Regional Governance: Opportunities for Development and Rural-Urban Interaction in Functional Regions

Project components 1)Identify and map (GIS) linkages between communities in “regions”, particularly urban and rural relationships 2)Assess governance mechanisms used to manage these relationships, identify gaps, investigate alternatives 3)Assess the contribution of community linkages to local and regional sustainability and create a “regional economic capacity index” 4)Knowledge mobilization: collaboration, communication, application

Regional governance 1) Active labour market strategies (discussion paper, Lysenko thesis) 2) Regional governance background paper 3) Pilot region data collection and relationship mapping (‘08/’09) 4) Assessing strategic plans and processes – provincial + pilot regions (summer /fall‘09) 5) Options and suggested applications (’ )

Active Labour Market Policy Paper Efforts by government to alter workings of labour markets vs. income replacement, market adjustment alone. Addresses structural unemployment problems by: Modifying supply of labour Increasing demand for labour Improve functioning of labour market Examples: job matching, training, subsidies By Dr. David Freshwater “locally oriented ALMP may be a useful component of regional development strategies”

The Norwegian Experience Locally designed ALMPs allows for an individualized approach With unemployment insurance/benefit restrictions, and activation programmes Local agency, government, private sector collaboration

Regional Governance in NL Nearly 160 identified regional entities 46% formed since RDAs, Chamber 50s/60s More than 20 ways “regions” are defined Literature review Questionnaires Interviews Survey of Regional Organizations

35 of 71 organizations have a mandate for labour market development activities, 38 are involved Organizational challenges: $, HR, cooperation Regional Governance in NL Challenges facing their regions: outmigration, demographics and labour shortages Mixed degrees of cooperation – key for the future

“Pilot” regions -Includes one each of: urban-adjacent, non- adjacent, and remote rural regions -Defined according to existing governance boundaries 2006 pop. figures from NL Community Accounts Pop 3088 including Blanc Sablon Pop Pop 6280 “Rural remote” “Non- adjacent” “Adjacent”

Pilot Regions Regional profiles and asset mapping Regional meetings Questionnaires: T-NWI (41): 19 businesses, 17 community, 5 regional NGOs Labrador Straits (43):18 NGOs, 18 community, 7 regional NGOs Irish Loop (48): 33 businesses, 7 community NGOs, 5 regional

Pilot Regions Economies in transition Sense of community optimism (business): IL - 72%, T-NWI – 68%, LS - 67%, Why?: growth, development of new roadways, housing (IL) vs. tourism, quality of life (T-NWI) Lack of optimism - mainly because of outmigration, lack of young people and an aging population, lack of jobs/industry

Challenges and Strategies decreasing populations (outmigration and lack of youth), rising prices/costs, lack of skilled, experienced, motivated employees Strategies include increasing wages and benefits, training, advertising, working harder (by business owners)

– Regional collaboration extremely important but only present to some degree – limited on labour market development, capacity constraints but also opportunities for partnership development

Mapping Community Development Relationships Businesses, Local NGO and Regional NGO Respondents

Business Relationships (Irish Loop) Business support - other Student services (1) Fed’l and prov’l $ for work terms, employment progams (2) CBDC – pilot HR project (1) Labour force support ACOA (5) Service Canada/HRSDC BDC NLOWE SWASP ENL HNL Natural Resources Province – misc Destination St. John’s City of St. John’s CBDC (3) Local tourism assoc. (2) ILDB Irish Loop Chamber Financial institutions Urban- centred supports

Labour Market Development Activities

Labour Market Development Activities Business support (18), Employee Support (5), Job matching (4), Direct employment /wage subsidy (4), Indirect – community development (2), Policy & planning (1), Job training?

Irish Loop Relationship Maps Local NGOs Results were calculated from 10 local NGO´s: 4 Public services 3 Service groups/clubs 2 Development organizations 1 Church group

Indirect – Community Development (17), Policy & planning (4), Job training (1), Direct employment/wage subsidy (1), Job matching? Note: Many unspecified Labour Market Development Activities

Some Key Points Identification of “players” and links in development networks - also who and what links are missing? Rural urban linkages in community & econ. development Significant business-to-business relationships (50-55%), particularly in tourism, retail - referrals Regional differences: ACOA IL, vs. INTRD in LS (15-17%) NGOs as “indirect” labour market support – role in ALMP? NGOs - citizen collaboration + municipal Gaps in labour market development (training, planning)

21 Rural-Urban Linkages … are multiple and complex Functional integration Trade and commerce Institutions and governance Common environments Common identities (B. Reimer)

Regional sense of place often differs from administrative boundaries and is varied Irish Loop vs. Lab Straits T-NWI –Twillingate New World Island (5/19), Notre Dame Bay (4), Central (3), Kittiwake (0)

Interdependencies differ within provinces Rural remote – 1 st order urban (policy, some financial) vs. 2 nd order urban (shopping, services) Rural non-adjacent – 2 nd /3 rd order urban (shopping, services, policy and planning, some labour flows) And between them …

Rural-urban interactions Food and natural resources Ecosystem services Culture, ideas, sense of region Finance/investment People Jobs, shopping, tourism, trade Adapted from K. Lynch (2005) Governance Infrastructure and public services

Next Steps Reports on pilot regions and regional governance questionnaires Assessment strategic plans and labour market activities Discussions with pilot regions and other stakeholders on future options