In the bureau meeting held on 8th July 2020 it was decided the rescheduling of the Activity Plan for 2020 in view of the uncertainty linked to the Corona Virus emergency. Although the big constraints in travelling and in gathering people, we are strongly committed to keep on working and offering our students and participants increased opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills.
As we shared during the ENTO Distanced Talks in May, the new conditions have been urging us to innovate, both in contents and methods, our training activities.
ENTO wants to stand by its members in pursuing these challenges.
We are glad to propose you a new creative way of delivering the traditional appointment of ENTO StudyLab and General Assembly: the ENTO Distanced-Lab.
The ENTO Distanced-Lab is intended as an opportunity for experimentation and research, in the field of innovative training methods and contents for local and regional authorities.
We ask you to share within the ENTO network the most innovative training initiatives that you have been developing for coping with the challenges posed by Covid-19 crisis.
We are keen on participating to training sessions that are meaningful examples of new formats, new contents, new ways of engaging participants, new opportunities offered by ICT tools.
How?
We want to schedule:
an overall ENTO catalogue
of distanced training sessions (max 1,5 hours long)
offered by different ENTO members from different countries
from 15th October to 13th November (the original date for ENTO General Assembly)
open to trainers, politicians, civil servants… from all around Europe
The call
In order to compose the catalogue, we ask you to propose at least one training sessioneach to be included in the catalogue.
The training session:
is scheduled from 15th October to 13th November
deals with topics connected with local and regional authorities training
is delivered in distance learning format
is in English or in another language
is a meaningful example of your innovation strategy
is accessible for free to trainers, students and participants from other ENTO members.
Deadline: 30 September 2020
Do not hesitate!
Send us your proposal of training session using the “Presentation Form” attached.
This year the two-years term of ENTO bureau is expiring and new elections will be held during the next General Assembly on 13 November 2020.
The General Assembly will be held in distanced mode and all instructions will be sent with the agenda and the list of candidatures.
Since now, following ENTO Rules of procedures, people who are interested in running for the office of President and/or ENTO Bureau member can post their candidature.
Specifically, candidatures have to send:
the declaration form (attached below) properly filled in;
a CV
to paolo.crugnola@ti.ch by the 1 October 2020.
Candidatures may be made for more than one office, i.e. President and Bureau member.
All ordinary members who have paid their fees will be eligible to stand for election and vote in an election.
Covid-19 is putting under pressure our training institutions. There are many challenges to cope with: how to rapidly switch to distance-learning? How to deal with financial issues? Which tools to use?
In these weeks we have been all committed in finding creative ways to bring on our work. Maybe it is now time for a useful sharing of experience. That is why ENTO is proposing its “Distanced Talks”: on-line meetings for learning from each other and getting new insights.
Let’s start with 2 pilot “Distanced talks”
ENTO members’ who are eager to present their experience (10 minutes max) in one of the two Talks are heartily welcomed: please, send an email to paolo.crugnola@edu.ti.ch
Emergency strategies: what has been working?
Thursday, 7 May 2020, at 16:00 – 17:30 (CET – Central Europe Time)
– Government strategies for coping with Coronavirus in training: what is going on?
– Smart working for internals: which measures? How to coordinate the work?
– E-learning platforms, video conferencing, etc.: what works better?
– Lessons and exams in distance: under which conditions are they valid?
– Financial issues: what about fees? What about funds available?
Training methods in distance learning
Thursday, 14 May 2020, at 14:00 – 15:30 (CET – Central Europe Time)
– How is training changing?
– Which tools are available?
– How keeping students and participants engaged?
– What kind of examinations?
– …
Moderator:
Benoit Cathala, Centre National de la Formation Publique Territoriale, France
Speakers:
· Zhana Antia, Georgian Institute of Public Administration, Georgia
· Pierre Petit, Conseil Regional de la Formation, Belgium
· Ljubo Runjic, Polytechnic of Sibenik, Croatia
· …
Moderator:
Giorgi Meskhidze, Civitas Georgica, Georgia
Speakers:
· Zelijka Halak, College of applied sciences, Croatia
· Gert Fieguth, Kehl University of Applied Science, Germany
· …
Who can participate
All ENTO members’ staff (managers, trainers, officials) is invited to take part to the meeting (free admission): please share the above link to whom is interested.
