2004 Press Releases
American City Managers to Visit Slovakia for Exchange
Bratislava, April 16, 2004
The U.S. Embassy in Bratislava is pleased to announce that from April 19 - 26, 2004, eighteen American members of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) will embark on a local government study tour to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The tour is being jointly organized by ICMA, its affiliate organizations in Slovakia (the Slovak City Managers' Association) and Hungary (the Partnership for Local Government Associations), the Slovak Local Government Development Center and the Czech City Managers' Association.
Participants, who are paying their own way to take part in this unique professional development experience, include former and current American city and county managers as well as the executive directors of the Minnesota League of Cities and the Michigan Education Association.
The tour will provide participating U.S. officials with the opportunity to observe first-hand how local governments and their community partners in Slovakia have responded to the major tasks of introducing local democracy, developing effective and transparent management and public service delivery systems, engaging citizens in the local decision-making process and fostering the growth of the private sector.
In addition to meetings and roundtable discussions on these topics, study tour participants will have the opportunity to lend their experience and skills to select communities in Slovakia, providing advice on possible approaches or solutions to priority community concerns. On April 20, the group will divide up into small teams and spend the day working with their colleagues in Bratislava; Banská Bystrica (joined by representatives from the city of Detva), Komárno, Piešťany, Senica (joined by representatives from the city of Skalica), Turčianske Teplice (joined by representatives from the cities of Martin and Vrútky), and Vysoké Tatry (joined by representatives from the cities of Levoča, Kežmarok and Poprad). Key issues that these communities have identified include economic development - including the role of local governments in supporting the growth of small- and medium-sized enterprises, tourism development, and the redevelopment of former military facilities - and environmental management, in particular strategies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of refuse collection.
The idea for a study tour to Central Europe is in many respects the natural extension of ICMA's experience in implementing the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) program, "Training in Municipal Management and Governance in the Slovak Republic" from 1995 - 1999. Through this program, ICMA provided training and technical assistance to improve the managerial skills of Slovak elected and appointed officials, and to build the training and professional development capabilities of local institutions and Slovak consultants. The Local Government Development Center, an NGO that provides training and consulting services to local governments, was established at the end of the project as a Slovak successor organization. ICMA also supported the development of the Slovak City Managers' Association, with which it now has formal relationship of affiliation, and helped establish the Association of Municipal Finance Officers in Slovakia.
For further information, contact Corinne Rothblum, E-mail: crothblum@icma.org.