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Laboratori Territoriali per la Progettazione Integrata
Regione Sardegna - Centro Regionale di Programmazione
Italy

The Problem

Region Sardinia started a new phase of economic development programming focused on the relaunching of integrated planning for territorial development, the strengthening of institutional cooperation processes and the constitution of public-private partnerships among the local development actors.The new approach accomplishes the principles of “governance”, firmly persuaded that the more qualified and wider participation to programming strategies and development projects elaboration is, the more respondent to local needs public intervention is and the more lasting the development processes triggered are.In order to realize the new programming strategy, as from the year 2005 the Region established specific partnership and technical bodies, as, for example, Territorial Laboratories for Integrated Planning.The Laboratories are technical units consisting of experts skilled in various subjects and represent the Region’s operative hand. They are located in each Province, work in strict connection to provincial administrations and have the task to guarantee local actors’ wide participation to decision processes and to support them in the elaboration of high quality development plans.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The new approach brought a deep change in the procedures previously adopted by means of active involvment of institutional actors (Provinces, Municipalities, Mountain Communities, regional and provincial Bodies) and social and economic actors (employers’ associations, trade unions, cultural and environmental associations, universities and research centres, etc.) throughout the region.The Territorial Laboratories promoted a great involvement of local actors as from the phase of local context analysis and eligible territorial development strategies. Participation was particularly high during the elaboration of local development integrated projects. The participation process involved more than 3,000 people during the promotion phase and brought the Project Partnerships – bodies consisting of public/private partners entitled to elaborate and propose single Integrated Projects - to submit more than 15,000 applications.The participation process innovative feature is evident: at present almost 200 project partnerships are in effect, they involve the whole regional territory and are engaged, supported by Territorial Laboratories and Regional Technical Groups, in the elaboration of development projects according the Project Cycle Management method.Surely, the most important result of the participation process is the increased capacity of institutional actors to cooperating both “horizontally” (cooperation among municipalities previously accustomed to project just on their own) and “vertically” (cooperation among different institutions – municipalities, provinces, region). Another result obtained is the increased capacity of local territory to devising development strategies based on integrations between economic sectors and on ideas founded on an holistic vision of development capable of integrating employers’ needs and public authorities’ action. And finally, the empowerment of fringe areas: these areas benefited of the support of Territorial Laboratories and adopted a proactive attitude characterised by proposals, responsibilities and search for innovative development paths.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The strategy has been accomplished in the years 2005/2006 through the following steps:
- strategy definition and devising of the new programming lines taking into account the results of a thorough analysis of the projects already realised, in progress and planned. Realization of provincial territorial Meetings aimed at sharing the new strategy (January-April 2005);
- constitution of Territorial Laboratories, training of the actors involved and support to the start up of the participation process (April-June 2005);
- the Territorial Laboratories promote the new approach: context analysis and interviews to local actors, debates and meetings, identification of priority intervention sphere, devising of the first project proposals (June-October 2005);
- the Territorial Laboratories draft the provincial Area Reports, which are approved by the Provincial Partnership Boards. Local promotion (September 2005 – April 2006);
- publication of a regional public announcement for the submission of Integrated Development Projects (May 2006);
- the Territorial Laboratories promote and support the submission of applications to Project Partnerships. Selection of the proposals and coherence check (June-September 2006);
- in each Province, the Territorial Laboratories support the setting up of Project Partnerships. The Projects are devised thanks to shared-projecting workshops (methodology GOPP-LF) and specific information and training activities addressed to local actors (September-December 2006);
- submission of the Development Integrated Projects (December 2006).

