Basic Description

Project DIS-V4 2006 that follows two previous successful projects becomes crucial in development of information society and mutual foreknowledge of stakeholders in the V4 countries and the Ukraine. Thanks to considerable interest of media in the V4 countries, its key results spread among general public. One of the main aims of this year’s project is development of regional and municipal web sites from the point of tourism and gender aspects influencing approach to ICT--performance of best practices, across border cooperation, formulation of strategies and support of progressive directions of development in these areas.

The DIS-V4 project has become pivotal in information society development, and mutual knowledge of stakeholders (MPs, ministers and representatives of local and regional authorities) in the V4 countries has been facilitating the enhancement of cooperation in the European Union and the V4 countries within their common interests. In addition, owing to a significant interest on the part of the relevant press media and media partners in the V4 countries (CZK, TASR, dailies, magazines for public administration, websites) dissemination of best practices and conclusions of joint meetings and workshops has been ensured, as well as dissemination of specialist conclusions from the presentation forming the V4DIS conference programme, not only among stakeholders but also among general public.

The project entitled DIS-V4 2006: The Role of Municipalities and Regions in the Process of Development of e-Government Services and e-Tourism for Citizens in V4 Countries will follow and further develop the objectives and outputs of the applicant’s previous project proposals granted by courtesy of the International Visegrad Fund (Project No.5039-2003-IVF and 7060-2004-IVF). The main aim of the proposed project is to continue to develop information society, to create common strategies of information society development, share best practices of web applications of municipalities, towns and regions in V4 countries and to provide new incentives in linkage to i2010 European Information Strategy. The project aims at bringing into being this set of objectives promoting new forms of e-government services and e-tourism by the means specified below, especially at regional and local levels, which stand closest to citizens. Such focusing on those levels becomes the most effective and efficient way to secure the implementation of new knowledge and good practices to a citizens’ everyday life, apart from the fact that it directly refers to the principle of subsidiarity of the European Union.

The main objective of the V4DIS 2006 conference is to develop e-tourism issues in connection with public administration websites’ possibilities of promoting the development of tourism in V4 countries. Public surveys have shown that it is precisely the internet from which up to 70% of foreign visitors acquire information about their place of destination. And there is a great challenge for municipalities, towns, regions and institutions that are in charge of tourism development to pay increased attention to this sector since from this viewpoint the quality of these websites is not at the desired and feasible level. It is the cooperation in this area which can add in an important way to a number of common activities of all V4 countries. There is for example a possibility of common promoting of the region for foreign visitors and there is a great potentional in mutual promoting of tourist destinations in border regions within cross border cooperation or town and region twining in the V4 countries.

An entirely new item of the conference agenda will be the issue of gender studies, within which participants will become acquainted with and discuss the most important gender aspects in Visegrad Four countries, Ukraine and Moldova which must be taken into consideration when formulating local and national ICT strategies, and/or how gender, age, social position and ethnicity affect access to ICT, availability of electronic services provided by public administration, and how local, regional and national ICT development strategies may contribute to strengthening women’s position in society, their access to the labour market, participation in decision-making, as well as their safety. Taking place within this thematic section will also be a meeting of female mayors of municipalities from V4 countries focused on the role of women in public administration and their relation to information technologies, held under the patronage of Senator Liana Janackova.

As in previous years, the tools and means for bringing the project to power are basically defined as a number of events and supporting measures which will take place throughout all the V4 countries. A focal point among project tools will become the V4DIS 2006 Conference, taking advantage of being held in synergy with the ISSS/LORIS 2006 Conference, a major e-government and ICT event in CEE countries. Last year, more than 2,000 participants, representatives of the European Commission, national and local governments, public administration authorities, IT experts and others, including an IVF representative, attended the conference. The V4DIS 2006 Conference will be held in Prague and Hradec Králové between April 2 and 4, 2006. Similarly to the previous two years, a social programme, including a reception at Prague City Hall, will be provided for conference participants from all the V4 countries. Participants’ affiliation will vary; however, it will still keep the aim of the project. Therefore, representatives of associations of municipalities and regions, lord mayors, mayors and mayorsses, presidents of regions, high-ranking public administration officials, tourism and gender studies workers, librarians, researchers, NGOs, representatives of Trans-European networks and others will be invited to take part in it. The V4DIS conference programme will be separated from the ISSS/LORIS one. Special halls and lounges will be arranged for the V4DIS Conference. The V4DIS 2006 Conference, following up on one of the previous years’ project goals, will put more emphasis on national contests for the best websites of towns and communities held since 1999. The contest, originally a Czech idea, has spread abroad and become one of the most influential contests intended for municipalities, one in which many hundreds municipalities and regions participate annually. Two years ago we pledged to bring the competition to Slovakia. Our wish came true and the Slovak national contest was held for the second time. The contest has already been held for a couple of years in Poland. During regional and national rounds the contest compares and evaluates progress made in the field of municipal e-services (governmental, cultural and others, since last year newly at the level of information on the tourism industry, too) in a selected period (usually a year). Outputs of these national contests not only support the formulation of regional and national e-strategies but also stimulate and speed up e-services’ development. The EuroCrest Award covers single national contests (the Hungarian National Association of Local Authorities nominates for the EuroCrest competition according to its own criteria and on the basis of experience gained by this association), promotes international exchange of experience and brings together the best of victorious national projects. This time, the EuroCrest competition will be specially focused on presentation of tourism on websites of municipalities, towns and regions. The award ceremony will take place during a V4DIS 2006 Conference social evening. Best practices of both the national and the EuroCrest contests will be exhibited in the V4DIS project laboratory.

Just like every year, part of the conference will be the meeting of representatives of municipalities, representatives of associations of municipalities and regions and other institutions and NGOs involved in this area from V4 countries which will be devoted to the role of these organisations in information society development and, naturally, the issues of promoting tourism via websites of towns and regions.

Applicant for the Project

Association of Czech At, Czech Republic

Partner of the Project

• Alfa Omega Foundation Pl
• Hungarian National Association of Local Authorities
• The Union of the Towns and Cities of Slovakia
• The Union of Towns and Communities of the Slovak Republic
• University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic

Contact person

Michaela Rencinova, michaela@rencin.cz