EIPA European Instituto of Public Administration
11 December 2012
European Territorial
Cooperation
Sustainability
Transferability
Capitalisation
Pietro Celotti
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
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/tempus/doc/sustainhandbook.pdf
Project sustainability
• Sustainable problems with the classical donorcontrolled project approach have become increasingly
evident:
 Inadequate local ownership of projects, with
negative implications for sustainable benefits
 ..
Source:
European Commission (2004)
PCM Guidelines
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/multimedia/publications/documents/tools/eur
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
Web-based
Online tutor
Web 2.o
Website
Involve
Train
Workshops
Promote
Mailing list
Events,
exhibitions
Inform
Press coverage
“Traditional”
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)
Territorial cooperation
Strategy to reduce
common
problems
Relationships and
networks
Experimentation
and innovation
Intangible
effects
Awareness of new
common
problems
Exchange of
practices
Improvement of
competencies
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
Identification
Formulation
Implementation
Capitalisation
MAIN STEPS
Relations
Networls
Competencies
Experimentat
ion
• Awareness of project
effects and relevant
policy cycle phase
• Involvement of the
policy players
• Impact on the policy
(identification of a new
Policy evolution
problem, formulation of a
pilot model of
intervention...)
Capitalisation
Identification of
the policy cycle
phase
Communication
Identification of
possible synergies
Evaluation
CAPITALISATION
Involvement of
players
CAPITALISATION
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 2007-2013, the programme is
investing 130 Million € in impact-oriented projects in
which key actors develop shared solutions on
specific Alpine issues.
ASP analysis
Literature
Survey
Focus
Group
• Alpine Space Interact, Espon documentation; territorial
cooperation evaluations
• Academic publications on capitalisation
• Questionnaire (10 questions)
• Answers: 65% (100% 1° and 2° call for proposals)
• 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…
Political decision
makers
Civil servants
Political elected
representatives
International
organisations
Universities and
research
Non profit
organisations
Representatives
of other groups
Business
Volunteers
associations
Beneficiaries of political action
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
http://www.alpine-space.eu/fileadmin/media/National/Italy/Capitalization_Guide_IT.pdf
www.t33.it
[email protected]