Building effective partnerships amongEuropean and Mediterranean Municipalitiesfor local economic development and promotion

THE MEDITERRANEAN LABORATORY FOR DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES AND COOPERATION

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In 2006 – with the support of the European Commission and

within the Programme Med Pact – eight Mediterranean Municipalities from Europe, North Africa and the Middle

East established a cooperation network based on the

common interest of improving knowledge and practice in

managing local development and city marketing.

This network operated through the Project PAMLED.

Building Effective Partnerships among European and Mediterranean Municipalities for Local

Economic Development Promotion

Start 20th November 2006

End

20th May 2010

Project Leading Partner

Comune di PratoProject Manager

Ms. Fabiana Farro

EU Grant

Euro 562.500,00

Website

www.pamled.org

EU Funding

80% of investment

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City of MARRAKECH

Morocco

Project Leader

Municipality of PRATO

City of SKOPJE

Macedonia

Municipality of BODRUM

Turkey

Croatia

Municipality of BRTONIGLA

Municipality of SIN-EL-FIL

Lebanon

Italy

Municipality of LUCCA

Italy

Municipality of RIO MARINA

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Background

The challenge of globalization requires widespread regional cooperation, political stability, efficient governance and social protection. Yet the situation of the Mediterranean countries in fulfilling these conditions is very asymmetrical. The Mediterranean European Countries face the challenges of glo-balization with the strong backing of the EU.

The Southern and the Eastern Mediterranean countries, which are of course faced with the same challenges of globalization, do not benefit from such dynamic regional cooperation. In this frame-work the “European Neighbourhood Policy” (ENP) envisaged by the EU and its Mediterranean and South-Eastern Partners could be the right tool to in this direction.

The Mediterranean basin posses a wide range of different and frequently critical socio-political, eco-nomical and environmental assets, thus strengthening cooperation among the Mediterranean coun-tries to support their development, offers an effective tool to promote and enhance their natural, cultural, economic promotion and local sustainable development pursue.

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Approach

The multicultural nature of partners and the variety of territorial contexts involved in the Project are an intrinsic wealth of PAMLED, a Project that placed a particular emphasis on local development im-pact in the south Mediterranean territories, in terms of improved managing capacities and the pilot actions undertaken.

Bottom-up local development, socio-economic and environmental sustainability, participation, com-munity involvement, good governance, territorial cooperation, experience-based learning, good practice capitalisation and dissemination, local capacity building, are all terms that can be used to describe coherently the approach followed by the Project, and shared by all Partners: an approach that can be summarised in the search of a good local development through the modern policy tools available to local actors (according to state-of-the-art knowledge).

To summarise, PAMLED, while endorsing the principles of emerging local development good prac-tices, can claim some its value added and its essence mainly on collective learning and city-to-city partnership. Partners’ Network is the key Project asset and the source for learning which is indeed based on 2 pillars:

real experiences capitalised by project partners;•

Partners’ interaction in terms of transfer, adaptation and co-development of practices. •

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PHASE 1. KEY TEAM PROJECT IDENTIFICA-TION AND PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES: LO-CAL STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVEMENT AND DE-TAILED NEEDS IDENTIFICATION.

implemented participatory approaches •(civil society capacity building, community consultation, focus groups, etc);involved citizens on partnering contexts •problems;raised local authorities’ awareness of local •needs;re-adjusted priorities and strategies for the •following phases of the Project.

In Sum: it initiated the process of “collective learning” consisting in an effective partnership supporting the exchange of practical experi-ences among the various Local Authorities.

PHASE 2. WORKING GROUPS CONSTITUTION AND PILOT PROJECTS PLAN DRAFTING

Thanks to the pivotal role of Working Groups, pilot interventions at the local level have been dentified and drafted.

The support Partners's interrlation at the work-ing groups’ activities and the interest shared on a specific priority promoted city-to-city networks to support practical training and technical assis-tance in the implementation of pilot projects.

The promotion of exchange of experiences, and the setting-up of a policy benchmarking system based on an experimental-learning approach achieved the goals to carry out concrete pilot projects in the three main Southern Mediter-ranean territories (Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey)

PAMLED IS A PROCESS

PAMLED can be also seen as a process that begins by assessing the common knowledge that is shared among the partners, and that gets gradually into practice, by means of pilot actions and technical assistance provided on the field by city-to-city partnership on the two shores of the Mediterranean.

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PHASE 3. PILOT PROJECTS IMPLEMENTATION

Four Pilot Projects were implemented

Capitalise and exploit technical assistance from PAMLED partnership, mainly through city-to-city partnerships

PHASE 4. PROJECT DISSEMINATION AND EVALUATION

Project results were evaluated hence.

