Program pilotażowy w opiniach środowiska samorządowego i pracowników administracji rządowej

Abstract

The pilot programmes, in which the large towns were to take over the duties and competence formerly belonging to the state administration, was designed by its creators to be a trial to assess the possibilities of the communities in the area of matters which, in the further stage of reform of public administration, were to be the responsibility of the Districts. After a period of more than one year of implementing this pilot programme it may be asserted that the towns satisfied the expectations of the reform promoters. Positive results were achieved thanks to the wholehearted involvement of the local political élite in the reform process. Quite often the reforming of public administration appeared rather as a bettie waged between rival state and local administrations, the former striving to retain its previous dominating position, the latter to broaden its influence and sphere of competence. This was the beginning of an ever widening process of decentralisation of state control and the consequent enhancing of the duties and powers of the territorial authorities of the larger towns. The authors of the successes scored in the pilot programmes were mainly the workers and activists from the local government institutions. It was they who pressed on, in the face of considerable difficulties, towards effective accomplishing of the tasks entrusted to them and consistently broadened the official competence of the local authority institutions. The local leaders were recruited from the ranks of the local government officials while the state administration workers specially declared their positive support for the principles of the pilot programme. Only about 11 % of the leaders adopted a negative or neutral stance towards reform. Advantages gained from the pilot programme concentrate on two areas. Firstly, the pilot scheme facilitates and speeds up satisfaction of communal needs by the introduction of organisational improvements. Secondly, it creates conditions for optimum exploitation of financial resources. The pilot scheme objectives favour the implementation of the social needs of the inhabitants and leaders of the community. These include: health care and social assistance and also education and upbringing. The scope of pilot scheme tasks agrees with the expectations of the inhabitants and represents a spontaneously decided local system of social needs. The process of taking over the pilot scheme tasks by the town local government authorities took place without any pressure being exerted from the state administration side. Empirical data indicate the curbing of the influence of the state administration in determining preferences and outlays from the local community budgets. The pilot scheme increases the potential for citizens’ chances of influencing the process of management of public affairs. Local self government activists support the idea of active participation of individual citizens in the social and political life of the town. In practice, however, concentration of powers in the hands of the community authorities and offices limits the possibilities of participation in the local management process.