The testvertelepulesek.hu website was established through the cooperation of the Foundation for Democratic Local Public Administration and the Hungarian National Association of Local Authorities (TÖOSZ).
The Foundation for Democratic Local Public Administration was founded by the Ministry of Interior in 1990, together with the General Assembly of the French Drome county (Conseil General de la Drôme) and with Valence, head of a county (ville de Valence).
In harmony with its objectives from the 90s’, the Foundation played an important role in supporting the newly created local government system, developing and improving its professionalism. The Foundation supported local government trainings, professional researches, conferences and the printing of publications expanding the knowledge of local governments. When the democratic local government system stabilized in Hungary, the French founders did not practice their founding rights anymore.
The Ministry of Interior renewed the Foundation in the summer of 2015 according to the rules of the new Civil Code, during which the preset goals remained the same. Naturally, in consequence of the changes of the past decades, the Foundation with unchanged goals focus on questions raised by the everyday practice, while of course considering available resources.
At the same time, the development of local public administration, its professional quality and the extension of the independence of local governments are still valid tasks. The development of democratic local public administration include the examination of development questions related to the democratic rule of law and the principles of efficiency.
The Foundation finds the development of local government models and organization types important in order to modernize the internal leadership and administration of local governments. The Foundation wishes to support the local government best practices and solutions.
The Foundation wishes to get in further contacts with local governments, interest-protecting organizations, NGOs dealing with public administration in order to develop professional activities
The Foundation and the National University of Public Service (NKE) has been cooperating for a long time. The President of the Foundation, Dr. Imre Verebélyi is the president of the Scientific Council working side by side with the Local Government Research Institute founded at the Department of State Science and Public Administration of NKE and works on harmonizing the activities of the Foundation with the local government development programs of the university.
The first step of cooperation of the Foundation and the Hungarian National Association of Local Authorities was that the President of the Foundation participated at the Closing Conference of the Local Government Best Practice Program of TÖOSZ on 17 November, 2016. The Foundation is open towards joining the Best Practice Program of TÖOSZ that has been in operation since 17 November, 2016 and towards participating in the work of the Steering Committee.
The Advisory Board of the Foundation approved the cooperation agreement with the New Hungarian Public Administration and supports the professional quality of the periodical financially.
The President of the seven-member Advisory Board is Prof. Em. Dr. Imre Verbélyi, the President of the Scientific Council of the Local Government Research Institute of the National University of Public Service. Its members are: Prof. István Balázs, university professor and head of department of the Faculty of Law at the University of Debrecen, Dániel Bene, chief-director of grant-management at the Ministry of Human Resources, Dr. Ferenc Dudás, chief-advisor responsible for public relations at the CIG Pannónia, Katalin Kis-Fehér, notary of the Regölyi Joint Local Government Office, Dr. Hajnalka Ungár, notary of Monor town, dr. Gábor Zongor, the retired Secretary-General of the Hungarian National Association of Local Authorities. The tasks of the Secretariat are undertaken by dr. András Sziráki.
The Foundation has its own website, which is: www.dhkfa.hu.
The Foundation is open towards the initiatives, activities, questions of practicing experts working in public administration.