Project updates - 30.11.2016.
Project implementation successfully finished
Project "Increasing territorial development planning capacities of planning regions and local governments of Latvia and elaboration of development planning documents" was successfully finished by 30th of November 2016. During the last month of the implementation an additional seminar was organised for municipalities of Latvia about state support conditionality in regards of municipal projects that promotes entrepreneurship with an aim to promote settings of territory development documents in relation to entrepreneurship development thus implementing projects in order to bring to life economical specialisation of municipalities. During the seminar Attorney at law, Mr. Frode Lauareid from The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities shared experience of Norwegian municipalities and state aid in Norway.
The seminar was the final activity of the project. By the end of the project all planned outcomes and results are reached successfully thus contributing to the project objective - to increase territorial development planning capacities of planning regions and local governments of Latvia and to elaborate regional and national level territorial development planning draft documents.
Project updates - 25.10.2016.
Experience exchange visit to Norway on issues related to public water management
On 17 – 19 October 2016 representatives of 6 Latvian local municipalities, Vidzeme planning region and Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development visited Norway in order to strengthen institutional and human–resources capacity in public water management and protection issues.
During the visit, information about the institutional responsibility for water management and the division of competences in Norway was obtained. In the meeting with the Norwegian Environment Agency information on the regulatory framework for water management, including experience in developing river basin management plans was provided, which are based on the OECD principles developed for public water management. Latvian delegation met also with the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate and during the meeting issues of licensing procedures for water use in the production of electricity and measures to prevent the risk of flooding were discussed. During the visit Norwegian municipalities Spydeberg and Askim were also visited, exploring local current events and projects directly related to the public water management and protection with an emphasis on supplying inhabitants with water and sewerage services, aligning it with environmental protection. Participants from Norway and Latvia discussed numerous other issues relevant in both countries as well. Local municipalities from Latvia and Norway participating in the experience exchange event were the ones who on 29 March 2016 in Riga signed a declaration confirming their intention to cooperate in the future in various fields, including also youth inclusion, promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation, tourism.
Project updates - 19.10.2016.
Project final conference and project video
On 13th of October 2016 the final conference of the project took place in Riga. The conference consisted of two parts - the first was devoted to overview the main results as well as to trigger discussions of the topic - main challenges in the development planning in Latvia (since the purpose of the project when it was set up was to overcome different challenges in development planning in Latvia). The second part was devoted to share ideas and experiences based on the project results yet discussing mainly the impact of the project and what impulse it has given to the parties involved.
In order to promote the project results a video has been prepared to summarize the main results of the project as well as share the opinions of project participants who have taken part in various activities during the project implementation process.
The video is available here.
Project updates - 31.08.2016.
Experience stories from the participants of the project
Taking into account that the project has entered its conclusive phase - only few more activities to be carried out - an experience story summary has been published in order to share positive experiences of the people participated in the different activities of the project. The stories give answers to following questions:
- what are the benefits of municipalities and regions and their employees that have participated in the project activities (both personal and institutional gains)?
- what are the most useful conclusions gained during the project?
- what activities should be continued in the future in order to continue strengthening institutional capacities.
The stories are available HERE.
Project updates - 26.08.2016.
More project activities finalised
- On 18th of February 2016 the final seminar within the Activity 4 took place in Riga. Within the seminar the process of elaboration of national long-term thematic plan for the coastal area of the Baltic Sea and future actions regarding the thematic plan were discussed. Thus the Activity 4 has been successfully finished.
- On 29th of March meeting of representatives from municipalities of Latvia and Norway took place in Riga. During the meeting an intention to discuss future cooperation was signed between Aremark, Marker, Romskog and Spydeberg municipalities from Norway and Amata, Līgatne, Priekuļi, Pārgauja, Rauna, Jaunpiebalga, Vecpiebalga municipalities from Latvia. It is foreseen to continue further discussions between prior mentioned institutions from Norway and Latvia regarding the future cooperation opportunities in respect of experience exchange and transfer of knowledge in various fields.