Last 8-10 October Institut Praha organized a kick-off meeting for launching the idea of an Erasmus+ project aimed at developing a summer school for trainers in public administration subjects. ENTO, in the person of its President, was invited to participate.Here after some more details from Eva Ferrarová and Lukáš Jirsa .
The Institute for Public
Administration Prague is going to organize the first year of the “Summer
School of Training in Public Administration“, which will take place in the
Czech Republic on 18th – 22nd August 2020.
The
Summer School that is intended for representatives of training institutions in
public administration will offer a combination of professional training and
social programme. It will involve a common forum as well as parallel workshops
and our aim is to focus on topics such as Modern trends and training tools in
public administration (eLearning, bLearning, mLearning, training applications
etc.) and their utilization and suitability; Dislocation of training and
tailor-made courses, training of lecturers; Training of officials in the area
of work with disadvantaged groups and accessibility of authorities. Moreover,
the overarching topic will focus on Social status of officials in participating
countries.
The
Summer School is free of charge, participants are just asked to ensure and
cover their travel arrangements and costs. The accommodation and catering will
be provided.
Herewith,
the ENTO members are cordially invited to the Summer School and due to the
format of this event their spouses and partners are welcome too.
In
case of your interest and/or if you have any questions please contact the
members of the organization team Ms. Eva Ferrarová (e-mail: e.fer@institutpraha.cz)
and Mr. Lukáš Jirsa (e-mail: l.jir@institutpraha.cz)
as soon as possible.
Meeting a former Chief of State in a very informal and pleasant talk doesn’t happen every day. But that happened during the StudyLab in Tbilisi. We met Mr. Giorgi Margvelashvili, President of Georgia from 2013 to 2018, in the Georgian Institute of Public Administration (GIPA). The talk offered the chance to discuss about Georgia political and administrative system, about the reforms that are on the line, about the challenges for the future. We also exploited Mr. Margvelashvili personal experience to talk about relations between citizens and politicians, political parties and institutions.
Some unconventional insights came out. As an example: who can benefit from the bad image politicians have in front of the public opinion not only in Georgia? How can any sustainable improvement in the quality of policies and administration come out from such a negative mood against politics? There are so many seminars and trainings on tools and methods for fostering citizens participation but we risk not to notice the biggest threat to active involvement of “people of good will” as politicians.
Driving to Tbilisi city centre from the Airport, it is difficult for a newcomer not to ask to the taxidriver what are the astonishing modern buildings on the way for. They are mostly police stations and ministers headquarters. Most of them are built of glass: it is a clear metaphor of the wave of transparency and anticorruption which accompanied public authorities reforms in the past twenty years.
Among those special buildings, there is one that resemble a mushrooms cluster. It stands close to the river Mtkvari, in the city centre. For those professionally committed to public administration issues, it is definitely worth a visit. Not just for its architectural value (it was designed by the internationally recognized archistar Massimiliano Fuksas), but for what happens inside.
The “mushrooms cluster” is the public services one-stop-shop in Tbilisi. If you are a Georgian Citizen and you need your passport, your ID card, or any other administrative document, you can just step in such amazing building, find very kind stewards and hostesses who guide you to the proper desk and ask what you need.
No queues, a kinder area, a cafeteria are inside. But if you just need to pick-up your document, don’t waste time looking for a parking: you can drive in and get what you need from a drive-in desk on the back of the building.
As a group of experts in public administration, of course we discussed a lot about pros and cons of such an “unconventional” way of delivering public services.
What ever the final opinion is, that is a case study which cannot be missed. At the best of our knowledge, there is nothing similar in any other European country.
The 112 Centre in Tbilisi looks like a spaceship landed on a hill just a few kilometres from the historic city centre. From outside, it has already become one of the most notable architectural landmarks of contemporary Tbilisi. From inside, it provides a practical demonstration of the fast way Georgia has been running across to fulfil European standards and be recognized as a partner in international agreements like Schengen.
