Cooperarea - cheia unei mai bune calităţi
Co-operation - a Key for Better Quality

Summary/Abstract: The increasing dynamic and complexity challenge the public sector. Especially small entities such as municipalities, which are on the average of small scale in Austria, have to find other than traditional solutions. Reorganization and mergers of municipalities are one option. But it is not a favored one, as the local level is strongly linked to culture and identity of the inhabitant. However, co-operation is seen as a working solution, an instrument to improve efficiency and effectiveness not only on a local but also on a regional level. It should also help to remain self-autonomous. This paper focuses on co-operation of public authorities in the context of regional development. The concept of region becomes more and more important as globalization and international businesses dominate the current situation. Also subsidies and grants are often given to bigger entities than a small municipality. Strengthening peripheral and rural areas is one of the ideas of regional development. It can work when scarce resources are bundled, for example by developing and implementing conjointly projects which would not be realizable for each partner on its own. The experiences show that co-operations are beneficial for the citizens and their standard of living. Firstly, resources are made available which can be used for other services. Hence, the range of services can increase in accordance with customers’ needs. Secondly, new resources, such as know how, make a more quality oriented service provision possible. Thirdly, openness and transparency of processes improve. A culture of mutual trust can be fostered. This paper provides an introduction to the instrument of co-operation as a tool for better service delivery and for strengthening the local and the regional level. Different legal and organizational forms can be used depending also of the field of co-operation. The case study method is chosen to provide two successful examples of the province of Carinthia. Transferring lessons learnt needs to take into account the initial situation, goals and strategies, participating partners, resources, the available time frame and the political support.

• Details
• Contents