PHASE 2. DRAFTING AND APPROVAL OF THE LOCAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

PHASE 2. DRAFTING AND APPROVAL OF THE LOCAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

Insights from the case-study Suggested actions

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The small number of municipalities involved in the process, totalling seven, positively influenced the direct and active involvement of all the municipal councils. The emphasis on the whole territory represented an antidote to excessive individualism. Approximately 350 stakeholders were involved in the process and contributed to the design of the strategy. Five different thematic working groups were organised involving several actors: - The group concerning “economic and agri-food sectors” involved primarily cooperative dairies, social and cooperative economy actors, the Chamber of Commerce; - The group on “health” services involved actors such as the local health authority and several doctors; - The group on “education” involved different actors such as the

Coordination Centre for School Qualification and the school principals, as well as VET organizations; - The group concerning “mobility” involved actors such as the local mobility agency, the mayors of the municipalities, and the school principals; - The group concerning “sustainable tourism” involved the national park authority, the environmental associations, the local authorities responsible for energy management. Once the strategy was first drafted and then finalised, it was signed by the leader of the Inner Area, the Regional government, the Ministries involved and the Agency for Territorial Cohesion.  Create a cohesive group of local authorities sharing a common territorial perspective that goes beyond peculiar municipal interests.  If various topics are addressed, identify appropriate working groups and all relevant local actors who might be interested in being involved in the group meetings.  Identify and involve social economy actors also through collective representative organisations.  Set-up an effective and inclusive participatory process for all community actors and social groups.  Make all responsible authorities approving and signing the strategy.  Is there a willingness among key actors to set up a participatory process open to citizens and local stakeholders?

 Which local actors are competent in the issues identified as priorities for the strategy?  Is there an already active network of actors at national and/or local level willing to participate to and/or support the design process of the strategy?  Are existing participatory mechanisms effective and truly inclusive?

The elaboration process took place without the certainty of later receiving funding from the SNAI. For this reason, the willingness to finance the process by the key actors involved, such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Mountain Union of Municipalities, was crucial. The established climate of institutional cohesion was helpful. To maintain it there was no discussion at this stage on the distribution of resources in strictly budgetary terms.  Identify the financial and human resources for the design process of the strategy.  Identify structures and/or experts at local and national level with specific technical expertise that might be needed in the strategy's elaboration.  Which human and financial resources are needed to elaborate the strategy? Are they available at local level?  What is the level of trust and social capital within the local community?

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In addition to the political will on the part of the local institutions, the expertise of the local technical structures was fundamental. It was important also to count on national thematic experts when necessary. Equally important was the human and social capital provided by the commitment of citizens and community actors involved in the participatory process to design and approve the strategy.  Avoid discussing budget allocation in detail at this stage to prevent tensions between stakeholders.

The design process involved 350 stakeholders, with an extensive participatory process. This process was lengthy, also due to the several thematic areas of intervention envisaged. Each working group drafted possible ideas and activities to be included in the strategy in order to solve the present critical issues. The plenary assemblies allowed an in-depth discussion among all the actors involved in the process. In this phase, it was important to initiate and keep alive exchanges with other inner areas in Italy for peer-to-peer learning on processes and solutions adopted. The design process was linked to previous institutional initiatives dating back to previous administrations, with the aim of avoiding starting from scratch. The guiding ideas established in the previous phase were broken down into action sheets and specific actions, expected results and result indicators. The strategy also described the territorial synergy and collaboration between administrations, local community and entrepreneurs. The start-up phase ended with two steps: - Approval of the strategy by all local actors; - Official approval of the strategy, signed by the leader of the Inner

Area, the Regional government, the Ministries involved and the

Agency for Territorial Cohesion.  Structure a participatory process with high citizenship involvement.  Ensure that the work within the working groups takes place with exchanges and synergies between them, by providing moments of plenary discussion to discuss the thematic ideas and proposal.  Choose other areas of the country with which to exchange best practices and initiatives.

 Ensure that policy makers refer to initiatives and strategic planning undertaken by previous administrations.  Focus on actual problems of the territories and give municipalities the opportunity to discuss them internally.  Ensure a full internal coherence of the strategy to a local development vision and among its structural components.  Broke down the previously established guiding ideas of the strategy in action sheets and specific actions, expected results and result indicators.

 Describe in the strategy the territorial synergy and collaboration between administrations, local community and entrepreneurs.  Present and share the strategy with local  What kind of participatory process can be put in place? How many participants can be involved in this process?  What kind of and how many working groups can be set? How can interaction among them be guaranteed to let synergies emerge?  Have the necessary steps for a successful process been established in advance?  Are there other areas with similar characteristics at national level which have undertaken similar local strategy elaboration processes? Are the actors who have developed such strategies available for peer-to-peer exchange and learning?  Have moments of validation of the strategy by the local community been foreseen?

Will the strategy be endorsed by citizens or stakeholders involved in the process?

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