A knowledge shared and the experimented practices consolidated,and finally...

...the results disseminated while further de-veloped city-to-city networks between the Southern and Northern Partners of PAMLED.

In designing the pilot initiatives a central issue attained the bridging of the gap between theory and practice while focusing on priority issues for the Mediterranean partners. This approach intended to avoid an inefficient overlapping with existing national or international interventions and to inte-grate them with other actions already being implemented in each of the three territories.

Particular care regarded the promotion of environmental protection, the enhancement of local tan-gible (environment, cultural heritage, planning and promoting of economic potentialities, etc) and intangible (culture, traditions, etc) assets.

In the following sections we will detail the different pilot projects carried out by the four Mediter-ranean Partners, and the main results achieved in different fields of action.

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PILOT PROJECT BY THE MUNICIPALITY OF SIN EL FIL (LEBANON)“YOUTH DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY”

The Action

When stressing its priorities within the PAMLED, the Municipality of Sin El Fil focused to review its economic potentiality and planning, while working strategically to support the growth of specific eco-nomic categories.

“Sin El Fil defined its Pilot Project in the field of economic develop-ment and strategic planning by focusing on youth entrepreneurship as an approach to reduce the current flow of brain-drain affecting its territory. The plan is based on a similar approach experienced by the Municipalities of Prato, Brtonigla and the City of Skopje, where similar “Youth Action Plans” have been experienced…”

“To achieve its goal, the Municipality of Sin El Fil required a multi-direction strategy targeting potential young entrepreneurs drafted in an ad hoc business opportunity plan comprising three fields of ac-tion: 1. Social Economic Analysis in Sin El Fil Baldeh (one of the four suburbs of Sin El Fil); 2. Local Development Youth Plan; 3. Youth in Business (Open Competition on the Best Business Ideas).”

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The key role of partnership

“Applying the same city-to-city partnership approach envisaged by PAMLED, the technical staff of the Municipality of Prato and of the City of Skopje accompanied Sin El Fil to start-up its pilot proj-ect that outlined a youth entrepreneurship strategy as an approach to reduce the brain drain in the area; as well as identifying the bases of a future comprehensive strategic plan focusing on their socio-economic development.

The city-to-city approach offered good practices on models that provide resources, support and opportu-nities in the areas of employment and education, helping youth identifying their skills, preparing for job interviews and entering the job market. Great emphasis was given to the importance of communicating to youth and to spread the voice about the competition at local level. This was a crucial element.”

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Impact

Field data collection & to analysis of the social-economic outputs assess Sin El Fil Baldeh social eco-nomic situation aimed at detecting community needs and have a clear municipal plan to solve the local problems. More than 25 indicators have been applied on housing issues, health, priorities and public services, 1500 households directly involved and interviewed.

The Youth Plan developed by the Municipality tackled youth peculiar problems, based on indicators such as education, leisure time, immigration, job opportunities. The direct beneficiaries targeted included also: around 50-60 young people trained on start-up to business; citizens’ associations and local economic stakeholders; the Municipality of Sin El Fil internal staff (18 councillors, and adminis-trative/technical staff); the municipal staff of the Cultural Centre (around 5 staff members)”.

Specifically, Action III of their Project “Youth in Business - It’s an enterprise to be young” on Start-Up to Business and selection of Best Youth Business Ideas involved 10 groups of young people aged 18-29 in ad-hoc training provided by Lebanese experts (on business planning, goal setting, Lebanese law, strategic planning, marketing, etc.), supported technically by the Youth Entrepreneurship Incubator of the City of Skopje, with promoters of Business Ideas undergoing 2 levels of selection processes that identified 4 winners presenting their ideas on: Green Energy; Children Educational Centre; Landscap-ing and Galerie for Kids’ Outfits.

The actions promoted by its pilot project demonstrated that it is possible to start-up administrative and strategic reforms to work in a more pro-active way for the wellbeing of the community.

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The Action

“According to the policies undertaken at the local and national level, and in light of the results ob-tained during the previous stages of the Project PAMLED, the pilot project, entitled “Development plan of environmental communication to sensitize citizens and carrying out of a sample of actions envisaged by the plan in the district of Guéliz of Marrakech” was drafted and implemented.

The main objectives of the proposed pilot action were to contribute to the environmental education of the population for a sustainable and rational use of water (such as the decrease of water losses both in public and private spheres, the development of processes for the control of water consump-tion) by carrying out a public awareness campaign, and promoting eco-sustainable tourism encour-aging the use of sustainable resources (particularly water).”

“The pilot actions were particularly addressed to the citizens of the suburb, its main public service companies and local actors that play an important role in the most characteristic and water manage-ment impacting sectors (Riads owners, Guest houses, Moorish Baths, Schools, Handicraft Trades, the RADEEMA, Companies delegated to clean the water basin, Associations for environmental protec-tion in the district of Guéliz).”

