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Development of Trans-National Cooperation projects. Adrian Neal Contact Point of the European Network for Rural Development Irish NRN Meeting, 1 st December 2009, Dublin, Ireland. Overview of the presentation. EAFRD- European framework for cooperation What is cooperation? Why cooperate?
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Development of Trans-National Cooperation projects Adrian Neal Contact Point of the European Network for Rural Development Irish NRN Meeting, 1st December 2009, Dublin, Ireland
Overview of the presentation • EAFRD- European framework for cooperation • What is cooperation? • Why cooperate? • What is a good cooperation project? • Cooperation and networking • EN RD CP and its tools to support Cooperation
EAFRD in Europe Axis 1 Axis 2 Axis 3 Axis 4
Cooperation as part of the Leader approach… • Funded under Axis 4 (Leader) of the EAFRD through national or regional rural development programmes from 2007-13 > Part of implementation of local development strategies by local action groups (LAGs) • Transnational cooperation is promoted by the European Commission, but not mandatory > All rural development programmes have foreseen a budget for cooperation within the Leader-axis • Was also part of Leader II and Leader+ initiatives
Selection of LAGs 2007-13 TOTAL (expected) NUMBER OF LAGs • LAGs already selected: 2,003 • Expected LAGs to be selected: 2,432 LAGs selection process: state of play • 18 / 27 Member States have completed selection process • 7 Member States will close the selection process by end 2009 • RO and BG will complete the selection process by end 2010 & 2011, respectively
Financial implementation vs. EAFRD Leader financial plan (2007-2013) by MS
EAFRD budget for cooperation in EU-27 • €265 million = 4.8% of the EAFRD budget for Axis 4 (Leader), Inter-territorial and transnational cooperation • Italy (45,7 million), Spain (33,8 million) and Germany (30,2 million) are the Member States with the highest amounts for cooperation
Number of approved cooperation projects:Transnational and Inter-territorial
Two main types of cooperation • Inter-territorial cooperation - cooperation between different rural areas within a Member State: • Requires at least one LAG selected under the Leader axis • Open to other local groups using a similar participatory approach • Transnational cooperation - cooperation between different rural areas from at least two Member States: • Requires at least one LAG selected under the Leader axis • Additional partners may include other local groups using similar participatory approaches • Also possible to extend cooperation to groups in third countries following a similar approach
Conditions for Cooperation with third countries The partner from a third country could be: • Public-private partnership • Local group active in rural development having the capacity to prepare a local development strategy • An open partnership in which wider participation of local actors is encouraged (i.e. from various socio-economic sectors, including associations)
Cooperation with third countries under Leader+ (2000-06) Ireland: USA, Canada Italy: Switzerland, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Canada, Georgia, Syria, Turkey Spain: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala Portugal: Angola, Argentina, Brazil, Cape Verde, Morocco, Uruguay France: Morocco, Tunisia Austria, Germany, Greece: Switzerland United Kingdom: FYROM, Russia
3. Why cooperate? A luxury or a necessity?
The potential tangible results of cooperation: • Strengthening territorial strategies & local partnerships: Can help to better meet changing needs and challenges in cooperating areas • Reaching critical mass: Pooling resources and expertise, the total benefits are much greater than the sum of individual achievements • Improving competitiveness: Finding new business partners & positioning on new markets help promote local products & area of origin
The potential tangible results of cooperation: • Promoting innovation through new skills & approaches: Adopting new & improved operational approaches can generate knock-on socio-economic and / or environmental benefits • Developing territorial identity and raising awareness: Helping local people discover their area and history (thereby becoming true ‘ambassadors’ of their areas)
4. What is a good cooperation project? • Following a territorial approach, thereby ensuring local relevance and added value • Having a strong and clearly defined project idea that will directly contribute to realising local development strategic objectives • Going beyond simple information exchanges, to include common actions which create tangible results • Planning properly for human resources • Building a strong partnership that will endure beyond the project life
Factors for successful cooperation • Taking the time to establish relations between actors • Step-by-step approach • Build on common issues/challenges • Early involvement of local decision-makers
Cooperation step by step 1 . Getting ready to start • Give local stakeholders a reason to get interested/involved in cooperation • Consider creating a local ‘cooperation think tank’ to identify cooperation ideas 2. Preparing a cooperation project • Finding trans-national partner(s) • Meeting your partner(s) and agreeing to cooperate • Preparing a trans-national cooperation application for funding • Preparing a project monitoring framework • Negotiating the financial aspects • Bringing together the required resources (knowledge and technical); and • Getting the financial, legal and administrative structures right
Cooperation step by step 3. Implementing the project Ensure: • Cooperation partnership organised (action plan accepted) • Partnership formalised (validated/shared common goals) • Cooperation partnership animated (guide and move project forward) 4. Evaluation and valorisation • Monitoring (agree and use target indicators) and evaluation • Dissemination of results of the cooperation project (so that others can benefit from the experiences)
5. Cooperation & Networking Effective networking can help in: • Finding suitable partners • Preventing groups from needing to reinvent the wheel • Distributing ideas, innovations and information • Making issues and challenges transparent and building connections
6. European Network for Rural Development (ENRD) Article 67 of Regulation 1698/2005 establishes a European Network for Rural Development • To collect, analyse & disseminate information on RD measures/programs • To consolidate good rural development practice • To provide information on developments in rural areas • To support rural expert networks (notably for evaluation); • To support national rural networks • To support trans-national co-operation initiatives
DG Agriculture ENRD CP Stakeholders Coordination Committee & Leader Sub-Committee Thematic Working Groups ENRD CP Stakeholders Rural stakeholders including LAGS National Rural Networks Managing Authorities
Contact Point Services • Thematic Networks • Events & workshops • Information services • Capacity building • Coordination Committee • Leader Sub-Committee • Thematic Groups • Publications • Newsletter & newsreel • Information services • Communication tools
Developing an integrated European Guide to Cooperation – recent survey: Results revealed differences in MS’s in: • Timing of decision-making, administrative approaches and solutions. • Format and detail of project applications • Financial support provided for the preparation of TNC projects • Level of technical support provided for the preparation of TNC projects 27
How to find examples of Leader transnational projects Currently only examples from previous programming period: • Leader+ database of transnational cooperation projects • Leader+ database of Best Practice • Publications of the Leader+ Observatory (Magazine and ‘Best practice’ publications: http://ec.europa.eu/leaderplus • Copies of the publications can be ordered for free via AGRI-LEADERPLUS-PUBLICATIONS@ec.europa.eu
For further information: • ENRD: http://enrd.ec.europa.eu • DG AGRI – Rural Development: http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/rurdev/index_en.htm • Summaries of legislation – Rural Development: http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l60032.htm • European Evaluation Network for Rural Development: http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/rurdev/eval/network/whatwedo_en.htm