| Abstract [eng] |
In this master‘s thesis the analysis of possibilities how to transfer public services to non-governmental organizations in Pagėgiai municipality was conducted. This topic is relevant, because when government sector is providing public services it is not possible always to ensure the needs of society for public services. One of the ways of how to better address needs of population is to include non-governmental organizations into the provision of public services. Third sector originates from civil society initiative, therefore this sector can better understand the needs of society. In Lithuania there are a lot of non-governmental organizations, but not all of them are strong and independent enough to participate together with other sectors in public service market as equal service providers. State envisages benefits of cooperation of sectors and sees potential of non-governmental organizations to provide public services and seeks to help for this sector to grow and get stronger. This is the reason why in Lithuanian national progress program for 2014-2020 one of the priority objectives is to increase efficiency of non-governmental organizations and effectiveness of their activities. The goal of this program is to transfer at least 15 percent of public services provided currently by the State to non-governmental organizations. One of the goals in Lithuanian national progress program’s action plan for 2021-2030 is to transfer one third of public service provision to third sector. However, there is little research done on how municipalities are ready to reach these goals and do they have enough capacities. Some research has been conducted in bigger municipalities but it is not clear how smaller municipalities like Pagėgiai municipality are facing this challenge. Thus, the main research question as follows: what are possibilities for Pagėgiai municipality to transfer public services to non-governmental organizations and what are possibilities of non-governmental organizations to take it over and to provide these services? The aim of this research is to analyse opportunities of transferring public services to non-governmental organizations in Pagėgiai municipality. In achieving this aim, the research also focus on opportunities for cooperation between Pagėgiai municipality and local non-governmental organizations. In order to achieve the aim of this research, the following objective were set: 1.To analyse theoretically the concept of services provided by public sector and non-governmental organizations possible ways of service transfer and existing cooperation models. 2. To analyse legal regulation of service transfer to non-governmental organizations. 3. To develop research methodology of the possibilities to transfer services provided by the public sector to non-governmental organizations. 4. To empirically analyse the ways of cooperation between Pagėgiai municipality and non-governmental organizations, to identify challenges and to analyse service transfer opportunities as well as to provide recommendations how to improve this process. In the first chapter there is theoretical analysis of transferring public services to non-governmental organizations, this chapter discusses the concept of public sector services, the features of the provided services of non-governmental organizations, the possibilities of transfer of services provided by the public sector to non-governmental organizations, the ways of transferring services and models of cooperation between the public sector and non-governmental organizations. The second chapter provides an overview of the legal regulation of service transfer to non-governmental organizations, examining the legal environment of non-governmental organizations and the legal regulation of the transfer of services. In the third chapter the research methodology is presented. In order to investigate the possibilities of local government public service transfer to local non-governmental organizations, a qualitative empirical study was conducted using interview method. The fourth chapter provides the analysis of the content of the interview texts. The results of the study describes the existing models of cooperation between the local government and local non-governmental organizations sectors in Pagėgiai municipality and their approach to the transfer of public services. The results of the research revealed the possibilities of Pagėgiai municipality to transfer public services to the local non-governmental organizations sector. Based on the obtained research results, conclusions were drawn and recommendations were prepared which are intended for the Pagėgiai municipality administration and local non-governmental organizations to improve the service transfer process. The results of the study showed that cooperation between local government and local non-governmental organizations is relatively smooth in various areas, however, the process of transferring public services does not take place in this municipality. The recommendations therefore propose concrete actions, which would help to initiate and improve the process of service transfer. |
