Created on 28 January 2008, OLA (Observatory on Local Autonomy) is a network of researchers and civil servants, all specialised in the study of local autonomy (i.e. “decentralisation”) and the management of local government.

The network brings together 70 research teams, one or more per Member State of the European Union, and in Albania, Iceland, Moldavia, Montenegro, Norway, San Marino, Serbia, Russia and Turkey.

OLA's primary aims are the following:
- study local autonomy (i.e. “decentralisation”), multi-level governance, the management of local government, as well as other issues arising from these themes
- disseminate the findings of this research
- reach out to policy makers or civil servants in this domain to increase awareness of the issues at stake.

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