Improvement of preconditions for decentralisation and availability of public administration in the territory

Project facts

Project promoter:
Department of Strategic Development and Coordination of Public Administration(CZ)
Project Number:
CZ-GOVERNANCE-0001
Status:
Completed
Final project cost:
€1,388,634
Donor Project Partners:
Noroff University College - Kristiansand(NO)
Norwegian University of Science and Technology(NO)
Western Norway Research Institute(NO)
Programme:

Description

The project aims at the field of public administration. The goal of the project is to reflect needs of the
citizens in the localisation of public services. Population movement is tracked in spatial patterns,
which will help to define proper settings of public services and their distribution in the territory. For
this purpose a high-quality analysis based on current and valid data is needed. Therefore, a
purchase of data from geolocation network of the mobile operators in the form of public procurement
comprises an important part of the project.
According to the analysis of daily commuting streams of inhabitants based on the purchased data,
various models of the distribution of public services will be elaborated. The objective of the project
is to prepare particular proposals and recommendations for the distribution of public administration
services and especially the territorial arrangement of authorities for their best coordination,
performance and accessibility for citizens based on the aforementioned models.
The implementation of the project is expected to last 4 years and it can be divided into 4 key
phases. The first one concentrates on knowledge transfer from the Norwegian Partner Institutions
(project partners) and their experience in working with these data. Gained knowledge will be used
especially in an elaboration of the methodological document, preparation of the tender
documentation and after that on realisation of the public procurement which is the second phase. A
Czech expert advisory board (Multidisciplinary platform) will participate in this activity. The third
phase is focusing on spatial analysis of daily population movement based on the purchased
database. In fourth phase proposals and recommendation of adjustment of territorial structure of
public administration will be assembled as a final output of the project. This way, the overall output
of the programme (“Improved responsiveness of public administration to citizens’ needs”) will be
reached.

Summary of project results

The project brought new insight into using data in public administration to support so-called evidence-based decision-making. The project conducted a comprehensive regionalization of the state based on commuting relations and created natural functionally connected commuting regions. Innovative methods of collecting geolocation data on population mobility are used. It has not yet been implemented in the Czechia in this volume and structure.

The project has contributed to improving the efficiency of public administration in two ways. First, it serves as the foundation for adjusting the state''s territorial administrative structure. Secondly, it provides state administration offices and local governments with the necessary data to efficiently and collaboratively provide services to citizens. This allows for services to be concentrated in specific centers and ensures that citizens in rural areas have access to these services.

The Covid-19 pandemic was a risk for the project.

As part of the project, several interrelated activities took place. First and foremost, the skills and expertise of Ministry of the Interior (MV) employees in working with geolocation data were enhanced. Additionally, methodological documents for working with and sharing geolocation data were created. The most crucial phase of the project was the acquisition of geolocation data on the movement of residents. Analytical work was carried out on the collected data, and recommendations were developed for optimizing public administration performance. The various outputs were presented to the general public. Last but not least, a portal for visualizing geolocation data was created.

The mobility needs of the population of the Czechia were comprehensively analyzed, and, based on them, recommendations for modifying the territorial structure of the public administration were formulated (relating to areas where the territorial structure differs from the mobility of the population). A geolocation data portal was created, which is a tool for other public administration bodies to use geolocation data for the coordination and localization of public administration services.

Summary of bilateral results

Partnership cooperation was with three institutions from Norway. These were Noroff University College AS (Kristiansand), West Norway Research Institute (Sogndal) and Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Trondheim). The cooperation was mainly about gaining experience and skills in working with data mobile operators (e.g. setting data specifications, feedback on technical ''open topics'' that related to the use of geolocation data, sharing of good practices in working with data), the preparation of a methodology collection of mobile operators'' data and commenting on the prepared methodology. After obtaining mobility data and their subsequent analysis, the results of the project were presented by the representatives of the Ministry of Interior at three events in Norway - all in cooperation with partner institutions. In the final phase of the project, representatives of the Norwegian institutions shared the results of the project at a conference in Prague on the use of big data in public administration.

Information on the projects funded by the EEA and Norway Grants is provided by the Programme and Fund Operators in the Beneficiary States, who are responsible for the completeness and accuracy of this information.