UDiTE Awards 2009

The annual UDiTE ‘Knowledge Sharing’ Awards Event was successfully launched in Brussels on Monday 5 October.

The event attracted an internationally diverse crowd including European chief executives, senior managers, university students, local authorities, councillors and police officers, all of whom were there to recognise the local government projects from across the EU.

Taking their seat in the ballroom of the grand Conrad Hotel, guests were treated to an individual box of L’Alchemie du Chocolat homemade Belgian chocolates, courtesy of UDiTE - a fitting tribute to the host city.

UDiTE, the European Federation of Local Government Chief Executives, has established this annual free UDiTE Award Event to encourage local government managers to become more actively engaged in knowledge sharing across Europe and to recognise successful local government projects that are transferable to other municipalities.

Byron Davies, President of UDiTE and Chief Executive of Cardiff Council, outlined the importance of the awards for citizens, communities and customers. He said, “In today’s climate progressive cities and towns need to work collaboratively to ensure that they best serve citizens and communities. The most successful towns and cities will be those that are unique, special and different and this is where international perspectives and networks can create a major advantage”.

“These awards celebrate best practice and encourage knowledge sharing across municipalities so it is inspiring to see such innovative and transferable projects.”

The award winners and runners-up were:

Social Well-being

• Winner - United Kingdom: Kingston Upon Hull - Humberside Young Witness Service (HYWS)
• Runner up – Portugal: City of Trofa - The Social Store

Economic Well-being

• Winner - The Netherlands: Rijswijk - Public Order and Fire Safety
• Runner up - Latvia: Latgale, Riga City Council - Murnieku Street

Environmental Well-being

• Winner - Belgium: Antwerp - Park Spoor Nord
• Runner up - United Kingdom: Islington - Carbon Reduction

Management

• Winner - Spain: Getafe - Strategic Plan for Getafe 2010
• Runner up - France: Rennes - Facilities Operations (Cleaning)

Strategic Risk Management

• Winner – UK: Darlington Borough Council - One Darlington: Perfectly Placed
• Runners up - France: Le Creusot – Urban Authority Creusot Montceau
The Netherlands: Martin van Staveren

Byron Davies added; “This has been a tremendous event and has set the precedent for the coming years. We will build on the success of this event and the success of the projects by continuing to share knowledge and the experience gained”.

“This awards event is a fantastic opportunity to showcase these projects but it does not end here. It is vital to fully understand the concept of knowledge sharing and that means continuing to recognise the success of these projects.”

“We will include them in the Knowledge Bank on the UDiTE website and work with the project coordinators to take the projects to other municipalities. Knowledge sharing across Europe between local government managers needs to play a far more prominent role in our development of our services if we are going to meet the challenge of improving services for our communities.”

The evening was kindly supported by UDiTE business partners; Allied Consultants Europe (ACE), TATA Consultancy Services (TCS), BT Global Services, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Public Risk Management Organisation (PRIMO) and Business Language Services. Representatives were on hand from all organisations to congratulate the winners.

To find out more about all the shortlisted projects in the awards please click here.