SUSTAINABILITY

SUSTAINABILITY

Insights from the case-study Suggested actions

The project has provided itself with stable leadership by identifying a political leader of the inner area who is not bound by local elections. This ensured institutional stability in the design and implementation phases. The whole strategy and each of the 19 projects included in the strategy has an internal monitoring and evaluation system. During implementation, priority was given to projects concerning economic processes. Indeed, the improvement in economic conditions has immediately led to a revival of the mountain economy, reactivating the territorial system. The implementation phase of the strategy has placed a considerable burden on the local administrative structure, which may be difficult for small municipalities to cope with. It is important to transfer competencies to the municipal administrations and to provide for an additional staff if required.  Carry out continuous scouting for resources with partners, seeking collaboration and support from other local and national initiatives.

 Provide for a monitoring and evaluation system capable of redirecting ongoing project activities and measuring the results achieved.  Provide the public administrations involved with a technical-administrative structure capable of carrying out the strategy over time.  Publicise and communicate the results obtained.  Does the project create partnerships with institutional authorities at local, regional, national and international level?

 Do the public administrations involved have a technical-administrative structure capable of managing the implementation of the strategy?  Does the project have a monitoring and evaluation system?  How can the project foresee continuous communication of activities carried out and results achieved?

Self-assessment questions

Categories

ACTORS AND INSTITUTIONS Description

 Local communities prone to be protagonists in the process of design and implementation of the strategy, including, for instance: producers, social and cooperative economy actors, the Chamber of Commerce, local health authority, school principals, VET organization, local mobility agency, mayors and councils of the Municipalities, the national park authority, environmental associations, local authorities responsible for energy management.  Technical experts made available by the SNAI through the Technical Committee for Inner Areas. Self-assessment questions

 Is there interest by local governments to act jointly in designing a local development strategy?  Are there actors at national and local level that could support the process of design and implementation of the strategy? Who are they?  Do the actors share a similar vision and approach? Is there willingness on their part to cooperate and network?

SOCIAL CAPITAL  Strong cohesion and alignment among local actors.  Strong political will by local governments involved, and ability to involve higher institutional levels, starting from the Regional government.  Sense of territorial belonging by small municipalities and importance of joining forces and acting together as association of municipalities in order to undertake joint action and trigger territorial development processes.  High awareness in the local community that make citizens recognise themselves as members of the community. Fostering resilient, rooted and open communities is a basic condition for similar initiatives to be replicated in other contexts.  Are local communities interested in getting involved in the participatory process for the elaboration of the strategy?  Are local governments willing to cooperate with each other and to involve other institutional actors in the area?

 Is the local community open to changes and innovations?

HUMAN CAPITAL  Investing in human capital as the primary potential for local development.  Importance of putting young people at the centre of local community projects, committing themselves to making the territories attractive, as a basic condition for preventing depopulation processes.  In-depth technical expertise provided by local and national experts.  Administrative capacities within municipalities and their associations to make the strategy operational.

GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK  Political leadership assigned to local municipalities.  Thematic working groups to identify issues and project ideas: agri-food, health, mobility, sustainable tourism, education.  Are community actors and citizens (and particularly the youth) aware of their potential as actors of change?  Are there human resources with all the administrative and technical capacities needed for the strategy design and implementation?  Who can provide technical assistance at national and local level?

 Is there a well-defined governance design that could help in the design and implementation of the development strategy?

INSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK

ECONOMIC RESOURCES

BASIC INFRASTRUCTURES  Plenary meetings to bring together ideas from the thematic groups and discuss them.

 Official approval of the strategy and Framework Programme Agreement, signed by the leader of the Inner Area, the Regional government, the Ministries involved and the Agency for Territorial Cohesion.

 Involve the most appropriate institutional bodies (for instance, association of municipalities, local health authorities) with jurisdiction over the issues affected by the strategy.  Interact with national ministries not only to ensure compliance with national procedures, but also, if necessary, to foster institutional innovation and normative changes.

 Willingness to finance the design process of the strategy by the key actors involved.

 Counting on appropriate financial resources and technical support once the final strategy is approved by all institutional actors.

 Broadband network connection, especially given the restrictions caused by the pandemic and the remoteness of inner areas.  Physical place where the working groups can meet during the elaboration of the strategy, to ensure the participation of as many actors as possible.  Which institutional bodies are competent for the issues concerned?

 Are there resources to finance the design process of the strategy?  Have financial resources already been identified at local, national or international level to fund the implementation of the activities foreseen in the strategy?

 Are there physical places where to hold meetings involving actors and citizens?  Is digital connettivity accessible for everyone and reliable in the whole territorial area?

DRAWBACKS AND RISKS

Which are the main risks that may arise? COPING STRATEGIES

Which are the best strategies that could be implemented in order to cope with and/or prevent these risks?

Changes in the organisational structure at the administrative level take a long time. There may be a risk that the organisational structure will not be able to keep up with the innovation imposed by the strategy developed. This is particularly true for small municipalities, which do not always have the necessary administrative competences.

Risk linked to political changes at local and national level. Depending on national governments will, there may be no continuity of funding and support, regardless of the results achieved. Even at the local level, changes in political administrations may damage medium- to long-term paths. Continuity is a fundamental element, particularly for fragile areas.  Investing in human capital and capacity-building within local institutions.  Make the public administration permeable to the external labour market, facilitating the appointment as civil servants of people with different backgrounds, from business and third sector to project management.  Manage some functions of municipal competence though inter-municipal associative forms, if there is a collaborative climate among the associated municipalities and if their number is not excessive.