- Implementation period of the project was prolonged for additional 7 month in order to carry out the final activities of the project, therefore the project is planned to be finalised by 30th of November, 2016.
- In order to promote good praxis of the project 10 experience stories of people who have been directly involved in the project activities as primary target group were collected and published in a booklet of project stories. The stories are available here and it provides general overview and activities carried out within the project and the impact of these activities emphasising importance of the project.
- From 15th to 17th of August 2016 a camp – summer school for development planning experts took place in Ikšķile municipality (Latvia). This was one of the last activities foreseen in the project, carried out within the Activity 2 which aims to improvement of territorial development planning capacities of local governments. The summer school directly tackled issue of local government capacities in territorial planning giving a great opportunity for the local experts to learn new knowledge, strengthen skills and share experiences that are important for their daily work as development planning experts. The first day of the camp was devoted for knowledge – 5 different lectures on various topics (branding of territories, transport planning, climate changes, investments and service availability) were provided. The second day of the event was devoted for expert skills. First the role of the experts were discussed, then a training on idea presentation skills and effective communication were carried out, providing a great chance for the experts to improve skills that are extremely important for their successful daily work in municipalities. The training session was continued with case study works in teams analysing and finding solutions for problems in development planning that were defined before the event by the participants themselves. The last day started with team presentations and was continued by experience exchange session of two guests giving a great dose of motivation and inspiration for all of the participants. The camp was finished with field visits in the municipality. All the participants admitted that this kind of event should be organised regularly and pointed out the importance and impact of it on their municipalities.
Project updates - 29.01.2016.
Within the project Activity 1 "Strengthening the capacity of planning regions for elaboration of regional development planning documents" four planning regions elaborated their sustainable development strategies. Four booklets in English have been prepared in order to promote the documents:
- Kurzeme Planning Region Sustainable Development Strategy 2030
- Zemgale Planning Region Sustainable Development Strategy 2030
- Vidzeme Planning Region Sustainable Development Strategy 2030
- Riga Planning Region Sustainable Development Strategy 2030
Project updates - 30.11.2015.
Within the last 4 month many activities have been carried out and finalized within the project:
- Detailed study on the settlement patterns in the planning regions of Latvia and the provision of public services was finalized. The final deliveries can be found here.
- Research on territorial development planning in small and medium sized towns in Latvia, Norway and other European countries was carried out. The final delivery can be found here.
- All planning documents of the planning regions were approved by the councils of planning regions. The approved documents can be found in the web sites of planning regions - Riga, Vidzeme, Zemgale and Kurzeme.
- Project partner "Urban Institute" has finalized both of their conducted programmes - one for communities and one for municipalities. The final seminar for both of the programmes took place on 18th of September. More details about the activities run by "Urban Institute" can be found here.
- Last experience exchange events between project partners in Latvia and Norway has happened. There were experience exchange event organised within the project Activity No.3, when experts from Norway visited Latvia. More information about it can be found here. As well as the final experience exchange was organised within the Activity No.2. More information about it can be found here.
- In November 2015 public consultation was organised for the national long-term thematic plan for the coastal area of the Baltic Sea. More There were 4 meetings organised within the consulting process. As well as there has been more seminars organised within the document elaboration process. Information about the document and the public consultation can be found here and here.
- Project publicity conference (mid-term conference) was successfully organised gathering more than 100 participants (also including participants from 40 different municipalities of Latvia). More information about the conference can be found here.
Main photo from the conference in Bauska, 29th of October 2015:
- Within the Activity No 3 five seminars were organised for the municipality experts about how to establish linkage between the territorial development planning and budget planning at the local level. For this reason methodological guidelines (including examples from experience of Norway) has been produces. The guidelines can be found here.
