Croatian Experiences Budapest | December 14th 2010 CROSS BORDER PARTNERSHIPS

Why to be a drop if I can be a waterfall

TOPICS Partnerships pros and cons CBC Lessons learned from Osijek-baranja county Challenges & Perspectives

ABOUT PARTNERSHIPS

PARTNERSHIP No one is good enough to succeed alone. Win those who choose the best partners. J. Marioti | Smart Things to Say About Partnerships” Pozorno smišljena veza s dodanom vrijednosti i obostranom koristi između suglasnih tijela/organizacija, koju se njeguje tijekom vremena i koja vodi prema mjerljivim rezultatima. World Bank Development Forum

WHY DO WE NEED CBC? Dillema or not

WHY CBC? All EU policies based on cooperation Unbalanced regional development Globalization causing regional approach competitiveness | recognizing specific regional strengths | positioning through being different Sharing insufficient resources Building new regional identity Transfer of know-how

BENEFITS (PROS) Sharing resources Partners sharing risks and responsibilities Covering wider area (program and geographic) Easier to make long-term impact Improving image of all stakeholders Transfer of know-how - developing human resources of all stakeholders Models and best practices - replicable and serving as motivator for other potential stakeholders

WHY DON’T PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS WORK TOGETHER? Dillema or not

“Don’t use force, use bigger hammer.” Artur Bloch |“Murphy’s law and other reasons why things go wrong”

MOST COMMON REASONS (CONS) Unequal distribution of power among partners causing distrust; no long term impacts Lack of credibility of any partner may jeopardize entire project Lack of human resources – come up with realistic goals False expectations – dissatisfaction with achieved results No common plan - partners going into different directions; No real support at the highest level – no results Lack of trust among partners - hard to compensate with control mechanisms

IPA CBC Hungary-Croatia Osijek-Baranja county

IPA CBC Projects (1 st call) 42 projects approved 20 projects within Osijek-Baranja county 25 partners from Croatian side (OBC) Only 2 lead beneficiaries from OBC (City of Osijek and PI Croatian Waters) 2,6 mil Eur (12 mil Eur total)

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED SO FAR? Lessons learned, Challenges or an on-going learning process

MAIN CHALLENGES Only real partnerships make impact Many last minute partnerships without knowing partners (resources/goals/credibility/values/ responsibility) No equal participation in early phase of creating project (no proper understaning/contribution and therefore no real impact) 1/4

MAIN CHALLENGES Legal and implementation framework between Croatia and Hungary not adjusted Delays and misunderstandings in implementation Slow procedures 2/4

MAIN CHALLENGES Croatian institutions need to be more flexible and ensuring proper capacities in HR Legal procedures within Cro institutions not adjusted to apsorb EU funds and efficiently implement CBC projects Employment procedures for project management staff; administrative procedures and capacities 3/4

MAIN CHALLENGES Pre-financing capacities low Only organizations with secured funds for pre-financing (up to 9 months) able to participate No support for CSOs (loan system not established) Local governments need to pre-plan and allocate funds 4/4

MAIN BENEFITS Learning process has speed out - Capacity building programs (University of Osijek / RDA / OBC / Slap /Credere – post graduate specialistic study in PCM for Project Managers (3 groups, 70 students) Seminars, courses, info days, technical assistance, partner search (RDA / DAoOBC ) 1/3

MAIN BENEFITS Each project has multiplied number of new partnerships – avenue for new partnerships / projects Example: Crost II – creating opportunities for new partnerships 2/3

MAIN BENEFITS Awareness of the necesity to work together as belonging to the same region Seing the benefits of joint activities in sharing common problems; transfer of know-how and becoming more competitive within the EU market 3/3

DILLEMA How much time could we afford to continue learning?

MAIN CHALLENGES What do we offer? Exchange of Resources Common Goal Roles and Responsibilities TRUST Communication and Visibility Monitoring and Evaluation

WHY TO BE A DROP IF A CAN BE A WATERFALL CONTACT Sonja Vuković Udruga za kreativni razvoj Slap Lorenza Jagera 6/ Osijek Tel: Fax: Mob: