European Territorial Cooperation Sustainability Transferability Capitalisation Pietro Celotti EIPA European Instituto of Public Administration 11 December 2012

Project sustainability A project is sustainable when it continues to deliver benefits to the project beneficiaries and/or other constituencies for an extended period after the Commission’s financial assistance has been terminated. Source: European Commission (2006) Directorate-General Education and Culture

Project sustainability Sustainable problems with the classical donor- controlled project approach have become increasingly evident: Inadequate local ownership of projects, with negative implications for sustainable benefits.. Source: European Commission (2004) PCM Guidelines opeaid_adm_pcm_guidelines_2004_en.pdf

Transferability Transferring project results and solutions to other bodies/organisations external to the partnership is one of the keys for sustainability This implies a sophisticated analysis of the external need for project results and solutions The analysis must be projected in a future time frame

Transferability Transferability process is a natural follow-up for a pilot project Transferability is based on the ‘production and distribution’ of tools that allow to share the approach experimented in the pilot project It is particularly difficult to monitor the actual use of the project results and solutions after the end of the project

Transferability  Communication Inform Promote Involve Train Web-based “Traditional” Online tutor Web 2.o Website Mailing list Workshops Events, exhibitions Press coverage

Capitalisation In the area of Territorial cooperation these issues are dramatically emphasised. “Capitalisation” is a term used to stress the necessity to consider the link of the project with other projects and with the programme as a whole.

Why territorial cooperation Solution of common problems Through joined actions Within a wide area of cooperation With limited resources (if compared to other programmmes) With specific financial rules (risks of low local ownership of the projects, costs generated by separate management/financing/monitoring arrangements)

Intangible effects Strategy to reduce common problems Experimentation and innovation Awareness of new common problems Improvement of competencies Exchange of practices Relationships and networks Territorial cooperation

Territorial cooperation effects can not be compared to those generated by other programmes belonging to the cohesion policy They are strictly related to the intangible assets of the players Intangible assets do not belong to a unique lead partner or to a individual partnership – it is necessary to consider the whole policy cycle

Policy cycle Formulation Implementation Identification

Capitalisation MAIN STEPS Awareness of project effects and relevant policy cycle phase Involvement of the policy players Impact on the policy ( identification of a new problem, formulation of a pilot model of intervention...) Policy evolution Experimentat ion Relations Networls Competencies

Capitalisation Identification of the policy cycle phase Identification of possible synergies CAPITALISATION Involvement of players EvaluationCommunicationCAPITALISATION Policy development

Alpine Space Programme (ASP) It is the EU transnational cooperation programme for the Alps. Partners from the seven Alpine countries work together to promote regional development in a sustainable way. During the period , the programme is investing 130 Million € in impact-oriented projects in which key actors develop shared solutions on specific Alpine issues.

ASP analysis Literature Alpine Space Interact, Espon documentation; territorial cooperation evaluations Academic publications on capitalisation Survey Questionnaire (10 questions) Answers: 65% (100% 1° and 2° call for proposals) Focus Group 4 focus groups 60 participants

ASP findings Literature Policy development and capitalisation are in the middle of the debate … but definitions are still confusing Survey For the beneficiaries it is difficult to identify their role in the process It is hard to involve the “politicians” Focus Group Several projects have started capitalisation processes unintentionally Projects are mainly at policy formulation level

ASP conclusions The main impacts of ASP concern the support to the policy cycle evolution Specifically ASP provides an important support to the formulation phase (piloting actions – experimentation) Capitalisation is the process of making the project effects (mainly intangible) impact the policy cycle

ASP conclusions All projects shall embody and develop a capitalisation process In ASP capitalisation process follows 3 main steps: awareness and sharing of the results among partners, communication and dissemination outside the project, integration with other policy tools

ASP conclusions A project focused on policy identification should be promoted by centres of research, SMEs/workers/volunteers associations, chambers of commerce... A project focused on policy formulation should be promoted by ministries, regional/local councils… A project focused on policy implementation should be promoted by local authorities, regional agencies…

Beneficiaries of political action Civil servants Political decision makers Political elected representatives International organisations Universities and research Non profit organisations Representatives of other groups Business Volunteers associations Growing influence on the policy Stakeholder Relevant actor Policy action Target group

A recent paradox! In 2012 Alpine Space Programme is carrying out a complex stakeholder dialogue process Italian stakeholders (about 160) tend to stress the necessity to “capitalise” the projects even more than the urgency to solve problems registered on the field How to interpret this evidence? See you again somewhere in 2013…

ASP guide on capitalisation is available