The municipality of Svishtov is comprised of one city and 15 villages. The residents of the villages have no access to information services. The idea was to provide opportunities for better and cheaper administrative service delivery and access to information at every mayoralty, as well as to train people to provide such services and, at a later stage, to expand the number of services provided.

The project was submitted at the seventh session of the Svishtov Community Forum, a program implemented by the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency (SDC) and the Foundation for Local Government Reform (FLGR). Funding was provided by SDC and the Municipality of Svishtov . The idea was submitted by the VILLAGES worktable and all mayoralties in the municipality.

The project had the following goals:

• To include the residents of the villages in the information structure of the Municipality and to provide opportunities for the delivery of administrative services in the villages;

• To deal with the problems (transport, financial, time delays, etc.) faced by the elder residents of the villages when trying to receive official documents that were issued only in the city;
• To improve the working environment in the mayoralties, to upgrade staff skills and to provide fast internet access.

As part of the project:

All 15 mayoralties in the municipality were equipped with a computer, a laser printer, a scanner, UPS and a modem;

27 mayoralty staff, including mayors, were trained in basic computer skills, working with peripheral devices and using specialized software;

Intranet software was developed and installed to provide current information on acts, ordinances, regulations, directories, Municipal Council decisions, etc. Every mayoralty has local access (without internet connection) to this information.

Fast internet access provided in 15 villages in the municipality;

The staff now use a common format to move documents between the villages and the Citizen Information Center in the city;

Improved access to administrative services for village residents (mostly elder residents), accelerated service delivery timelines, financial and other problems avoided by local service delivery;

Reduced isolation of village residents, improved self - confidence of the people living in the villages and employed at the administrations of the small communities.