How a country organises its public finances forms the basis for how local authorities govern priorities in cities, towns, and villages. While national governments have the responsibility to design and supervise a system that works, local authorities are challenged to use their often limited resources for delivering better local services.
Fiscal decentralisation enables cities and villages to decide on how and where to spend their allocated and self-generated resources, ensuring a more inclusive response to citizens’ needs. This course will address the efficiency of local authorities’ revenues and expenditures schemes, aiming at improving their budgeting processes and their service delivery responsibility towards citizens.
This course will address the following questions:
- How can spending responsibilities and revenue resources be best assigned to the different government layers in different contexts?
- How can sub-national governments optimise their local revenues and strengthen financial management?
- What is the impact of emergencies (such as pandemics) on local finances?
- How can citizens hold their local authorities accountable?
- How can local budgets effectively respond to citizens’ needs?
Participants will discuss the assignment of expenditure responsibilities and revenue sources, the different variations of intergovernmental transfers, financial accountability, inclusive and participatory budgeting, as well as local government spending and monitoring. Case studies will analyse different local finance contexts across the globe. Participants will also visit Dutch institutions including the Dutch Ministry of Interior, the South-Holland Province and the Municipality of The Hague.
Course format
Online module: This module will consist of several assignments spread throughout the timeframe provided. This is an opportunity to learn about the topic (while enhancing your online skills in an innovative e-learning environment) and prepare you for the next part of the course.
Dates: 8 February to 19 March 2021.
Face-to-Face course: Participants will spend eight days in The Netherlands, focusing on study visits, expert presentations, and the exchange of experiences with other participants. We intend to offer this part of the training during the dates stated below, but if this proves not to be possible, it will be postponed to the earliest possibility.
Dates: 12 – 19 July 2021.
Key Information
- This blended training will take place both, online and in The Hague.
- The deadline for applications is 29 January 2021.
- Group discounts available if you participate with three or more colleagues.
- For general inquiries, please contact info@thehagueacademy.com or call +(31) 70 37 38 695.
For more detailed information about the course and starting dates, please click here.
Urban Governance: Resilient and Smart Cities
With the majority of the world population living in urban environments today, cities have become the engines of (economic) development and innovation. At the same time, cities have been forced to confront many of the world’s most pressing challenges: poverty and inequality, migration, pollution, natural disasters, and other consequences of climate change. In the face of these complex challenges, urban resilience and smart city solutions have become important concepts in the urban governance agenda, providing a way forward for urban local authorities, city planners, urban policy makers and practitioners.
This course on urban governance focuses on strategies, frameworks and tools to strengthen cities’ resilience: their ability to absorb and recover from internal and external shock or stress, maintain their essential functions and adapt and thrive in the face of continual change. The course will also cover smart city solutions by examining the role data and innovative technologies play in promoting resilience.
The course combines theoretical debates with practical experiences, real-life scenarios, as well as group work. The discussions are designed to help you answer the following questions:
- What must cities be resilient to?
- How can cities, as complex systems, adapt and be resilient?
- How can cities finance resilience?
- How can cities use data and technology to enhance resilience?
The course balances classroom discussions with study visits to the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water, the Province of South Holland, The Hague Municipality, Amsterdam Urban Ecosystem, Smart City Amsterdam and the Rotterdam Global Center on Adaptation. This focus on practice-oriented learning ensures that participants learn from the best practices of Dutch smart and resilient cities.
Course format
Due to the travel restrictions associated with the Coronavirus outbreak, the format of the course has been adjusted. We are now offering a practice-oriented blended course, consisting of two parts:
Online module: This module will consist of several assignments spread throughout the timeframe provided. This is an opportunity to learn about the topic (while enhancing your online skills in an innovative e-learning environment) and prepare you for the next part of the course.
Dates: 1 March to 9 April, 2021.
Face-to-Face course: Participants will spend eight days in The Netherlands, focusing on study visits, expert presentations, and the exchange of experiences with other participants. We intend to offer this part of the training during the dates stated below, but if this proves not to be possible, it will be postponed to the earliest possibility.
Dates: 21 – 28 June, 2021.
Key Information
- This blended training will take place both, online and in The Hague.
- The deadline for applications is 5 February 2021.
- Group discounts available if you participate with three or more colleagues.
- For general inquiries, please contact info@thehagueacademy.com or call +(31) 70 37 38 695.
For more detailed information please visit: https://thehagueacademy.com/blog/2020/03/urban-governance-resilient-and-smart-cities/