As the most modern emergency centres all around the world, the Georgian one is equipped with modern ICT tools. As an example, they are experimenting Artificial Intelligent to improve the work of policemen, firemen, paramedics and other officials. They are in charge of collecting emergency calls and coordinating colleagues on field.
But even such a visit, which could be considered as fully technical, suggested some ideas about the relation between citizens and public authorities. What can be the role of voluntarism in emergency and risk management?
As usual, ENTO Annual Assembly, held during the ENTO StudyLab in Tbilisi (Georgia), offered the chance to discuss what has been done and to settle new goals for the future. Hereafter the Annual Management Reportwhich was read during the Assembly.
Dear Friends,
on behalf of the Bureau I am very pleased to sketch a short overview of main goals achieved in the latest year, not to relax on our achievements, but to fuel with proudness, self-esteem and hope our future steps.
StudyLabs
In my view, the greatest achievement in 2019 is the definitive consolidation of StudyLab as a key output of ENTO network.
This year we had the chance to enjoy two great events: the StudyLab in Strasbourg-Kehl and the one we are experiencing here in Tbilisi. They both showed to be very pleasant occasions to spend some time together. Ancient Romans would have called them otium, a period of time out of everyday commitments that people can use to learn and develop new ideas and projects. A precious condition for effectively seeding future cooperation.
StudyLabs have been offering us the opportunity to get in touch with people and institutions that are normally not easily accessible. They offer the opportunity to discuss in a comparative setting critical issues for our everyday work: cutting-edge topics in local governance and new initiative in the field of training.
A special thank must be addressed to the colleagues who made the two events possible: Benoit Cathala and Gert Fieguth for Strasbourg-Kehl StudyLab and Zhana Antia and Giorgi Meshkidze for Tbilisi one. Thank you and your teams!
Cooperation projects
I am very happy to inform you that within ENTO network some interesting cooperation projects have been born and some of them were successfully completed.
Last year it was reported about the cooperation project within Erasmus+ program proposed jointly by the College of Applied Science of Vukovar and the Georgian Institute of Public Administration (GIPA). That project was successfully carried out during 2019, as you read in ENTO Newsletter.
An application has been submitted for a research project on “Developing and testing a Citizenship self-assessment framework for thriving local democracies”. As partners, GIPA and Civitas Georgica from Georgia, Urban Foundation from Armenia, Open University from UK and Università della Svizzera Italiana from Switzerland are involved. It was a proposal submitted within the call for project research issued by the Swedish International Centre For Local Democracy.
On 8-10 October I will represent ENTO in a meeting organized by the Institute of Public Administration in Prague, which has been member of ENTO for a very long time. Goal of the meeting is to develop a summer school for public officials to be submitted also to Erasmus+ program for funding.
Finally, I would like to recall a cooperation that Benoit Cathala proposed and that I personally retain as very effective. We called it ENTO Open Training. It consists in offering the possibility to trainers and students from ENTO members to attend training programmes for free in one of the other training institutions that are part of the network. Some arrangements still need to be properly defined, but I would strongly recommend you to participate to such an initiative first of all providing information about courses that can be of interest also for people coming from other countries.
ENTO everyday management
As for ENTO everyday management, short information is worth to be given on the following issues:
Within the Bureau we have been working on communication tools improvement; specifically, we have been prompting ENTO presence on social media, we adopted a new system for issuing Newsletters, we are going to create a reserved area for members;
We also decided not to have a formal auditing from an external auditors anymore. We got to such decision considering that according to French laws associations (as ENTO) are not compulsorily subject to external auditing and the annual expenditure for such an audit represented alone 1/3 of ENTO budget.
New members
Finally, I am very pleased to welcome n in ENTO a new member: The Polish Evaluation Society. It is a pleasure also because it gives us the chance to have back in ENTO an “old” friend, Mirek Warowicki. In the past he was active member in ENTO bureau and it is really a pleasure to welcome him again on board.