- Last but not least with the support of Bilateral fund an experience exchange trip for mayors of 7 municipalities of Vidzeme planning region was organised to promote strategic partnerships between state, regional and local authorities of Latvia and Norway. More information about the event can be found here.
- On 11th of December 2015 the Steering group meeting will take place where the project results and implementation progress will be presented.
Project updates - 03.06.2015.
The last four month have been very active for the project thus there are many activities that have been implemented successfully.
- 5 training seminars about local development planning for the specialists from the local governments of Latvia have taken place (more information about the training programme you can find here). The first seminar took place on 11th of February gathering participants from 26 different municipalities of Latvia.
- More training seminars have been organised within the training programme for local communities (in Varkava (March 2015), Vadakste (April 2015), Vilkene (May 2015), Ligatne (June)). The final seminar within the training programme is planned to take place in September 2015.
- Active work was continued within the project Activity 4. First deliveries of the long-term thematic plan for the coastal area of the Baltic Sea have been delivered as well as elaboration of the Public safety and rescue plans for the Kurzeme and Riga planning regions has been actively carried out (public survey questionnaire was organised at both of the planning regions to gather public opinion on human safety and rescue situation at Baltic Sea costal area.
- 10 planning documents were elaborated (including long-term sustainable development strategies and development programmes for the Kurzeme, Vidzeme, Riga and Zemgale planning regions and the Concept for the development of public services for the Latgale planning region, as well as Action Plan for the Development of Latgale Planning Region).
- Detailed study on the settlement patterns in the planning regions of Latvia and the provision of public services was delivered. Also guidelines for elaboration of development plans of local communities were elaborated and the research on small and medium-sized urban areas problems and the growth potential both at the European Union and Latvian scale was carried out.
- Last but not least Latvian and Norwegian local strategic partnership (matchmaking) workshop was organised with the support of Bilateral fund to promote strategic partnerships between municipalities of Latvia and Norway. You can find more information about the event here as well as video/photos from the event here.
Meetings with the coastal municipalities of the project 4th activity "Elaboration of national long-term thematic plan for the coastal area of the Baltic Sea."
From February 17 to March 3, The Latvian Ministry on Environmental Protection and Regional Development and the coastal planning project developer LTD "Grupa93" visited the coastal municipalities within the activity.
During the meetings, representatives of coastal municipalities were informed about coastal planning project development and the local municipalities gave latest information on the necessary investment sites and discussed about the opportunity of the municipality’s coastal natural and cultural heritage improvement, by developing public infrastructure networks and developing access to the natural and cultural heritage, and the creation of new services that promote local economic development.
The second experience exchange trip to Norway within the project activity 2 "Increasing territorial development planning capacities of local municipalities"
The Latvian Ministry on Environmental Protection and Regional Development, in collaboration with one of the project partners – the association "Urban Institute," from February 19 to 20, organised the second Latvian municipalities and communities experience exchange trip to Aust-Agder regional level municipality in Norway.
In exchange visit participated municipalities from Broceni municipality, Madona municipality, Vilani municipality and Liepaja City municipality, as well as the Vidzeme planning region, the association "Urban Institute" and representatives of The Latvian Ministry on Environmental Protection and Regional Development. The main objective of the trip was to introduce Latvian local and regional representatives with the local government experience of local development planning in Norway: planning methods, process organization, public and local community involvement in the planning process, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tool use for strategic decision-making, as well as to promote further cooperation between local governments of Latvia and Norway. Participants of the experience exchange visit had the opportunity to meet face to face with the Aust-Agder regional governments, Birken municipality, Risør municipality, Arendal city and Lillesand city municipal representatives.
The Latvian Ministry on Environmental Protection and Regional Development invites representatives of local municipalities to a capacity building seminar
The Latvian Ministry on Environmental Protection and Regional Development in collaboration with the association "Urban Institute" organises seminar for representatives of local municipalities about development planning capacity building. The seminar is implemented within the Norwegian financial instrument project "Increasing territorial development planning capacities of planning regions and local governments of Latvia and elaboration of development planning documents".
