Target group
This seminar is designed for politicians and civil servants of municipalities that are discussing a cooperation (for instance in the field of shared services), or who are in the process of merging within a couple of years. Of course, other stakeholders involved in merging municipalities are also invited to participate in this seminar.

Description
In many countries nowadays, central governments are searching for methods to get municipalities to perform more efficiently. One of these methods lies in the field of cooperation between municipalities. In that case, the result is often the realisation of a Shared Service Centre; another is the merging of municipalities into bigger organisations which can work more efficiently and can perform more difficult tasks within a system of deregulation. Often a case of cooperation will evolve into a case of merging.
The process leading up to the moment of realisation of a Shared Service Centre for a merging is very important. Many municipalities have already undertaken this long and difficult path and it is useful for others to learn from their experiences. The aim of the seminar is thus to allow participants to learn from others and to learn how to use the findings themselves.

Learning methodology
A combination of presentations and working groups. Due to the goal of the seminar being how to use the findings, the number of participants will therefore be limited to about 20 persons.

Objectives
The seminar focuses on the strategic thinking regarding the process of cooperation of municipalities or merging municipalities within a relatively short period of time. How do you manage such a process, whilst taking into consideration the chance that things don’t always turn out as planned? The do’s and don‘ts in the process will form the central point of the seminar. The participants will leave with the experience and knowledge of how to create a draft for the difficult process of cooperation or merging of municipalities.