Brochure: Local Agenda 21 in a New Format

Local Agenda 21 is a progressive method and a tool for managing the quality of public administration. It helps cities, municipalities and regions to apply the sustainable development principles at local and regional levels. In cooperation with the public and local partners (NGOs, schools, businesses), it aims to ensure the quality of development of a particular place, and to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of services provided by local authorities to its citizens. It is focused not only on the inside of the local authority (quality of strategic planning and management, efficient use of finances) but primarily on the outside (systematic public involvement, continuous communication, open sharing of experience etc.). Local Agenda 21 can be used at all types of local authorities – from a small municipality, medium-sized and large towns and big cities to sub-regions, regions and local action groups.

The Czech Healthy Cities National Network gathers most of the advanced LA21 implementers in the country. It also provides municipalities and regions with continuous methodological and implementation support such as training courses, information and experience sharing, support on the spot etc. In accordance with the activities of the LA21 Working Group of the Government Council for Sustainable Development, Healthy Cities has prepared a new and user-friendly publication to accompany this tool. It is also possible to find basic information regarding various LA21 categories monitoring the quality of municipalities´ procedures, including detailed description of criteria.

The publication is also available in printed version and is completed by a well-arranged, detailed set of “Rules of Evaluating LA21". 

New brochure on LA21 (to read / download in CZECH).

The material was supported by a grant from Switzerland through the Swiss Contribution to the enlarged European Union.

Brno Received the Accreditation of the WHO European Healthy Cities Project of Phase VI

The Healthy City of Brno fulfilled the accreditation requirements of the European Healthy Cities Project Phase VI of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and thus ranks among sixty successful cities within Europe. Brno became the first city in the Czech Republic to receive the WHO accreditation. Moreover, the Czech Healthy Cities Network fulfilled the accreditation requirements for the European National Healthy Cities Networks as well. Healthy Cities Project Phase VI comprises objectives related to health promotion at local level for the period 2014 – 2018.

We congratulate Healthy City of Brno on meeting the accreditation requirements and wish the City much success in the implementation of the WHO Healthy Cities Project.

Capital City of Prague and Czech Healthy Cities Network: Meeting of Prague Municipal Districts Geared to Good Practice

The meeting of Prague municipal districts, focused on Healthy City project, took place on 1st March 2016 on the premises of Prague City Hall. The event aimed to promote and share public health and sustainability good practices among Prague municipal districts and discussing possibilities of cooperation.

The meeting was opened by the Healthy Cities director Petr Svec who welcomed more than fifty participants. Petr Svec highlighted the tools and methodologies available for the representatives of cities, towns and municipalities, and presented the Healthy Cities´ starting project on the theme of sustainable development. The project is open not only to Prague municipal districts but also to others.

The Coordinator of Prague Healthy City Project, Jindřich Exner acquainted the participants with Prague City Hall grant scheme for municipal districts to promote health promotion . He emphasized the requirements and practical information on the formal aspects of project implementation. The coordinator of Prague 8 Iva Hájková introduced the presentations of municipal districts by addressing issues such as public participation in the preparation of the strategic plan or the functioning of the Steering Committee for Healthy City Project and LA21.

The following panel discussions were joined by the representatives of Prague 4, Prague 12 and Prague-Slivenec. The participants came up with plenty of helpful observations and suggestions concerning sustainability implementation in municipal districts of different sizes. They also discussed risks that can jeopardize the process. Good practice examples dealt with issues such as eco-education at schools, involvement of local entrepreneurs and youth in community events and the particularities of LA21 implementation in a small municipal district. The representatives of Prague 18, Prague 20 and Prague 21 put forward other interesting contributions on the following topics: gender policy, participative budgeting with primary school children and barrier-free municipal districts. The most advanced Healthy Municipal Districts of Prague 7, Prague-Libus and Pisnice, Dolni Pocernice presented the topics of integration, pupils’ council, forms of cooperation with the public and Art District project.

At the end of the meeting, there was a discussion on the presented topics and other areas or challenges that the representatives of Prague municipal districts encounter in their daily practice. The program, presentations and a selection of photos can be found HERE (in CZECH).