The seminar will be held on February 11, 2015, in The Latvian Ministry on Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Peldu Street 25, Riga, room 409, from 10:00 till 17:00.
The first part of the seminar representatives of Vidzeme planning region and of the Liepaja Council will inform about The Latvian Ministry on Environmental Protection and Regional Development in collaboration with the OECD LEED organized planning regional and local municipalities development planning specialist training, which took place in Paris, from March 19 to 20, 2014. Associations "ZINIS" representative will present the results of “Future City games”. Representative of the association "Urban Institute" will inform about the activation of community activities, communities and the prerequisites for strengthening local municipal cooperation.
Training seminars "Future City Game"
The Latvian Ministry on Environmental Protection and Regional Development invites Latvian region residents to participate in two-day training seminar “Future City Game”, which will take place in Latgale, Vidzeme and Kurzeme.
Training seminars will be held from January 15 to 16 in the Latgale region – Viļaka municipality, January 22 to 23 in Vidzeme region – Priekuli municipaltity and January 27 to 28 in the Kurzeme region - Broceni municipality.
The event aim is to provide participants the opportunity to participate and contribute to the local government development planning. Participation at the seminar provides an opportunity to meet and work together people with different experiences, interests and age groups, as well as work together to create innovative ideas for the future of their own city. During the seminars participants learn new skills and knowledge of the developed ideas formulation, teaching and development.
Project activities in 2014
9 exchange visits between Latvian and Norwegian authorities within the project were organised in 2014. The final visit in Latvia in 2014 took place in Viļķene, from December 11 to 13, where the experts from Norway met with the Latvian authorities and non-governmental organizations and participated in the local communities training seminar in Viļķene. Overall, this training seminar was attended by representatives from six communities - Ambeliem-Preiļiem, Araisi, Brocēni, Lucavsala in Riga, Vadakstes and Viļķenes. Participants together with local and international planning experts talked about the state and the public/community assessment.
Seminars in the Latgale Planning Region
On December 10-11, 2014 within the Norwegian financial instrument project "Increasing territorial development planning capacities of planning regions and local governments of Latvia and elaboration of development planning documents" 3 seminars were held in Daugavpils, Rezekne and Balvi about the concept for the development of public services in the Latgale Planning Region.
The seminar venue was chosen with the aim of covering the entire territory of the Latgale region, together with the local and national institutional territorial representatives to discuss the provision of services in the Latgale region.
Seminars were attended by representatives of local governments of Latgale, Daugavpils Regional Branch of the State Social Insurance Agency, Latgale Regional Development Agency etc. Participants modelled potential service receiving places and discussed about standards of receiving services in Latgale.
The second meeting of the project steering committee
On December 12, 2014 The Latvian Ministry on Environmental Protection and Regional Development organized the second steering committee of the project “Increasing territorial development planning capacities of planning regions and local governments of Latvia and elaboration of development planning documents” (financed by Norwegian financial instrument).
Project coordinator in Latvia, Laura Dimitrijeva and project coordinator in Norway, Turid Knutsen-Løvik introduced the steering committee with the progress report of the project, stating which activities has been completed already in 2014 and what are the goals for 2015. Participants were also informed about upcoming changes in the project agreement, which are needed in order for activities to be implemented successfully.
The next and the last one of project steering committee meetings will be held in December 2015.
Experts from Norway learn about Latvian experience in development planning
With the support of Norwegian financial instrument a seminar took place in Viļķene on 11-13 December, 2014. Both Latvian and Norwegian experts met to discuss their different experiences regarding development planning.
In the first part of the meeting experts from Norway met representatives from the Latvian Ministry on Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Cross-Sectoral Coordination Centre, Riga planning region and organization “Latvian Rural forum”.
