EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Knowledge Network, Governance in Action

Knowledge Network, Governance in Action

Introduction

Seventeen cities and four research institutes of eleven countries in Europe work together in the programme "Knowledge Network, Governance in Action". Governance in Action is about shifting from government to governance, from working for the people to working with the people.

Description

The Knowledge Network seeks to improve the daily life of the inhabitants of its member cities by practising good local governance. Main goal is the creation of a solid network, identifying methods and instruments and sharing information and practices of local governance. It is the belief of the network members that by improving local governance the decision making process can be improved and cross-party consensus can be achieved. Participation is a keyword in the network.

In the network, the following issues are addressed specifically:

creation of employment;
renovation and rehabilitation and involvement of inhabitants;
safety and civic pride;
education and social inclusion;
health and a healthy environment;
social and economic development;
practices to bridge the gap between inhabitants and local politics and the municipal organisation.

Participants

A full list of partners can be found on the Knowledge Network website, see below.

Network lead

The network is lead by the City of Almere, the Netherlands.

Objectives

The main objective of the network is to involve the local community in the decision making process and governance.

In practice this means:

to involve citizens by stimulating local identity, by considering all users of the city with equal rights and duties, by involving people in long-term strategy plans and visions and by improving methods to listen to the needs of residents;
to involve investors and companies by stimulating investors to invest in society, by developing public-private partnerships and by creating an inspiring atmosphere for investors;
to involve staff and organisation by shifting from working for the people to working with the people, by giving training to improve communication skills and by stimulating the use of ICT-instruments.

Products

In the operation of "Knowledge Network, Governance in Action" the focus is on the following activities:

collecting good practices from the partners and from elsewhere;
exchanging information and knowledge and improving practices and tools;
implementation of new tools and practices and improvement of governance;
better understanding of needs and wishes of inhabitants (common questionnaire and interviews with inhabitants);
comparison between partners/countries and publications on governance;
improving skills of civic servants and policy makers.

EU involvement

The network is funded by the European Commission through the INTERREG IIIC programme.

Contact info

City of Almere
Marcel Stolk (Network Coordinator), tel. +31 36 5484228

Links

Knowledge Network, Governance in Action City of Almere INTERREG IIIC

Document type

network

Themes

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration

Keywords

Community development