the targets and only meet them; we have to try annually or bi-annually to review and further develop them. And maybe the main learning is that we can not stop, persistently we have to develop we have to set new targets and meet them. We would like to update our environmental management plan annually – biannually, and also that the members of the local council support us to implement new and new environmental programs."

The end of the training the participants received a certification within the Final Award Ceremony. The representatives of Fonyód can be seen on the picture.
If you would like to become a Climate Champion, please click to the project website or follow the on-line conference.
You can find out more about the Hungarian trainings in the section Reflecting the CHAMP trainings.

The importance of cooperation

'Good ideas walk with human legs', this is what Emanuele Burgin, President of the Italian Local Agenda 21 Association, thinks of the importance of cooperation between different municipal departments. The Integrated Management System in a municipality gives the opportunity to have an internal 'think-tank', that could successfully set up and implement efficient processes, through a continuous share of updated information.
An added value is the opportunity coming from CHAMP on an european partnership of cities, with training hubs becoming points of reference for training on IMS, providing tools that would enable cities to stand up alone and to use the most of their internal capacities.

Watch the video of Emanuele Burgin at the section Why is European Cooperation needed?

CHAMP in Italy: successful trainings on IMS!

The CHAMP project has been very successful in Italy in training local authorities on the use of Integrated Management Systems to fight climate change: 11 local authorities took part in the 5 training workshops held in Italy during the project and most of them successfully applied an integrated approach in defining and implementing their climate strategy.

See for example the case of the City of Florence: thanks to a strong political commitment and to an effective interdepartmental workgroup, they succeeded in defining and starting to implement their Sustainable Energy Action Plan within one year from the signature of the Covenant of Mayors (for more info visit their website: http://www.comune.fi.it/opencms/export/sites/retecivica/amm/piani_e_progetti/patto_sindaci.htm)

Listen to the comments on the CHAMP trainings by Alessandro Zan, Deputy Mayor for Environment and International Cooperation in the city of Padova: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmjUAFN5DHs&feature=player_embedded.

Are you interested in participating to trainings on IMS?