Their aim was to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of medium-sized cities.

As part of the programme, which ran from 2019-24, the cities, among other things, implemented measures to adapt to climate change, improve air quality, transport accessibility. They also implemented so-called soft measures - educational or improving the quality of life of particular groups of residents, e.g. students, seniors, people with disabilities. Thanks to excellent cooperation with partners from Norway and Iceland, Polish cities have implemented many innovative solutions.

The 'Local Development' programme was an initiative to support the development of Poland's medium-sized cities, offering comprehensive financial, substantive and organisational support.

- The implementation of the 'Local Development' programme supported 29 projects in medium-sized towns, 17 of which were carried out in partnership with Norwegian and one Icelandic local government. The total project budget exceeded PLN 561 million and enabled the introduction of innovative solutions that improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of smaller urban centres," said Deputy Minister of Funds and Regional Policy, Konrad Wojnarowski, opening the conference, which brought together in Warsaw representatives of the cities participating in the Programme, as well as partners from the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Association of Polish Cities and the Institute for Urban and Regional Development (IRMIR).

The aim of the project was to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of medium-sized towns by accelerating development processes, the inclusion of residents, and the institutional development of local government administration.

The Association of Polish Cities, together with the SC, the OECD and the IRMiR, implemented a pre-defined project, called a 'cocoon' by one of the conference participants, i.e. soft support, which made it easier for cities to carry out their project tasks.

Participants in the Programme emphasised the great role of APC experts, who - as part of the predefined project - developed and transferred to the cities the tools and knowledge necessary to implement tasks, and strengthened bilateral relations between Polish and Norwegian partner cities. They allowed for effective planning and implementation of projects and institutional development of cities. Importantly, even the tools developed as part of the project are later made available to all those willing to use them, e.g. the Local Development Monitor (already in place and improved - thanks to the project) or survey platforms and questionnaires, which make it possible to examine the capacity to finance and then maintain investments on an ongoing basis.

What support have cities received?

• One-to-one advice - strategic and day-to-day in the implementation of the cities' tasks
• In-depth counselling, e.g. financial - sector advisors, institutional development
• Workshops, training, strategic development management tools (ZMP and IRMIR)
• Dissemination of knowledge - "Local Development Forums" (48 on-line editions)
• Exchange of experience - "Experience Sharing Networks - Empirie" and networking meetings in Warsaw for cities participating in RL phase 3
• OECD recommendations and the "Self-Assessment of Institutional Development - eSAT" tool
• Supporting partnership (twinning) of Polish cities (17) with Norwegian and Icelandic municipalities
• Study visits, internships in Norwegian self-governments, international conferences, Polish-Norwegian-Icelandic exchange of experience (beyond city partnership relations)

The Local Development programme was extremely highly rated by the urban participants, with around 90% of respondents rating it very good or rather good. This shows that the programme was truly exceptional and in many of the categories evaluated.

- The scale of the activities was really large (...) A survey among the most involved over 400 people showed a very good evaluation of both the assumptions, implementation and results of the project. The evaluation of the predefined project is even higher than that of the whole programme, which we are very proud of," said Andrzej Porawski, Director of the Office of the ZMP.

Participants of the conference from the Polish and Norwegian side voted a Final Declaration highlighting the success of the programme and pointing to future needs of local governments in Poland and opportunities for Polish-Norwegian cooperation under the EEA and Norwegian funds, including especially in building resilience to climate phenomena and security challenges. The text of the declaration is attached below

"Friends cooperate better than strangers".

On the first day, the participants summarised the implementation of the Programme: the use of grants to improve accessibility, activities to support cities, and bilateral activities. The meeting ended with the adoption of a declaration of cooperation between Polish and Norwegian cities in the next perspective of the Norwegian and EEA funds. As the participants emphasised, joint activities, exchange of experiences or study visits have created many warm and cordial relations. Friendship and trust, in turn, make it possible to carry out further tasks much more efficiently and effectively.... "Friends work together better than strangers", emphasised Adrian Kjolo Tollefsen, mayor of Ovre Eiker in Norway.

The second day was dedicated to a good practice exchange session. The workshop participants, divided into 4 groups, discussed solutions for economic development, social inclusion, citizen participation and environmental protection. Every hour, participants switched groups and presented their solutions one by one, and then listened to others do so and discussed the solutions of colleagues from different cities. The participants from Norway, while sharing their experiences, were at the same time very interested in Polish solutions and declared that they could improve the solutions already in place in Norway.

The third day - for participants from abroad - was a study visit to Włocławek. The guests were able to see, among other things, a pedestrian and bicycle underpass connecting two of the most attractive leisure zones in Włocławek - the boulevards and Henryk Sienkiewicz Park, which has been adapted for people with reduced mobility. They also visited the Old Market Square, to which greenery returned as part of the 'Green Heart of the City' project, with 50 large trees and 7,500 shrubs planted. Both investments were made as part of the 'Local Development' programme.
They also visited the Browar B Cultural Centre, where they met with the organisers of events for young people, such as the United Forum, an international break dance
competition that this year brought together 600 dancers from 31 countries. The aim of such activities is to build a city that is open to the needs of its young citizens, including creating pride in the city that hosts the largest break dance festival in the world.

Załączniki:
The Warsaw Declaration
Predefined Project activities supporting Local Development Program