5-6th May 2022, Norway
The second study visit of the Competence project took place in Norway on 5-6 May 2022. The host partner this time was the Norwegian expertise partner Åpenhet, who invited the representatives of the Croatian, Romanian, Czech and Hungarian partner organizations to Oslo and to Bø in Telemark County.
On day one, the participants met the representatives of the Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and got acquainted with the structure of the Ministry, its responsibilities, and the regulations under which the roles of ministry, county level municipalities and local municipalities are linked or separated.
In Norway, digitalisation and the introduction of various innovations into the governmental and municipal work is of paramount importance. Local experts were happy to share experiences of recent and ongoing regional innovation projects.
Participants also got familiar with the tasks of the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS). KS is a key interlocutor in workplace matters and ensures that members do not have to negotiate with more than 40 employee organizations individually. KS is lobbying for good structures, conditions and more freedom of local actions for their members. The goal is for local governments to become better social developers and service providers.
On day two, the participants got acquainted with the daily work of Nome Municipality (Bo, Telemark) and the online education system KS-læring (municipal skills e-learning portal) which started a few years ago at Nome Municipality, but is now available throughout Norway.Good practices were heard first-hand by those present.
By the second study visit, the international project teams had already forged together and actively analysed the experience gained in joint discussions and the next steps in compiling the Action Plan in a workshop led by the expertise partner organization.
The next stop of the study visits will be Trogir, Croatia.