PILOT PROJECT BY THE CITY OF MARRAKECHDEVELOPMENT PLAN OF ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION TO SENSITIZE CITIZENS ON WATER CONSUMPTION IN THE SUBURB OF GUÉLIZ - MARRAKECH (MOROCCO)

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The key role of partnership

“The implementation of this pilot project profited of the suitable partnership with the City of Lucca (Italy), thanks to its experience in the sustainable use of resources, and also to its traditional environmental engagement. Moreover, Lucca had already been partner with Marrakech in the City certification-pro-cess.

The fact of having once again a partnership with Lucca can be viewed as a way to ensure and reinforce the continuity of the environ-mental process by controlling the most impor-tant environmental aspects, in this case not only on the level of the Municipality, but even at the level of the City.”

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Impact

“Firstly, a better knowledge of the use of waters and of the higher pressure sectors in terms of water consumption and the identification of specific measures and action for a sustainable management of waters was achieved. This result was obtained by distributing specific questionnaires targeting around 3.000 households, and by implementing specific systems to monitor and measure the water consumption. The implementation of these technical devices permitted to regulate the flow of un-declared wells near the water basin and reduce the water flow.”

“The implementation of the Pilot Project resulted also in an increased awareness and perception of the water problem by citizens and stakeholders alike, thanks to an efficient awareness campaign with public stands, posters, door-to-door leaflets in Guéliz. This action resulted also in an increased mobilization and awareness of some local actors around the water problem. Long-term results will comprise also a decrease in water costs and the extension of this water management model to other selected and feasible areas of the City, in a coordinated and gradual approach”.

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The Action

The Municipality of Bodrum carried out also a pilot project titled “Environmental Awareness Action Plan” in the area of the Bodrum Marina. The area had been selected and visited to quantitatively determine the number of users, the waste collection potential resulting from the waste production by its users, and the number of bins, containers, depots and collection bags available.

Then, a decision was made to determine the necessary quantities and costs in cooperation with the garbage collection company to place special-design bins adhering to ease-of-use and city safety rules to collect vegetable oil waste in the target area containing numerous restaurants and daily tour boats.

Consequently, the following activities were carried out: 1. informative and awareness raising efforts were carried on by using local mass media (radios, TV, newspapers); 2. communication channels - includ-ing billboards, warning signs, bulk mobile text messages and e-mail messages - were used in addition to special information and warning brochures; 3. special informative campaigns were carried out towards residences, restaurants and boats, progress and development were determined on site through regular visits and, moreover, campaigns were carried out in a user-friendly manner; 4. in order to experience the good practices (approach of city-to-city partnership), the representatives and technical experts of the Municipalities of Bodrum and Lucca visited their respective towns in 2008 and 2009.

PILOT PROJECT OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF BODRUMENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS ACTION PLAN (SEPTEMBER 2008 – FEBRUARY 2010) PRE-FEASIBILITY STUDY ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL TOURISM “HALIKARNASSOS - THE CITY OF KING MAUSSOLOS’’ (FEBRUARY /2009 – MAY/2010)

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The key role of partnership

Thanks to the mechanism of “city-to-city part-nership”, the action was selected and bene-fited from the technical supervision of PAM-LED and the Municipality of Lucca (Italy), the representatives and technical experts of the Municipalities of Bodrum and Lucca visited their respective towns in 2008 and 2009. Sev-eral press conferences were held to develop awareness among the community on waste solid collection.

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Impact

The results of this pilot action can be summarized as follows: 1. drafting of an awareness plan of ac-tion on solid waste, recycling and pollution among local people; 2. establishment of a trend of active participation by local stakeholder in the implementation of pilot project activities; 3. contribution to the acceleration of the recycled collection activities already started throughout Bodrum.

The pilot project represents a good input for the Cleaning Department which was created in 2005. Until then, in spite of some spot actions, the Department did not have previous opportunities to start up a real recycling policy on waste on the territory. However, the most important element of this first Project regarded the increase of people’s awareness. Indeed, it did not focus just on providing bins or the other material disposals but large efforts concentrated on awareness raising tools. The internal staff of the Municipality of Bodrum explained to the population involved how the recycling system was being implementing in order to facilitate its use. The campaigns were being currently imple-mented both along the Marina and in the schools.

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The Action

The Municipality of Bodrum has a rich cultural history, with numerous archaeological buildings and sites of which only a small part is dug out and the majority is still underground. However, the effect of these archaeological sites on Bodrum’s tourism activities is below the expected level.

