Analysis of the factors influencing the effectiveness of the regional government

Straipsnyje įvertinama Lietuvos regioninė politika nacionaliniame ir europiniame kontekste; formuluojama regionų valdymo veiksmingumo samprata; analizuojami regioninio valdymo veiksmingumą įtakojantys veiksniai.The Lithuanian regional policy may be evaluated as a national regional policy, the main aim of which is to decrease the regional disparities inside the country, as well as a part of the structural policy of the EU. The formation and implementation of the Lithuanian regional policy is one of the most important means for decreasing disparities between Lithuanian regions, ensuring the sustainable economical and social development of the entire country and using of the EU structural assistance. The basic legal and institutional structure for the implementation of the regional policy is already created in Lithuania, but it is necessary to ensure its effective functioning mechanism. The regional government is a part of the public administration system, which influences the effectiveness of the implementation of the regional policy, as well as the economical and social development of the country. The effectiveness of the regional government is defined as an implementation of the held purposes, satisfaction of population needs and an efficient use of the resources. In author's opinion, the main attention seeking to increase the regional effectiveness in Lithuania must be given to the formation of the social capital, developing of the civil communities and involving of the society into the regional government. These means would increase the effectiveness of the regional government and foster the solving of one of the main problems existing in our society - the lack of the social trust. The social capital not only influences the economical and social development of the region, but also increases the effectiveness of the regional government, as citizens, which actively participate in the activities of the local organizations, are more interested in the solving of the public problems. Forming the social capital in a communnity, it is necessary to increase the activity of the society, its joining the different groups, foster the partnership of the regional governance institutions, business, non-governmental and private organizations, in addition stimulating the involvement of the society into the regional government. In Lithuania the efforts of the local institutions should be used for the supporting the activities of the different nongovernmental organizations, providing information about the existing national and international sources of funding which provide the assistance for the community iniciatives. The civil society consists of active citizens, which are interested in public affairs, are ready to cooperate with representatives of government, actively participate in the decision making process, in this way influencing the effectiveness of the regional government. In Lithuania, as well as in other Eastern and Central European countries, the problems of the creating the civil society are caused by the historically concured circumstances, under which the basic principles of the civil society where not implemented; therefore the Lithuanian public government institutions must take all the possible measures developing and fostering the civil traditions. As one of the factors of the effectiveness is a satisfaction of population needs, it is necessary to involve the society into the regional government. In this way, the needs of population are clarified and the citizens' trust in governance is ensured. The participation of the society enhances the responsibility of the officials, providing more opportunities to citizens to communicate with them and demand the accountability; i.e. the involvement of the society significantly influences the effectiveness of the regional governance. Stimulating the involvement of the society into the regional governance, the regional institutions must create the favourable environment for the citizens participation, inform citizens about the regional policy, listen their proposals and create the real possibilities for the participation in the decision making process