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
In the years 2001-2004, the programming of Integrated Territorial Projects in Sardinia suffered from the lack of a real involvement of local actors and from the inadequacy of technical support to territories. Planning has been carried out without taking into account the results of other intervention instruments. Despite the efforts of regional authorities, the instruments promoted proved to be unfit to stir and support entrepreneurship.The actions aimed at fostering integrated exploitation and productivity of the regional resources for development purposes were at times inadequate and often there was too much offer of financing instruments, that means insufficient selectivity of the instruments and distortion effects.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
During the intermediate reprogramming of the Regional Operational Programme (R.O.P.) 2000-2006, the Region, in agreement with institutional, social and economic partnerships, decided to adopt a new strategy for integrated projects in order to:
- support and strengthen institutional and partnership cooperation among local actors;
- achieve the maximum value added in terms of income and employment;
- use the new approach for the new programming period 2007-2013.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The strategy adopted activates an innovative process of local development multilevel governance based - in the different phases of territorial programming and intervention projecting and implementation - on a wide participation of local actors to development strategies definition. It is, in fact, meant to select new projects capable of integrating the activities already financed, thus incrementing both their impact and effectiveness in terms of economic and employment development and their overall quality.In order to implement the process of Integrated Planning, the Region has set up special partnership and technical bodies:
- the Regional Institutional and Social and Economic Partnership Board, which exercises functions of strategic setting and of concentration and supervision of regional policies, especially concerning regional and territorial development and programming. The Board avails itself of the Regional Coordination Unit;
- the Provincial Institutional and Social and Economic Partnership Boards, which have been set up in each new Province with the aim of supplying strategic guidelines to territorial programming and supervising their application. They avail themselves of the technical collaboration of the Provincial Planning Laboratories;
- the Coordination Regional Group, which operates as a direction room aimed at coordinating, from a technical point of view, the process of Territorial Planning by devising and sharing methodologies and instruments to be used for the implementation of specific phases and activities;
- the Regional Technical Groups, which define thematic guidelines (Industry, Rural development, Turism, Environment, etc.) for Regional Development Integrated Projects and inform and steer, from a technical point of view, the Regional Project Partnerships;
- the Planning Territorial Laboratories, which consist of technical units that coordinate and support: 1) the development of regional and territorial planning; 2) the identification of the driving development ideas; 3) the coherence and the feasibility evaluation of activities; 4) the connection with previous and present regional and territorial planning.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
In Sardinia, relevant innovation to territorial economic programming have been introduced and a new phase opened up. The essential features of the new programming period concern: a) a greater attention to the quality of projects; b) a more active collaboration with institutional, social and economic partnership; c) the support to local territories in the elaboration of the new development integrated projects; d) the adoption of new approaches of territorial policies within the new programming period 2007-2013.The process put into practice fulfils the principles of cooperation, participation, responsibility, effectiveness and coherence.The results are:
- the new activities are capable of generating integration among different interventions;
- the Institutional Partnership is more efficient and cooperation is greater;
- the economic and social partnership and the other relevant local actors participate to the process of Integrated Planning.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
This practice has been modelized: since it is possible to refer to programming documents, organizing notes, minutes and public and informal documents, all the phases can be ran through again.Its transferability concerns most of all the process of governance, especially the structure of Technical and Partnership Bodies that managed and supported Integrated Planning, the methodologies and the instruments adopted to facilitate participation.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The main difficulties encountered are: a) the acknoledgement of the importance of the role of local actors and their involvement in decision processes; b) the lengthening of the programming process caused by wider participation; c) at the beginning, the techniques used to facilitate and manage participation (Metaplan, GOPP) encountered opposition.Therefore, the difficulties concern the natural aversion towards innovative processes and change.Anyway, the slowness of change and the final hearty acceptance of the participative method let us believe that the method has been metabolized and that it will endure.The systemic action approach brought about by the Region Sardinia with the support of FORMEZ facilitated the development of a cooperative mood between the different actors involved, and particularly facilitated institutional dialogue and cooperation. This approach guaranteed the different actors the possibility to express themselves and to go thoroughly into the questions emerged, thus rapidly reaching the targets fixed in advance. The elaboration of the new strategy has treasured up previous experiences and therefore enabled to start from the critical aspects arisen.The methodology experienced throughout the year 2006 is having positive results and represents a reference pattern for the setting out of the new programming of Structural Funds that is about to be defined.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Regione Sardegna - Centro Regionale di Programmazione
Institution Type:   Government Department  
Contact Person:   Salvatore Orlando
Title:   Autorità di Gestione POR Sardegna  
Telephone/ Fax:   0039(0)706064675
Institution's / Project's Website:   0039(0)706064684
E-mail:   crp@regione.sardegna.it  
Address:   via Mameli 88
Postal Code:   09123
City:   Cagliari
State/Province:   Sardegna/Cagliari
Country:   Italy

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