agriregionieuropa Evaluating the Improvement of Quality of Life in Rural Areas Cagliero R., Cristiano S., Pierangeli F., Tarangioli S. Istituto Nazionale di Economia Agraria (INEA), Roma, Italy 122 nd European Association of Agricultural Economists Seminar Evidence-Based Agricultural and Rural Policy Making Methodological and Empirical Challenges of Policy Evaluation February 17 th – 18 th, 2011, Ancona (Italy) associazioneAlessandroBartola studi e ricerche di economia e di politica agraria Centro Studi Sulle Politiche Economiche, Rurali e Ambientali Università Politecnica delle Marche

agriregionieuropa 122 nd EAAE Seminar, February 17 th – 18 th, 2011, Ancona (Italy)  Aim of the study  Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the concept of QoL  The evaluative approaches proposed by the European Commission  CMEF  WP  The evaluative approaches proposed in Italy  The marginality index in Piedmont  The QoL index in Emilia Romagna  Conclusions and reflections Outlines

agriregionieuropa 122 nd EAAE Seminar, February 17 th – 18 th, 2011, Ancona (Italy) The study Background – QoL & CAP: vagueness in the conceptualization – Mainly focusing on economic development of rural areas Aim  Analysing the evaluations designs and the first findings of the Mid Term evaluations of the RDPs: evaluative dimensions and methods  Exploiting the possible contribution of the evaluations to a better understanding of the QoL in rural areas

agriregionieuropa 122 nd EAAE Seminar, February 17 th – 18 th, 2011, Ancona (Italy) QoL within the CAP  RD policy identifies a number of interventions for improving the QoL in rural areas - broad notion of QoL - not exploiting the concept  QoL is one of the 3 EU priorities in RD : – The creation of employment opportunities diversification of the rural economy (all sectors) improvement of QoL (attractive places to live and work) – A set of measures (toolbox for Axis 3 in RDPs): Diversification of the rural economy Non-agricultural activities of farmers; small business creation and development, tourism, small scale infrastructure Quality of life in rural areas; Basic services for the rural population, rural heritage and renewal Training, skills acquisition and animation; Area studies, information, training animators, leaders, promotional events, partnerships

agriregionieuropa 122 nd EAAE Seminar, February 17 th – 18 th, 2011, Ancona (Italy) The evaluations are expected to assess the improvement of QoL in rural areas as effect of programmes’ implementation. EQs? Dimensions? Criteria? Methodologies? Approaches? QoL within the evaluation of RDP

agriregionieuropa CMEF: - hierarchy of objectives - hierarchy of indicators - “intervention logic” CMEF doesn’t provide specific tools to evaluate the contribution to improve QoL - only EQs Monitoring and evaluation in RD Source: CMEF, 2006

agriregionieuropa 122 nd EAAE Seminar, February 17 th – 18 th, 2011, Ancona (Italy) The CMEF  Focusing on: – Economic approach – Sector development (agriculture) – Households ---- no direct effect on individuals & rural population  Evaluation questions – Measure-driven: i.e: To what extent has the support contributed to promote diversification and entrepreneurship? – Vague on QoL: i.e: To what extent has the support contributed to improving the quality of life in rural areas?  Indicators: – Adequateness: mostly linked to entrepreneurial performance (R-GAV, I-employment creation, I-economic growth)

agriregionieuropa 122 nd EAAE Seminar, February 17 th – 18 th, 2011, Ancona (Italy) Proposes a conceptual evaluative model for assessing the effects of measures improving the QoL in rural areas and guides the evaluation activities (1) defining the dimensions of QoL in the context of the RDPs (2) identifying a set of expected impacts (Axis 3-4) (3) identifying a set of relevant assessment criteria, related evaluation questions and indicators The WP

agriregionieuropa QoL background in EU evaluation Introduces three principal and integrated dimensions: the socio-cultural and services dimension: -“soft” factors (community life, traditions,...) -“hard” factors (buildings, infrastructures,...) the environmental dimension: encompasses the human wellbeing arising due to the conservation and upgrading of environment and rural heritage. the economic dimension: implies an adequacy and security of income.

agriregionieuropa Source: Helpdesk of the Evaluation Expert Network Linkages between dimensions of QoL

agriregionieuropa EU Evaluation approach  1 Rural Development Programme (RDP): 1 indipendent evaluator  Ex - ante evaluation – Fixing baseline indicators – Assessing the relevance and the coherence of RDPs  On-going evaluation of RDPs  CMEF provides: – a list of common evaluative questions to be addressed within the mid-term and the ex-post evaluations – a list of common indicators Working Paper “Assessing the impacts of LEADER and the measures to improve QoL in rural areas ” The Common Monitoring Evaluation Framework (CMEF): the guidelines Complementing the CMEF: additional Eqs, criteria and indicators Going beyond the quantitative approach and the economic performance Introducing qualitative dimensions of evaluation Evaluating the local governance (LEADER) Proposing territorial approach: participative evaluations and self- assessment Proposing methods: SNA, social accounting, multicriteria rating tool

agriregionieuropa 122 nd EAAE Seminar, February 17 th – 18 th, 2011, Ancona (Italy) Index of marginality Negative influence: Positive influence: Deterioration of demographic bases (% decrease of active population) Depopulation Erosion of inexpensiveness soil for local services Lack of factors endowment Decrease of income and consumption potential Tourism can help to curb the process… The assumption: Marginality is considered very close to the concepts of wellbeing and QoL, or better can be deemed as a proxy of their lack.

agriregionieuropa Defined by: IRES Piemonte Composition: 11 indicators grouped into four dimensions Demography Income Endowments Activities data at the municipality level standardized model Model’s Usability: - for performance analysis by spatial approach comparing territorial distribution of support by RDPs with indexes of marginality (target group vs regional average) -for “Before-After” approach highlighting changes over time Index of Marginality

agriregionieuropa 122 nd EAAE Seminar, February 17 th – 18 th, 2011, Ancona (Italy) Quality of Life Index Defined by: Agriconsulting Composition: 25 indicators grouped into six dimensions Services Economy Infrastructures: Environment Culture Quality of social and institutional process data at sub-regional level Model’s Usability: - correlation between QoL and RDP interventions - partecipation and communication of evaluation process

agriregionieuropa 122 nd EAAE Seminar, February 17 th – 18 th, 2011, Ancona (Italy) A comparison among approaches

agriregionieuropa 122 nd EAAE Seminar, February 17 th – 18 th, 2011, Ancona (Italy) Conclusions and reflections The evaluation is contributing to set a conceptual framework in the domain of the QoL in rural areas Need for an enlargement, in terms features, of different dimensions of QoL in rural areas to be investigated Move beyond the measure-based evaluation approach towards a thematic or/and territorial approach Need for complement quantitative with qualitative analysis Move to more-in-depth analysis and participatory evaluations which involve local stakeholders Emerging need for discussion among evaluators and policy- makers on the meaning of QoL in rural areas and to investigate the most appropriate measurement techniques.

agriregionieuropa 122 nd EAAE Seminar, February 17 th – 18 th, 2011, Ancona (Italy) Thank you for the attention