 Ensure that a medium- to long-term strategy is not perceived as a one-sided political project by structuring an effective and truly inclusive participatory process.  Involve possible future administrators, placing long-term choices outside the daily political conflict.  Identify an independent and impartial focal person to guarantee stability in both the design and implementation process.

Risk of tensions between municipalities to get a bigger share of budgetary resources and investments.  Avoid dealing with the allocation of budgetary resources in the initial stages, but rather concentrate on conducting a careful territorial diagnostic, on identifying a shared development vision and then on drafting strategic objectives and project ideas.

Disappointment by municipalities close to the target area that are excluded from the strategy.

Slowness of the design process and approval, as long delays can be potentially detrimental to the relations with local actors and their commitment.

Risks deriving from external shocks and systemic crises affecting the whole local and/or national society (e.g., the Covid19 pandemic).  Commit to creating a sense of territorial community by all local authorities in both the target and the surrounding area to increase their willingness to cooperate for the good of the territory, without being constrained by strict administrative boundaries.

 Ensure constant and transparent communication of all the steps to the key actors involved in the process and to the whole local community.

 Devote efforts to avoid interrupting ongoing processes related to the implementation of the strategy, and especially to maintain continuous relations between actors.  Enhance the value of collaborative forms and territorial proximity in addressing fragilities, as opportunities for a renewal of citizens services.

 Value-added of this model and case-study as a driver for sustainable human development and SDG localization

The design and implementation of local development strategies for inner and fragile areas can represent a fundamental driving force for sustainable human development and SDG localization. Indeed, its main contribution is removing citizens’ obstacles to live the life they value (substantial freedom) in their own communities in terms of both social and economic opportunities. Therefore, within this approach “rights” and “growth” are addressed simultaneously: education, health-welfare and mobility policies to address “rights” are integrated with policies to promote local economic growth and employment (agriculture, tourism, culture). Moreover, this goes along with territorial regeneration processes, and governance capacity-building to reinforce the connection between development and services towards equality of opportunities and shared prosperity. To make this approach operational, leadership, responsibilities and accountability for both strategic programming and implementation is fully assigned to local municipalities and their associations, which are pushed to implement appropriate and permanent forms of joint management of services that are instrumental to achieving the long-term foreseen by the territorial strategy. Nevertheless, local leadership is accompanied by a supervision, technical assistance and financing role played by national institutions, along with alignment with supranational / international policies, agendas and funds. It is also fundamental to remark that the design process does not start from projects, but rather from local citizens and communities themselves, in a truly place-based and people-centred perspective to SDG localization. Throughout the process, a participatory approach is implemented based on a heated, open, informed and reasonable debate to conceive a shared a vision of their territory for the future and a “way out” from the present state. Such openness to public debate and scrutiny (including potential conflicts) enriches the knowledge base on both local problems and solutions, avoiding that the territorial strategy is simply a sum of fragmented projects, which respond to private interests or compensa tory mechanisms. It also ensures collective mobilization towards shared goals, gathering together tangible and intangible resources, efforts and responsibilities within local communities. This represents a fundamental asset to favour cohesion and inclusiveness within the local society, supporting the local community in enhancing social and transformative resilience towards sustainable development.

 Final determinants to be considered when implementing this model in other contexts.

The experience of the “Milk Mountain” strategy for the Emilian Apennines, and of the Italian National Strategy for Inner Area in general, shows great potential for implementation in other contexts. The issues addressed by strategy, primarily the lack of services and the depopulation of rural internal areas, are common in many emerging countries. Similarly, the intertwined attention to both local economic development processes and local service innovation is fundamental for SDG localization around the world. The joint leadership by small municipalities, the pivotal focus on typical products and local value chains, and the role played by community actors make it an even more interesting case in terms

of replicability. In this regard, this Policy Guideline has highlighted that building cohesion and social capital and improving governance capacities are key determinants to pursue a similar strategic planning approach. In particular, local communities and their authorities should be prone to be active protagonists in the process of design and implementation of the strategy, involving the most appropriate institutional and sectorial bodies with jurisdiction over the issues affected by the strategy. A strong sense of territorial belonging by small municipalities and community actors would facilitate joining forces in order to undertake joint action and trigger territorial development processes. Moreover, counting on in-depth technical expertise provided by local and national experts, as well as on proper administrative capacities within municipalities and their associations, surely represent relevant enabling conditions to make the design process smooth and effectively implement the strategy. Alignment with other governance level is also fundamental to ensure the convergence between bottomup and top-down processes and resources towards the same vision for sustainable human development at the local level. This allows also specific inner areas within a country to advocate together for stronger attention by national institutions and to engage in collective learning processes. Nevertheless, in line with a place-based perspective, the process depicted in this Policy Guideline can be pursued by prioritising and sequencing different steps and actions and by acting on different levers in different places, or in different times for the same place, according its contextual and conjunctural conditions, the presence of key determinants and collective political willingness.

UNDP ART GLOBAL INITIATIVE

Contact persons: Andrea Agostinucci; Raffaella Garutti

Email: andrea.agostinucci@undp.org; raffaella.garutti@undp.org

Website: www.undp.org

ARCO (Action Research for CO-development)

Contact person: Andrea Ferrannini

Email: andrea.ferrannini@arcolab.org

Website: www.arcolab.org

“Milk Mountain” Strategy for the Emilian Apennines:

Contact person: Giampiero Lupatelli

Email: g.lupatelli@caire.it

Website: https://areeinterne.unioneappennino.re.it/snai-la-montagna-del-latte/