In the second part of the meeting Norwegian experts participated at the local communities working seminar in Vilkene. The main topic of the seminar was “Nation and power: community assessment” which gathered participants from different local communities in Latvia.
Lectors of the seminar Andrew Johansson form the USA, Guido Sechi from Italy and Pēteris Šķiņķis form Latvia introduced the participants with a wide range of information concerning society, identity, networking, economics and public governance. The main activity of the seminar was learning about different tools for community assessment.
Seminar within the project activity 4 - “Elaboration of national long-term thematic plan for the coastal area of the Baltic Sea” in Dundaga
On 21 November a seminar took place in Dundaga bringing together the Coastline coordination and collaboration group, Latvian Coastline municipalities association, and representatives from the Latvian Ministry on Environmental Protection and Regional Development.
The seminar was well visited. Altogether representatives came from municipalities, national institutions and nongovernmental organizations. Main questions discussed at the seminar were: European Union funds 2014-2020 planning period aimed for coastal areas, thematic planning of the coastal public infrastructure and the significance of cooperation within the planning process, and taking over the public waters (up to 2 km in the sea) and the coastal territories in municipality’s tenure.
Experts from Norway visit Latvia again
In the very beginning of October, 2014 experts from Norway from the Oplanne Municipality visited Latvia within the projects’ “Increasing territorial development planning capacities of planning regions and local governments of Latvia and elaboration of development planning documents” Activity 1 – “Strengthening the capacity of planning regions for elaboration of regional development planning documents”.
One of the aims of experts was to get acquainted to the Latvian development planning documents – strategies and programs - and their implementation. They visited Zemgale planning region, Jelgava city, and Iecava municipality to learn more about the specifics of planning system of Latvia.
Another goal of the visit was for Latvian planning regions to introduce experts with their upcoming planning documents in order to receive a qualitative and experience-based feedback for improving the documents.
Activity 1 – “Strengthening the capacity of planning regions for elaboration of regional development planning documents” – aims to carry out activities to strengthen the capacity of professionals working in planning regions.
On 18-19 September, 2014 experts from Latvia visited Norway to learn their about community involvement
Experts visited Aust-Agder regional municipality in Norway to get acquainted to their experiences on community involvement in development planning processes
Altogether 10 experts from local communities of Latvia, the Urban Institute Riga and the Latvian Ministry on Environmental protection and Regional development visited Aust-Agder regional municipality in Norway on 18-19 September, 2014.
The aim of the visit was to exchange experiences, methods and tools of community involvement in development planning processes.
The national legislation of Norway anticipates to include the local society in any development planning procedure, however each municipality is free to choose the best and the most appropriate ways to carry out society involvement in planning processes.
The municipality of Lillesand, for example, believes in including active citizens in the process of creating ideas and are doing so by using the methods of informal education. On the other hand - Grimstad municipality is supporting a nongovernmental organization “My Town”, which is actively creating and communicating new ideas for improving the city and making use of unused buildings. Since the greatest part of this NGO consists of young people, they are often using social media and interactive methods. Arendal Municipality does it similarly – they also have an NGO in the city called “Canal Association”. Tvedestrand Municipality representative outlines their approach – they are organizing meetings with citizens to hear their opinions and ideas on certain places in the city and their functional connections to the city.
The first community development seminar
On June 6-7 Urban Institute Riga organized the first seminar on community development together with leaders form 6 communities. The aim of the seminar was to build community leaders’ capacity in order to educate communities all over Latvia.
The seminar was opened by representatives from the Urban Institute and the Latvian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, introducing the project financed by the Norwegian grants - „Increasing territorial development planning capacities of planning regions and local governments of Latvia and elaboration of development planning documents”.
