Green Partnerships Local Partnerships for Greener Cities and Regions 5 th Steering Committee meeting Cyprus, Cyprus 2014 Theocharis Tsoutsos, Assoc. Prof. Stavroula Tournaki Afroditi Fotiou WP4: Capacity building and knowledge transfer for public bodies in MED cities and regions

2 Cyprus June, 2014 Activity 4.1 Preparation of local step by step plans for capacity building and pilot activities Activity 4.2 Capacity building and knowledge transfer for public bodies Activity 4.3 Improvement of the local energy strategies based on the pilot testing of new approaches WP4 Planned activities-1

3 Cyprus June, 2014 Local action groups (LAG) in pilot areas (11) Local step-by-step plans for capacity building (11) Organisation of workshops targeted to LAG, public authorities and key stakeholders (22) Adapt the training materials proposed by EWG for workshops Improved existing local energy strategy (or developed if not existing) Report the implementation of the local energy strategies (11) WP4 Outputs

Green Partnerships Local Partnerships for Greener Cities and Regions LOCAL ACTION GROUPS FORMULATION Activity 4.1 PROGRESS AND FINDINGS 5 th Steering Committee meeting Cyprus, Cyprus 2014

5 Cyprus June, LAGs in the 11 GreenPartnerships countries 90 Organizations 123 LAG members LAG’s in numbers….

6 Cyprus June, 2014 LAG’s MEMBERS “IDENTITY”

7 LOCAL ACTION GROUPS Progress till now Sarajevo, 4-7 February, 2014

8 Cyprus June, 2014 LOCAL ACTION GROUPS Progress till now Country LAG meetings per country 1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th 5 th Albania ( )( )( )( ) Bosnia ( )( )( )( ) Croatia ( )( ) Cyprus ( )( ) France ( )( )( )( ) Greece ( )( )( )( )( ) Italy ( ) Montenegro ( ) ( ) Portugal ( ) Slovenia ( )( )( ) Spain ( )( )( ) With red are the LAGs already implemented that we don’t have a report yet

9 Cyprus June, 2014 Discussion Topics: The Green Partnerships project, outcomes and impacts/benefits for the Municipalities. The role of LAGs, and how to stimulate the active contribution of their members The local energy strategy and SEAP’s (where existing) objectives; Energy related priorities and existing potentials (tailored to the local needs) Thematic areas for the capacity building workshops, suitable for the municipality technical staff/employees

10 Cyprus June, 2014 Discussion Topics: The specific pilot cases; solutions that would work for the local community Potential obstacles for the efficient implementation of the projects Legislation issues How to identify appropriate funding sources and other financial issues - the mostly raised issue; how to have solutions that can be partly, if not 100%, self funded Efficient ways for awareness raising – citizens involvement. Progress of pilot cases LAGs REPORT

11 Cyprus June, 2014 Reach funding by connecting the pilot project to the local SEAP Challenging the active engagement of LAGs a number of synergies will foster the local energy strategies by joining forces and expertise Involving the local stakeholders facilitates the implementation of local plans through consensus and support by the local communities Activation of citizens Identified Opportunities

12 Cyprus June, 2014 Foster the local businesses could be achieved due to the pilot projects implementation RES, Energy efficiency investments and the pilot projects implementation could create new employment opportunities Stimulation of innovation, employment and economic growth through implementation of pilot projects Networking with EU bodies Public Private Partnerships Identified Opportunities

13 Cyprus June, 2014 Finance – lack of funding opportunities Establishing a regular communication between involved sectors Keep engaged the local stakeholders throughout the whole process Existing Legislation does not facilitate the implementation of pilot projects Difficulties in finding data and information useful for the implementation of pilot actions Common Barriers

14 Cyprus June, 2014 Change in the citizens’ behavior in order to achieve SEAP targets Reach consensus for the development and implementation of energy related projects that may affect the habits and specific interests of citizens or different actors involved Technical capacity to decide on the most appropriate technologies and to design value for money projects Lack of strategy, in some cases, prevent pilot projects to reach the final stage Common Barriers

15 Cyprus June, 2014 Increase participation in local and EU actions Lack of technical capacity and expertise Politics Difficulties in achieving replication potential Common Barriers

Green Partnerships Local Partnerships for Greener Cities and Regions NEXT STEPS 5 th Steering Committee meeting Cyprus, June 2014

17 Cyprus June, 2014 Next Period Timeplan LAGs Meetings LAGs Report Guidelines for development of local step by step plans for capacity building Reporting on national local step by step plans for capacity building

18 Cyprus June, 2014 Thank you!