As you can see, 2019 can be considered a positive and successful year for ENTO. I want to express all my gratitude to Bureau members, Giorgi, Benoit, Gert, Pierre, Boris and Jean-Paul for the great job we have done together. I would also say “thank you” to all people that even if not in the Bureau have committed themselves in contributing to ENTO activities.
As said, there is no room for relaxing. In February 2019 we devoted our first bureau meeting of the year to start a strategic analysis of ENTO in order to draft a new vision which can lead us into the future. We recognized that, besides many things done some constraints are still there. There is room for a further strengthening of the network. Something new and different still need to be developed and it is up to all of us to discover what it is.
2019 ENTO General Assembly, held in Tbilisi on 3-5 October, definitely approved the new membership of the Polish Evaluatione Society.
We are very glad to welcome PES and specifically his president Mr. Jakub Wróblewski and the contact person with ENTO, Mr. Mirek Warowicki. Looking forward to meeting them personally in one of next ENTO events, hereafter some information about the new member.
Name: Polish Evaluation Society Address: ul. Wóycickiego 1/3, building. 23 room. 313. 01-938 Warsaw, Poland Website:http://pte.org.pl/
Head of the organization: Jakub Wróblewski, jakub.wroblewski@pte.org.pl Contact person: Mirek Warowicki, Member of Executive Board
Application for: ordinary membership
Brief description:
The Polish Evaluation Society was founded in 2000 by persons involved and interested in evaluation. We are a non-profit, non-governmental organization. We are staffed by volunteers and currently have no permanent, paid employees. Our mission is:
to promote the development of a culture and practice of evaluation
to organize and integrate the evaluation community,
to propagate knowledge about evaluation to ensure quality evaluation research and activities.
The Society aims to promote the development of evaluation culture and promulgate evaluation as a democratic and participatory process through the following activities:
organizing studies, courses and workshops,
performing evaluations,
exchanging experiences with other associations, institutions and organizations,
organizing meetings, seminars and conferences,
publishing,
consulting and advising
Main areas of activities: training, consulting, conferences and other forms of education are provided throughout the country offering training courses on evaluation step – by– step. It has provided opportunities for gaining general and specialist knowledge on evaluation in regularly organized “Kuźnia ewaluacji “settings. It has contributed to pursuing interests in dialogue and participation as preconditions in modern evaluation among officials and practitioners. Currently PES is involved with providing expertise and consultancy for Ministry of investment and Development. PES has its representatives in the Board of Network of European Evaluation Societies (NESE), and in the European Evaluation Society(EES). One of founder of PES and member of PES is ambassador of EPALE for Poland. EPALE is funded by the Erasmus+ programme. It is part of the European Union’s strategy to promote more and better learning opportunities for all adults. Currently group of PES members as authors are involved in the preparation a few publications with cooperation and support by Foundation for the Development of the Education System. This publications will contain, description, analyses, practical examples and activities that will help to gain a clear understanding of the research process of evaluation, modern trends in evaluation in relation to education.
In just a few days registration for the second appointment of 2019 ENTO StudyLab (entostudylab.org) in Tbilisi (Georgia) will close up.
Many of you have already registered and maybe someone is going to do it in a few days (Registration form is available here).
StudyLab is expected to be an opportunity not only for trainers who work in one of ENTO members, but also for students, participants to training courses and people just interested in the place and in the topics.
The StudyLab in Tbilisi is going to deepen the issue Georgian LGclose2EU.
Since regaining independence in early 90ies of 20th century, Georgia has declared it’s aspirations toward European Union.
“I’m Georgian, and therefore I am European.” These are the words of late Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania while speaking in front of the Council of Europe in 1999. Georgia has signed the association agreement with EU in 2014. EU is Georgia’s largest trade partner and supports various reforms in the country.
What are the steps made towards European standards by Georgian local authorities? How European Institutions work in Georgia and what is the role of local governments? These are the questions addressed during the study lab thanks to on-field visits and key-note speakers, as the former Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Margvelashvili .
There will be also the opportunity to discover a bit Georgian wines in a wine tasting in Chateau Ateni and to visit the Stalin Museum in Gori (Stalin Birthplace).
So, as usual ENTO StudyLab is an opportunity no to miss!