Participants were also introduced to the community movement experience in Latvia and its’ hopes and aims for the future. Later on the head of the urban Institute Riga Jonas Büchel informed participants about the further work plan for next community seminars which will be hosted accordingly by each community participating in the project – Ambeļi and Preiļi municipalities, Viļķene municipality, Āraiši municipality, Brocēni municipality, Vadakste municipality and Lucavsala eco-community. Community leaders spent the rest of the time on discussing their own goals within the project.
On the second day Guntars Ruskuls, the deputy director of Development planning division of Riga City council, joined the seminar and introduced participants with the program “Riga neighbourhoods” and how it has evoked active citizens of Riga to participate in our common development planning.
On April 11 took place conference about development planning and entrepreneurship promotion in regions and local municipalities
Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development on April 11 organized conference about regional and local development planning and also about role of marketing activities for entrepreneurship promotion and investment attraction in regions and local municipalities.
Conference was opened by Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development Mr. Romāns Naudiņš, who emphasized that „entrepreneurs in Riga and in regions have the same responsibilities, but at the same time there are so different preconditions in the sense of infrastructure, labour, market opportunities and other factors. Latvia’s regional policy has to be aimed to strengthen role of regions and local municipalities in entrepreneurship promotion, because local municipalities have important role supplementing measures which are implemented at national level. Therefore I am pleased about smart and responsible use of Norway financial instrument. Today in this conference we will discuss the most effective measures and instruments for entrepreneurship promotion in regions”. While Deputy County Mayor of Oppland County Mr. Ivar Odnes pointed that „in Norway local municipalities and regions face with the same problems, which are actual in Latvia - outflow of people from rural to urban areas and shortage of high-quality workforce in these areas”.
Conference was attended by development planners, and entrepreneurship promotion specialists of local municipalities, representatives of planning regions, non-governmental organizations, experts and entrepreneurs.
In the first part of conference planning specialist of Oppland County Ms.R.Myhre introduced with development planning in Norway, paying particular attention to regional level development planning documents. Head of Administration of Kurzeme Planning region Mr.K.Godiņš informed about elaboration of Kurzeme region development planning documents and also about approach they use to ensure further application of documents and the widest possible involvement of society in the planning process.
Representatives of Vidzeme Planning region, Liepaja city and Limbazi municipality shared with their experience in territory development planning and implementing, as well as entrepreneurship promotion, which was obtained participating in training programme organized by Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development in cooperation with Local Economic and Employment Development Programme of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD LEED). While chairman of “Urban Institute” J. J.Büchel informed about planned training programme for Latvian local municipalities and local communities, including training framework, aim, and planned results.
At the second part of conference, experts from Latvia and Norway shared with their experience about role of marketing activities for entrepreneurship promotion and investment attraction in regions and local municipalities. In conference as speakers participated Manager of Latgale Business centre Mr.V.Stankevičs and Head of Development and Planning Division of Bauska local municipality Ms. I.Tijone, who were speaking about their experience and opportunities to promote entrepreneurship and attract investments in region and local municipalities, using marketing measures. Representatives from Norway - specialist on entrepreneurship issues of Oppland County Mr.D.A.Henriksen informed about entrepreneurship support system in Norway, paying particular attention to regional aspect, while representatives of organization „Innovangsjon” shared with their experience about opportunities to attract inhabitants in a small local municipality in Norway.
Head of the Representative Office in Norway, Investment and Development Agency of Latvia Mr.G.Ginters shared with his experience working with Norwegian investors and investment attraction measures for entrepreneurship promotion.
Conference was organized within two projects “Implementation of regional policy actions in Latvia and elaboration of regional development measures” and „Increasing territorial development planning capacities of planning regions and local governments of Latvia and elaboration of development planning documents in the framework of Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2009-2014 Programme LV07 ”Capacity-building and Institutional Cooperation between Latvian and Norwegian Public Institutions, Local and Regional Authorities”.
