Local Development Programme concluded. How did the EEA and Norway Grants supported the development of towns?

29 medium-sized Polish towns took advantage of the opportunity given to them by the EEA and Norway Grants. The Local Development Programme helped them spread their wings and took care of the needs of residents.

On November 18 a conference concluding the Local Development Programme, financed under the third edition of the EEA and Norway Grans for 2014-2021, took place in Warsaw. The event was attended by Konrad Wojnarowski, Deputy Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy. The ministry hosted, among others, ambassadors of Norway and Iceland and representatives of institutions involved in the implementation of the Programme, i.e. the Financial Mechanisms Office in Brussels, OECD, KS - Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities, Association of Polish Cities, beneficiary cities and their Norwegian and Icelandic partners, as well as representatives operators of Polish and foreign programmes. 

Thanks to the Programme, launched in 2019, 29 projects, selected in an open call, were successfully implemented, 17 of which were realized in partnership with Norwegian and Icelandic local governments.

The following towns benefited from the Programme: Cieszyn, Hajnówka, Hrubieszów, Jarocin, Jarosław, Jasło, Jelenia Góra, Kędzierzyn-Koźle, Konin, Krosno, Łomża, Nisko, Opoczno, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Ostrów Wielkopolski, Piła, Przemyśl, Rydułtowy, Stalowa Wola, Starachowice, Tarnów , Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Włocławek, Zabrze, Zawiercie, Zgierz, Złotów, Żary and Żywiec.

The key element of each of the 29 projects was an honest diagnosis. Towns that received funds from the Programme had to prepare a Local Development Plan, which showed what local government officials in cooperation with residents wanted to do in the city with the EEA and Norway Grants, and an Action Plan, showing how the town office itself would change. Thanks to this, the Local Development Programme was tailored to towns, i.e. it solved their specific problems and supported their strengths.

The applicants, and later also the beneficiaries, received substantive assistance from the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy and the Association of Polish Cities (APC) and tools necessary to prepare and implement the projects as well.

Thanks to bilateral cooperation, Polish local governments were able to exchange knowledge and experience with Norwegian and Icelandic towns. Much information about project implementation, prepared tools, records of Local Development Forums and information about Experience Exchange Networks (only Polish language) can be found on the APC websites related to the Programme.

The Programme budget is over EUR 130 million, which is currently over PLN 550 million. For this money, many solutions were implemented to improve the quality of life of residents of smaller towns.

By implementing their projects, towns have gathered valuable experience and developed many good practices. Each town has prepared a manual of good practices. Thanks to this, everyone can find out what was done in a given town, what turned out to be the greatest success and what difficulties the officials faced.

We encourage you to read the manuals and pass them on. You will find them in the Good practice section.

• Post-implementation evaluation of the Local Development Programme - brochure (PDF 377 KB)
  
• Post-implementation evaluation of the Local Development Programme - video presentation (MP4 39 MB)