“ ” By DELTA 2000 – Giancarlo Malacarne “DELTA 2000: LOCAL ACTION GROUP & LOCAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY” By DELTA 2000 – Giancarlo Malacarne Network Building Conference 25 th November 2011 Sofia, Bulgaria

DELTA 2000 is a Local Action Group of mixed composition which includes Public Bodies and Professional Associations of the Provinces of Ferrara and Ravenna, as well as local economic actors operating in the two Provinces 2 PUBLICPARTNERS PUBLIC PARTNERS Province and Municipalities of Ferrara (Argenta, Berra, Codigoro, Comacchio, Goro, Iolanda di Savoia, Lagosanto, Massa Fiscaglia, Mesola, Migliarino, Migliaro, Ostellato, Portomaggiore Province and Municipalities of Ravenna (Alfonsine, Argenta, Bagnacavallo, Berra, Cervia Consortium of the Regional Park of the Po Delta Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Artisanship and Agricolture of Ferrara and Ravenna. PRIVATEPARTNERS PRIVATE PARTNERS Trade, Industrial, Agricoltural and Tourism Associations Enterprises and cooperatives acting for local development

WHERE ARE WE? 3 Oriental area of Emilia-Romagna region DELTA 2000

Some Area Data 4 POPULATION: MUNICIPALITIES INVOLVED: 19 TOTAL SURFACE: 1.671,83 km2 DENSITY OF POPULATION (inhabitants/km2): 59,39 NATURA 2000 (CIS & SPZ) SURFACE: ha = 32,2% LEADER+ surface. POPULATION IN WORKING AGE: UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 9%

5 Emilia-Romagna Po Delta Park covers some of the most productive and rich in biodiversity areas in Italy. The Park includes the country's largest protected wetlands, areas of great ecological value. This is completely within the leader area It is a territory rich in natural environments, housing hundreds of plant and animal species. Emilia-Romagna Po Delta Park 460 Vertebrates species 300 birds species plants’ species.

Our Mission The main aim of our Agency is promoting local resources and economic activities in a harmonised and integrated way in order to start a local development process based on the self- representation of local communities. BOTTOM UP LOCAL PARTNERSHIP Its strategy is based on the bottom-up principle. Plans and guidelines are outlined at the “bottom” with the involvement of all local actors This brings about local partnerships that define joint and integrated development strategies in line with the differences of the territory, in order to increase the attractiveness of the area and create a single identity shared by all local communities

All the steps for building a network 1.Improve, organize and create a network of all territory resources in terms of environment, history, culture and landscape, etc. 2.Reinforce and widen cooperation networks Supporting actually the differentiation and improvement of the entrepreneurial offer in all its aspects 3.Reinforce the environment heritage of the Delta by embedding it in the structure of a territorial ecosystem model 4.Support the access of the local system to national and foreign markets as the Po Delta's network

ACTIVITY SECTOR Agricolture and Fisheries Environment Industry and handcraft Human resources Tourism and Culture Cooperation ACTIVITY SECTOR Agricolture and Fisheries Environment Industry and handcraft Human resources Tourism and Culture Cooperation OUR ACTIVITIES DRAWING UP AND MANAGEMENT OF EU PROJECTS TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ECONOMIC PROMOTION COOPERATION PROJECT TERRITORIAL PROJECT TERRITORIAL MARKETING INFORMATION AND UPDATING STUDY AND RESEARCHES PILOT PROJECTS

A example of network 9 The “Ecotourist product” project idea came from local development plan by DELTA 2000, under LEADER II whose transnational cooperation strategy was aimed at enhancing the natural and cultural heritage of the Po Delta area The ECOTOURIST PRODUCT is the first example of building a small local tourist network in particular environmental vocation

Leader + is a Community Initiative Program that has helped more than any other to define territorial stakeholders in order the creation of: 1. A network of tourism businesses at the local level 2.A network of European wetlands which has been spread among LAGs and National Leader Network Units at international level in order to seek possible partners for the definition and realization of the projects LEADER + Networking programm Through a transnational network and an international cooperation project were activated the initial resources for the project to promote local area from an ecotourism point of view

Currently we are implementing bodies of the new LEADER Program ( ,77) We are working on the formation of the GAC to ensure the efficacy of the partnership. in the future, they may be based on partnership developed by the Leader and benefit from technical assistance The strength of the program has not been exhausted …

European Cooperation Project All these projetcs have been co-financied by the local network consists of the local public bodies and local entrepreneurs The experience in the building of the network, particularly at the transnational level has been crucial in the activation of other international projects. Some of these projects are currently in progress: DATOURWAYDATOURWAY (SEE program – ,00) SLOWTOURISMSLOWTOURISM (Italia-Slovenia Program ,00 ) SALTWORKSSALTWORKS (Italia-Slovenia Program – ,00) INTERBIKEINTERBIKE (Italia-Slovenia Program – ,00) MOTORMOTOR (Italia-Slovenia Program – ,00)

Networking and Destination Management

Network structure and the functions of destination management 1. The governance It is based on Istitutional Building: all the local stakeholders (pubblic and private) are represented in the LAG 2. Network resources Strategy based on available resources: natural, cultural, environmental…

3. Creating a network of operators Creation of business networks to improve reception and hospitality for ecotourists development of new services, information, equipment, routes 4. Structuring of the territorial offer

Territorial Marketing Creation of integrated packages of tourist offers Creation of packages to attract investments in tourist sector Publishing promotional literature on tourist and environmental offers (catalogues, guides, etc.) Organisation of and participation in fairs, workshops, promotional events, etc. Organisation of targeted educational tours Promotion and marketing of tourist packages

17 In view of the mission of DELTA 2000 as LAG (which is to fostering the development of rural areas), one of the key factors for achieving the strategic objectives was the networking activities linked with the implementation of the LEADER + In short …

Thanks for your attention GIANCARLO MALACARNE DELTA 2000 Strada Luigia San Giovanni di Ostellato (FE) Tel