Complementarities between urban and rural areas in promoting ...

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COMPLEMENTARITIES BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS IN PROMOTING EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL INCLUSIONbehind this concept was to establish the partnershipduring these six months in order todevelop a joint strategy, to mutually define thenature of the problem, and to assess whatoptions for solutions and resources exist andhow they can be mobilised. The first instance ofthis process was undertaken between November2001 and May 2002.EQUAL is built on the principles of transnationality,partnership and empowerment. In additionthere is also the principle of innovation whichmeans that one has to find new ways of organisingand connecting work with other aspects oflife: a new means of working which facilitates abalance between family life, leisure, training andwork is being initiated. Finally an important elementthat has to be integrated from the beginningis mainstreaming, that is to say the integrationof what has been learnt should be putinto practice at every level. Under ADAPT, therewere a number of projects in the field of jobrotation. This was first developed in Denmarkwhere unemployed people are recruited for alimited period of time to work in companies, ona temporary basis, to replace existing staff whowere being trained. This again is an interface ofhow to combine those institutions dealing withunemployed people and those institutions thatdeal with training, as well as how to find fundingarrangements combining the two. Differenttypes of models have been applied to small companies,large companies, and to urbanised ruralareas. These experiments have been successfulwhere they have found a way to validate theresults and discovered an approach to overcomingthe obstacles in the current legislativeregime. In some member states, platforms andassociations were formed to lobby parliamentarians.This in turn resulted in new legislation, forexample in Portugal, Italy and Germany.WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED SO FAR?In the first round of the EQUAL initiative, memberstates who implement this programme haveselected 1,500 development partnerships in ninethematic fields which were agreed upon bymember states as being problem areas where itis necessary to cooperate and to learn from oneanother. Between November 2001 and spring2002, 1,500 development partnerships havebeen established. They have developed a strategyand have agreed on a work plan that commits allpartners for the next two years. Thematicallyspeaking, there is a concentration on the facilitationof access to the labour market, especiallyfor the long-term unemployed. More than halfof these partnerships are regional or local partnerships,which means that they all work in thesame region and they tackle a specific problemthat is evident in one of these regions. Approximatelyten partners work together in each of thepartnerships and most of them include a local orregional authority, one or more have strategic oroperational partners, and a number of them havemanaged to include NGOs. In addition, platformshave been set up for the validation of experienceand for the identification of good practice alreadyimplemented. It is intended that European networks,where the coordinators of the partnershipsmeet organisations working at Europeanlevel, work together on a number of specificissues which are relevant to the political agenda.These platforms are also intended to provide anexchange of best practice. Different memberstates have different experiences. Some of themare outside EQUAL and the Commission is tryingto integrate these in order to facilitate progress.It should not be forgotten that although EQUALrepresents only 5 percent of the European StructuralFund in absolute terms, this programmeaccounts for around 3 billion euro. Complementarynational funding also exists.— 20 —
COMPLEMENTARITIES BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS IN PROMOTING EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL INCLUSIONSESSION 3Partnerships, networking and project management■ Building and driving partnerships: how does it work? “The Essex Experience”Paul Williams, Essex Rural Partnership●●Traditionally, it has been difficult to organisecooperation between different levels of government.One of the achievements of the partnershipin Essex is that it brings together technicalexperts from local and regional levels. In addition,the end customer is present in these discussions.If, for example, a member of theagricultural community has difficulties in diversifyinghis farming interests ie. moving fromproduction to tourism, technical experts areavailable to discuss the problems he is facing.Within this partnership, representatives of allregional bodies of national agencies are included,e.g. the Government Office of the EasternRegion, the Department of Environment, Foodand Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the CountrysideAgency East of England Development Agency,and the Environment Agency.Each district and borough in Essex has its ownforum for discussing rural development. Infor-●mation from these forums is fed into a largerpartnership with Essex County Council. At thevillage and town levels, parish and town councilsserve as a means by which the general publiccan be involved. This is a mechanism throughwhich Essex Rural Partnership can provide inputfrom the local level to national government. Forexample, information is distributed upwardsfrom towns and parishes, through districts andthe county level to a regional rural affairs forum.This forum, in turn, presents the information toa national forum, which provides input togovernment policy.One of the key aspects of the success of ruralpartnership in Essex is publicity. It is also importantto have local rural information points todistribute information. Furthermore, events orcampaigns, organised in connection with otheractors from either the private or public sectors,can help to create better publicity.■ The partnership in the LEADER rural development programmeCatherine de Borchgrave, European Association for Information on Local Development (AEIDL)The AEIDL (European Association for Informationon Local Development) has been mainly workingon the LEADER programme, for which partnershipis an essential concept. LEADER I was a pilotprogramme launched by the Commission in 1991and covering 217 territories, mainly in objectives1 and 5b areas. LEADER II generalised this programmefrom 1994 onwards, covering more than1,000 territories in objectives 1, 5b and 6 areas.One of the main features of the LEADER programmesis the instrument of partnerships, bringingtogether different social and economicpartners.The LEADER+ initiative is based on 7 aspects:1. area-based approach (area of less than100,000 inhabitants, which has excluded theparticipation of medium-cities with whichsome rural-urban partnerships could havebeen developed);2. bottom-up approach;3. partnership approach and intervention formanagement and animation of a local actiongroup (LAG);4. innovation;5. integrated multisectoral approach;6. networking and co-operation;7. local financing and management.— 21 —
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