I. Mission of the Local and Regional Monitoring Institute (LRMI) initiation

Our first target is to become an outstanding stakeholder for the Hungarian local and regional analysis, and to become an international methodological centre (as a think tank) for the investigation of regional and local trends at European level especially in Central and Eastern Europe. We will do consultancy work for the public administration and for the business sector either.

LRMI is a new organization that wants to add innovation to regional studies and provide the business and the public administration system with quality supportive work.

II. Targets, activity fields

Local-governments (municipalities) are the main pillar of democracies: they represent local interests and represent a balance of a “territorial checks and balance” against the central state administration. However self-governance's interests as local authorities often differ from the interests of citizens.

LRMI tries to strengthen citizen’s interests and initiations with a wide-range covered analysis and investigations of local- and regional authorities.

Our added value is that as an independent, non-profit organization using publicity and with scientifically worked out indicators we are trying to support the accountability and the responsibility of local authorities, nevertheless to strengthen local and regional identity of the civilness.

The aim of Local and Regional Monitoring Institute (LRMI) is to investigate the operating mechanisms, routines of local authorities; with frequent publications shows off trends and changes of the micro and meso tier, moreover works out a long-term comparison of local authorities.

Our perspective is to develop the LRMI into a Central European Methodological and Research Center for the investigation of local governments and regional planning. With international benchmarks LRMI is keen on pointing out the better understanding of micro and meso tier, and developing local-democracy customs in the Central- and in the East-European countries.

We will provide the business sector with the appropriate figures on the economic trends of the regions. We do consultancy works based upon our professional research network.

The LRMI focuses its activities on four major fields:

1. The investigation of local democracy/ the degree of social inclusion
2. Auditing the local service and the public finance sector
3. The satisfactory index of citizens and local economic trends
4. Partnership, expertise and strategic planning of local and regional developments.
5. Consultancy work for enterprises and public administration.

The LRMI is a non-profit organization, representing openness and publicity, delivers regular reports about local authorities. All these activities are going to support public control of micro and meso tier. LRMI is independent of any political party’s influence.

LRMI is seeking to provide researches in following topics:

1. Local-government system, local democracy and local services, the monitoring of self-governments
2. Analysis of regional developments
3. Developing indicators and indexes for the analysis of local and regional authorities. Setting up new aggregate indicators for international benchmarking.
4. Regular publications, public surveys and comparable data at national and international level. (quarter year – one year audit)
5. Organizing of conferences, workshops, expert forums and symposiums.