REES in Samara
In early March 2011, REES Associate Director of Academic Programs Andrew Konitzer led a group of professors from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) on a week-long visit to Samara, Russia, where they participated in a seminar on local government and met with local officials from the cities of Samara and Novokuibyshevsk and two smaller rural districts. The seminar was the first of three to be funded by a $100,000 grant that was awarded to REES in September 2010 through the US Russia Foundation’s “Entrepreneurship, Economic Development and Rule of Law” program for a partnership project with the International Market Institute (IMI) in Samara, Russia. In total, the grant supports two seminars in Samara and one in Pittsburgh in 2010-11, all involving Pitt and IMI faculty members and local government officials from the Samara region. These seminars are intended to provide the government officials with practical training on increasing the effectiveness of local governments in supporting regional economic development. At the conclusion of the project, Pitt and IMI faculty will collaboratively develop a handbook on best practices for dissemination to local governments throughout Russia.
This first seminar brought together experts from IMI and local government representatives from throughout Samara Oblast to discuss the challenges of local government with their American counterparts. University of Pittsburgh Professor Lou Picard shared his knowledge about comparative approaches to local government in Europe, Africa and the Middle East and David Young Miller led a discussion comparing Russia’s local government law (FZ-131) to current law and practices in the Pittsburgh area. IMI analyst Elena Kukolnikova presented her research on quantitative models for assessing the competitiveness of local governments and local business climates.
In addition to the seminar, the American participants participated in press conferences with the Mayor of Samara, Dmitry Azarov, and Mayor of Novokuibyshevsk, Oleg Volkov. They also visited local government institutions in the rural districts of Krasni Yar and Pestravka.
Dr. Konitzer writes that, “While the visit provided an opportunity for local government practitioners and trainers to learn more about the challenges of local government in the United States, it also gave our specialists a much clearer sense of the needs and interests of local officials and trainers in Samara.”
In the next phase of the project, a group of educational administrators, local government practitioners, and instructors will visit Pittsburgh in late April for a ten-day training and site-visit program, jointly organized by GSPIA, REES, and the Allegheny County Local Government Academy. The third seminar will once again be hosted in Samara.
REES is particularly excited to be returning to Samara due to the Center’s 12-year history of cooperation with IMI, which originated with a university partnership grant from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in 1998-2001. REES looks forward to trengthening their existing connection with IMI through this new joint endeavor.
