| Abstract [eng] |
In a modern, nowadays society democratization and decentralization processes shows that government institutions are not playing the dominant role in state‘s management and control. On the other hand local communities are becoming equally important social partners in solving issues occurring not just at a state level but also local level. (Pilipavičius ir Vidrevičienė, 2014). An smart person and his role in the governing is one of the theoretical concepts talking about the smart public governing (Jonikaitė, Juknevičienė ir Mikolaitytė, 2016) and that is very relevant for highly developed countries, such as Lithuania. The need for new and innovative ways for enhancing the cooperation in reconciling different interests at the municipal level is emphasized in the countries strategic documents. Taking above mentioned into account, the case of Kaunas District municipality is relevant due to newly initiated projects related to more active involvement of local communities in solving local issues as well as initiatives in finding new ways to cooperate in reconciling interest in order to avoid conflicts. The relevance of the topic is proved by the fact that cooperation in reconciling different interests between local communities and municipalities has not been previously investigate in Lithuania. Integrated cooperation model for reconciling different interest is presented for the first time in this report. In addition to this, the relationship between Kaunas District’s municipality and local community’s cooperation in reconciling different interests is also analyzed for the first time, possible improvements of the model are also presented. The problem statement addressed in the project is: “How the model of cooperation between Kaunas District’s municipality and local communities in reconciling different interests, can be enhanced?” The research object – the model of reconciling different interests. Research objective – to find and set the opportunities for the improvement of the Kaunas District’s municipality’s and local community’s cooperation model. Assignments, 1. To analyze the concepts of governing, local communities and cooperation as well as evaluate its’ relevance and models. 2. To present theoretical aspects of reconciling of different interests and integrated cooperation model for reconciling different interest model applied abroad. 3. To analyze the legal environment of Lithuania which regulating cooperation of municipal institutions and local communities while reconciling different interests 4. To propose application and improvement opportunities for the Kaunas District’s municipality’s and local community’s cooperation in reconciling different interests model. Research methods applied in the project – academia literature review, legislative analysis, document analysis, semi-structured interview, and qualitative content analysis. The research reveals that based on theoretical and practical assumptions of foreign countries the integrated cooperation model in reconciling different interest can be observed in Kaunas District’s municipality. The model improvement areas in Kaunas District are related to communication enhancement and development, the need to organizational changes, development of the social leaders, targeted and practical choice of methods for cooperation in reconciling different interests. The research results might be relevant not extensively for the administration Kaunas District’s municipality but also for other institutions, local communities, researchers of public governing as well as to attract attention to further improvements of cooperation in reconciling different interests in Lithuania. The first part of the project provides the information about municipalities, local communities, cooperation concepts, the importance of cooperation and models. The second part focuses on different theoretical aspects and foreign experiences in application of integrated cooperation model for reconciling different interest. The analysis of both strategic documents and legislative base in a context of this research is presented in the third section. The forth section analyses the key research findings and suggests the ways to improve cooperation between Kaunas District’s Municipality and local communities in reconciling different interests. Conclusions and recommendations provided in the end. |