This project aimed at conducting a peculiar analysis on a set of previously identified archaeologi-cal sites which are known (and/or believed to exist) within the boundaries of the Municipality of Bodrum. Moreover, it further intended to offer an alternative tourist route by imagining the opportunity to envisage a walking route connecting these sites for tourism purposes.

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The idea initiated through the establishment of a technical team composed by internal staff members of the Municipality of Bodrum, some external experts (Museum of Underwater Ar-chaeology and Castle of Bodrum, the Univer-sity of Mugla, University of Southern Den-mark), two members of Scientific Committee (University of Florence) and the staff members of Municipality of Rio Marina (Italy), as well as through an on-field explorative missions that led to set up the Pre-Feasibility study entitled “Halikarnassos - The City of King Mausolos”.

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The key role of partnership

Thanks to the mechanism of “city-to-city part-nership”, the action was selected and benefit-ed from the technical supervision of PAMLED and of the Municipality of Rio Marina (Italy) in respect to mapping about the technical and the financial character of the Study, while the representatives and technical experts of the University of Southern Denmark and of the University of Florence (Italy) offered their ad-vice respective in 2009 and 2010.

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The Municipality has gained the ability of pro-ducing alternative solutions and designing a project within the general city plan with mini-mum risks, obstacles and changes thanks to the field studies that they had carried out with our project partners visiting the Municipality, and their support to overcome the problems that could be encountered during the process in re-gards of municipal works. We have disseminated our knowledge through sharing of experiences and ideas in meetings, workshops and events that we participated and with coordination between different sections in the municipality.

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Impact

The cultural heritage awareness of city people and organizations as well as incentive for owning the values in their city have been improved by means of this regional level valorization project developed by gathering 7 most important pieces of Bodrum’s cultural heritage. Besides this progress, the data presented during design step of the project showing positive impacts of the project to the economic life of the city has formed an effective argument on the final beneficiaries. The project has granted continuity considering its nature of being a pre-feasibility study, and further targets have been de-fined as feasibility study and technical rearrangement.

Furthermore, thanks to this project the Municipality of Bodrum has learned the technique of pre-fea-sibility and the experience hrough the city-to-city partnerships that provided guidance in the study. This achievement allowed the Municipality to consider other areas in Bodrum in the same logic.

In fact, The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey, Bodrum Castle Museum of Underwater Ar-cheology supported the project by providing information flow conducted by its archeologists. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Istanbul 2010 Agency supported the Municipality of Bodrum in publicizing the Project by inviting them to all national and international events convenient with the concept. Furthermore, the University of Southern Denmark continues documentation support through scientific papers, etc. Milli Reasürans Yayınevi (National Reinsurance Publishing House) has started a concept study for Antique Halicarnassus Book of which half budget will be born by them and other half will be born by the Municipality of Bodrum. Additionally, opinion exchange with EU-ROPEAN NOSTRA to which Bodrum Municipality will be joined as member on May 2010 has begun. In practice, the improved level of knowledge and capacity building of the Municipal staff secured its sustainability.

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In Sum

The bottom-up local development model that encourages integration and synergies at local level, as well as among private, public and civil society actors, had its main raison d’être and development in the identification of the content of each Pilot Project, in line with the existing priorities of each territory.

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Some multipliers effects were pursued (and at least partially reached): dissemination of effi-cient, innovative and customized practices for local economic development support; positive spill-over effects along other Municipal Depart-ments and other relevant stakeholders; progres-sive economic integration process; positive indi-rect employment and income generating effects of the additional people benefiting from out-puts and services delivered by the pilot projects.

Focus on the Network and the PartnershipFirst of all, somehow go beyond the time span and the logics of the project cycle, while tak-ing an approach more focused on the Net-work and on its capacity of collective learning which can be fed by several initiatives in the future years.

Pick-up the Right State-of–the-art PrioritiesSecond, be strictly linked to emerging priori-ties in each territorial context as perceived by the local community.

Concrete and Problem related ApproachThird, a good blend of theory and practice proved as wise, but always in the logics of problem-solving with the consequent imple-mentation of relevant actions, in other word the cooperation and project approach must focus on what is useful and perceived as use-ful by the community.

Consolidation of Know-How is CriticalFourth, much effort has to be devoted to capi-talising experiences and practices.

Long-perspective and Future Sustainability is a must also for Motivating PartnersLast but not least, a long run perspective must be always sought, a serious project commit-ment of partners and communities is favoured by the perception of the future, while con-strained by the feeling that the project is a ‘spot’ initiative or an isolated step.

LESSONS LEARNT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES>

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PAMLED Project is founded by the European Union.

The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the Municipality of Prato

and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.

The contents of this publication does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union.

aliaperteO N L U S

wings for you

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