Event supported by the funds from the European Social Fund provided to the project implementation from the Operational Programme “Employment”.

Public Health Plans Online. Get inspired!

“ZdravotniPlan.cz” portal is a thematic website of the Czech Healthy Cities Network– association bringing together towns, municipalities and regions which are active in the sphere of system planning for health and sustainable development. A number of expert partners such as Prague WHO Country Office, Ministry of Health and National Network for Health Promotion contributed to its development during 2015.

The portal is designed particularly for health promotion professionals and representatives of cities, municipalities and regions, but also for many others interested in planning for health, health promotion and local development in general. It may also be helpful to those who seek inspiration and practical information. The portal provides a unique opportunity to sort each individual objective of adopted plans, policies and strategies at national, regional and local levels according to Health 2020 objectives, Health 21 and topics of sustainable development such as environment, social area, local economy etc.

Czech Healthy Cities and Regions receive methodological guidance to prepare public health plans and profiles. If possible, Healthy Cities Network members can obtain funding to cover the expert part of these documents. Health plans and profiles summarize essential data concerning the state of health of the inhabitants of a particular region, and put forward objectives for its improvement. These plans are an integral part of the strategic documentation of towns and regions. They are often related to the announced themes of grants and subsidies.

Therefore, ”ZdravotniPlan.cz” portal completes the set of other thematic websites compiling and interconnecting best practice examples from various areas. Age-friendly cities provide ample information about the issue of seniors, on the other hand “Youth Friendly City” on this particular group. Moreover, a new portal “Active Cities”, focused on inspiring practises in the area of promotion of physical activity across all generations, was created in cooperation with Palacky University and the Department of Recreology. All these information are available at the brand new Sustainable Development Gallery. (NOTE: all info is in CZECH, Google translate can be used).

Spring Czech Healthy Cities School

Financial resources for cities and towns, quality of local authorities, sustainable development and its indicators, fair decision-making on construction, planning events in schools ... this and many other topics were addressed during the Healthy Cities School in Litomerice. On Monday, 16 March 2016, more than 130 participants were brought together in Litomerice Healthy City to attend the opening seminar of the Czech Healthy Cities National Network Spring School.

The participants were given a warm welcome by the mayor of Litomerice Ladislav Chlupáč and by the councillor Petr Hermann, who is also Czech Healthy Cities Network chairman. The morning session was opened by David Sláma from the Ministry of the Interior who informed the attendees about involvement of cities and municipalities in implementation of methods of quality management, possibilities of assessment of their offices and also about financing to support their activities and services for citizens.

The session devoted to inspirational examples from practice covered interesting contributions concerning sustainable urban energy management. The cities concerned were offered membership in the Energy Managers Association. Other topics were discussed as well: global responsibility of cities and municipalities, active involvement of high school students in public affairs, calls of the Via Foundation and the Green Circle for fair decision-making on construction. The afternoon session dealt with sustainable development systemic support, presentation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), activities of the Government Council for Sustainable Development and the related preparation of the Strategy 2030 of the Czech Republic and the sustainable development indicators.

During the second day of the Spring School, the participants were divided into three training and discussion groups. The coordinators “beginners” took part in a practical training session focused on public participation, effective communication of LA21, what methods are the best to be used and what should be avoided. The advanced participants dealt with sustainable development audits, their benefits and difficulties in their processing. The representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs presented current financial possibilities for cities and municipalities intended for public administration quality projects. Other topics which were discussed included participative budgeting, sociological surveys and opinion polls. The final day of the Spring School was devoted to the use of the Healthy Cities DataPlan system and the internal professional environment for LA21 coordinators.

“What is the most important about the Spring Schools is the possibility of meeting colleagues from different towns. We learn best from concrete examples from practice, inspiration but also from what didn´t work elsewhere and how to do it better. This time, we were interested in how to work with the public forums’ results verified by an opinion poll or sociological survey, and we shared our experience with participative budgeting,” said Rita Vlckova, Litomerice Healthy City coordinator.

Presentations and photos are available HERE (in CZECH).

Event supported by a grant from Switzerland through the Swiss Contribution to the enlarged European Union.