World Academy for Local Government and Democracy (WALD) organized the 2nd International Strategic Public Management Symposium in cooperation with Marmara University, European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST), TÜBİTAK and Potsdam University on 20-23 October 2015, in Sultanahmet Campus of Marmara University.
Winds of change about the public management in Turkey and European countries’ experiences were discussed in an academic platform together with the scientists coming from different universities of Turkey, and 85 academicians from 31 European countries.
Mehmet Duman, WALD Chairman of the Board and member of the Symposium Organization Committee, stated in his speech that “Public administration, strategic public management can only be ensured with a holistic approach since it is an interdisciplinary characteristic. Farabi, a famous Islamic philosopher, defined the manager of the virtuous city, as “someone who learns the theoretic happiness, teaches the public what s/he has learned in a way that the people can understand, and who can manage the society by transforming the theoretic happiness to actual good,” in his work al-Madina al-fadila (The Virtuous City). In this regard, I believe the 2nd Strategic Public Management Symposium will be stimulating with regards to city administration for the local authority representatives.” Prof. Dr. Recep Bozlağan, Deputy Rector who participated as a representative of Marmara University, emphasized the importance of strategic planning in local authorities.
The first two days of the Symposium in which many guests participated in, 35 different presentations were made in which various different topics were discussed such as “New Public Administration Reforms in Local Authorities in Turkey, Social Municipalism, Statutory Principles for Local Authorities Reform, Decentralized and Participatory Approach in Service Provision, Unforeseen Economic Crisis Management in Local Athorities, New Governing Approaches and Participatory Local Authority Experiences.”
Presentations of “Effective Management of Human Resources in Local Government: An Application in Hatay, An Overview About Strategic Plan – ning and Practices in Turkish Public Administration, Performance Indicators in Local Governments, Rethinking the Governance Capac – ity in the aftermaths of the NPM reforms in Turkey, History and Conceptual Map of Urban Studies in Turkey” were discussed in the “Public Administration Reforms in Turkey and Performance Management” panel moderated by Mehmet Duman, WALD Chairman of the Board.
In the 3rd and 4th day of the program, after the speech of Prof. Dr. Ömer Dinçer about public administration reform experiences of Turkey, various local government projects were reviewed about the topics of Performance Evaluation and Budgeting, Cooperation between Municipalities, Future of the Local Authorities in Europe, Citizen Contentment in Local Authorities, with the working groups that were created within the context of Local Public Sector Reforms: An International Comparison, LOC-Ref Project.
The two-day Loc-Ref working groups meetings were concluded with the evaluation of declaration and presentations.
Participation certificates that were prepared by WALD and Marmara University were delivered to the participants who contributed to the 4-days symposium with their advices and comments, by Mehmet Duman, WALD Chairman of the Board, and Assist Prof. Dr. Yüksel Demirkaya, President of Symposium Organization Committee.