Presentations from conference
- Regional planning in Norway - the case of Oppland regional county
- Report on the elaboration of the regional planning documents in the Kurzemes region and exchanges between Latvian planning regions of Latvia and Norwegian regional authorities
- OECD LEED training programme for Latvian regional and local authorities – results, experience gained, opportunities for knowledge transfer
- Training programmes for Latvian municipalities and local communities – scope, objectives and results to be achieved
- Opportunities for Latgale planning regions to promote entrepreneurship and attract investments in region and local municipalities using marketing activities
- Example of good practice of marketing activities for investment attraction in Bauska municipality. What can we learn from Norway?
- Innovangsjon – how to attract enthusiasm and creativity for small municipality in Norway?
- Investment attraction activities for entrepreneurship promotion. Experience with Norwegian investors
Held the first project Steering Committee meeting
On Friday, February 14, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development organized the Norwegian Financial Mechanism for 2009-2014* financed project „Increasing territorial development planning capacities of planning regions and local governments of Latvia and elaboration of development planning documents” first Steering Committee meeting.
The main task of the Steering Committee is to monitor progress of the implementation of activities and to evaluate the project implementation outcomes and make decisions for needed changes in Project activity implementation if needed to ensure achievement of planned results both at project level and programme level.
In the work of Steering Committee participate all project partners – all Latvian planning regions, Oppland and Aust-Agder counties, as well as such state institutions and non-governmental organizations as Latvian Investment and Development Agency, Association of Local and Regional Governments of Latvia, Association of Large Cities of Latvia and the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities.
Deputy State Secretary in regional development issues of Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development Ilona Raugze states that planned activities will strengthen knowledge and competence of all Latvian local municipality specialists regarding territorial development planning issues.
During project implementation period in total three Steering Committee meetings are planned, and next one will take place at the end of this year.
*Norwegian Financial Mechanism programme „Capacity-Building and Institutional Cooperation between Latvian and Norwegian Public Institutions, Local and Regional Authorities”
With support of Norway grants will strengthen capacity of Latvian local municipalities and planning regions
18.12.2013
To strengthen capacity of Latvian local municipalities and planning regions by developing development planning documents and supporting entrepreneurship promotion, on Wednesday, December 18, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (hereafter MoEPRD) and State Regional Development Agency (hereafter SRDA) signed agreement for two pre defined projects of Norwegian Financial Mechanism for 2009-2014* implementation in Latvia.
Agreement was signed by Deputy State Secretary of MoEPRD Ilona Raugze and Director of SRDA Solvita Zvidriņa.
Within the project “Increasing territorial development planning capacities of planning regions and local governments of Latvia and elaboration of development planning documents” it is planned to strengthen territory development planning capacity of Latvian local municipalities and planning regions by developing regional and national level territory development planning documents. Total project expenses are 1 195 972 EUR.
To stenghten capacity of Latvian local municipalities and planning regions will be provided support in entrepreneruship promotion issues by implementing project „Implementation of regional policy actions in Latvia and elaboration of regional development measures”. Total project expenses are 1 172 029 EUR.
Deputy State Secretary in regional development issues of MoEPRD Ilona Raugze specifies: “Projects are estimated as significant support for strengthening capacity of Latvian planning regions and local municipalities in development planning and entrepreneurship promotion, because they will provide opportunity to attract additional expertise for elaboration of development planning documents, as well will help to form a dialogue with local community and strengthen contact with cooperation partners in Norway.”
Project promoter for both projects is MoEPRD, and in their implementation will participate all Latvian planning regions and partners in Norway – Ministry of Local Municipalities and Regional Development, Oppland, Aust-Agder Counties. In project “Increasing territorial development planning capacities of planning regions and local governments of Latvia and elaboration of development planning documents” will participate also non-governmental organization “Urban Institute”, Østfold County, Latvian municipalities, local communities and other social partners.
* Norwegian Financial Mechanism programme „Capacity-Building and Institutional Cooperation between Latvian and Norwegian Public Institutions, Local and Regional Authorities”
