Історико-політичні проблеми сучасного світу (Jun 2022)
The Role of Non-Governmental Organisations in Public Services Delivery at the Local Level – the Case of Poland
Abstract
The socio-economic and political changes in Poland after 1989, the process of reforms commenced in that period and the decentralisation of administration exerted a substantial influence on the change in the attitude to the process of public service delivery at the local level. This process owes its shape, first of all, to the essence of the reactivated local government, implementation of certain elements of the conception of new public management and Poland’s integration with the European Union. The aim of this paper is to determine the actual influence of the third sector on the process of public services delivery at the local level in Poland. The attempts are made to answer the basic question if the existing legal possibilities of local government are reflected in an effective provision of public services for citizens. The literature and the results of published research show that non-profit organizations more and more often establish cooperation with public administration, especially at the level of local government. In Poland, a practical reflection of this cooperation are created joint cooperation programs of municipalities and non-governmental organizations. Due to the specificity of goals and the local nature of activities of a large number of non-governmental organizations, local government is a natural partner for cooperation in this sector. Despite the significant development of multifaceted cooperation between NGOs and the public sector in Poland, there are many different obstacles and problems hampering this cooperation, which are in part indicated in this article. Numerous conducted studies on the barriers and the development of this cooperation also formulate a number of recommendations for the system and for entities of the cooperation in order to improve this situation.
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