ability of communicating the process to the entire local population despite the dispersion among municipalities, villages and hamlets. Among others, the active involvement of cooperative dairies and community actors (such as Community Co-operatives) since the initial phase should be highlighted, as they allowed to focus on the generation of share value-added and prosperity considering first and foremost local opportunities and needs with the aim of improving the living conditions of the whole community, not only of the cooperative's members. All in all, the “Milk Mountain” strategy represents a major investment programme, which pool social, human and financial resources from different sources, including national institutions, regional authorities, local private stakeholder and community actors, having reached a total of around €30 Mil for its implementation. The table below summarizes the main key features of the "Milk Mountain" strategy responding to our selection criteria. CRITERIA Capacity to catalyse SDG localization
Focus on specific vulnerable groups / communities / territories
Systemic change
Multi-actor processes and dynamics
Multi-level territorial processes and dynamics
Institutionalization
Social/transformative resilience
Potential replicability
“MILK MOUNTAIN" STRATEGY The plural dimension of sustainable development is intrinsically part of SNAI. The "Milk Mountain” strategy for the Emilian Apennines aims to promote inclusive and sustainable local development in the area by pursuing and catalysing in particular SDGs 1,3,4,8,9,11,12. The SNAI aims at supporting inner areas in designing and implementing tailored place-based strategies to face problems related to depopulation, limited economic opportunities and lack of basic services. The Emilian Apennines Strategy addresses mountain territories with different problems, trying to solve them with targeted initiatives to innovate public services and activate social and collaborative economy initiatives. The issues dealt with by the strategy particularly concern the elderly and young people. The activities and projects foreseen within the "Milk Mountain” strategy are designed to bring about substantial changes in the area with regard to the valorisation of typical local value chains; the development of sustainable tourism; the renewal of public and social services; the activation and enhancement of community initiatives. These intertwined components and the collaboration among different actors, including local communities, represent fundamental features to boost systemic and structural change within the local economy and society. The "Milk mountain" strategy actively involves different types of actors ranging in all sectors. For instance, the strategy stakeholders include public administrations and local public entities, national parks, third sector organizations, Local Action Group, and Community Cooperatives. The active participation of local communities in the different phases is a key point for the strategy. The SNAI is a national strategy financed with European and Italian funds, which sees the involvement both of the Regional governments as for the selection of the Inner Areas, as well as Unions of Municipalities and individual Municipalities at the local level as main leaders for the elaboration and implementation of their respective local development strategy. The elaboration phase foresees the active participation of a national technical team of experts, while the implementation is based also on binding agreements with the national agency and ministries. The strong will of the local communities, which have always been particularly active despite th e difficulties, to resist and to continue to inhabit their territories in the Emilian Apennines has gained strength thanks to the SNAI. Being selected as the pilot area for the SNAI in Emilia-Romagna and having seen the official approval of the Strategy has allowed and will further allow local communities to commit themselves to improve their multidimensional well-being and promote sustainable local development in the area. The leading role played by local authorities (Union of Municipalities and Municipali ties in the first place) since the initial phase of strategy development further demonstrates the level of institutionalization. The Strategy identifies and seeks to reduce the main fragilities of territories, making them more capable of absorbing external shocks and improving from them. Areas that already start from fragile situations, such as several inner areas, must overcome the difficulties by developing new methods and activating new development processes. The Strategy seeks to channel local energies to improve the situation, not to return to the initial status. The elaboration of the “Milk Mountain” strategy made it possible to consolidate a network of actors who pooled their knowledge and ideas to identify the main problems and opportunities and to design the tailored strategies and actions. This represents a fundamental asset to favour social cohesion and local development, supporting the local community in acquiring social and transformative resilience. The experience of the “Milk Mountain” strategy, and of the SNAI in general, shows great potential for implementation in other contexts. The issues addressed by SNAI, primarily the lack of services and the depopulation of rural internal areas, are common in many emerging countries. The joint involvement in the Strategy of small municipalities, the pivotal focus on typical products and local value chains, and the role played
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