1. Local partnerships in Rural development:experience in eastern Europe and lessons for Mediterranean countries Enzo Caputo NEN Staff Pre-Retreat Meeting of 21 October, 2010 1

2. Issues at stake local partnerships in rural development in the EU experience: scope and modalities first experiences in the accession countries interest and first application in Northern Africa and other countries in a process of association with EU (ENPI) Discuss and highlight points of interest for the Retreat and post-Retreat 2

3. recall of EU RD and Leader EU Rural Development policies in the last two decades: restructuring / upgrading agricultural enterprises diversifying rural economy improving environment management and rural infrastructure Through enhancing local partnerships: focus on territorial development public & private partnership bottom up community planning building on the link between community and territory Leader (Lien Entre Actions de Développement de l’EconomieRurale) LEADER 1, LEADER 2, LEADER * 1991-2006 Now Axis 4 in New Rural development policies Axis 1: competitiveness Axis 2: environment Axis 3: diversification Axis 4: LEADER 3

4. basic figures on Leader Run by Local Action Groups, structured as mixed companies: majority to private sector (LGs, Sectoral Private Associations, Civil Society and NGOs) Population per GAL vary between 40.000 (Venezia/Padova) e 150.000 (Belluno/Treviso) Small investment about 1 M€ per GAL per year 1/3 EU (FEOGA), 1/3 National, 1/3 Private. About 10 Euros per inhabitant per year 85% of resources invested in the PSL 4

5. Instrument of Pre-accession Assistance 1 & 2 : All pre-accession countries (ALB, BIH, CRO, KOS, MAC, MON, SER, TUR) 3, 4, 5 : Only canditate countries (CRO, MAC, TUR). These funds need specific procedures to access 5

6. ipardAgriculture and Rural Development Plan (actually IPA for Rural Development) OBJECTIVES: RESTRUCTURING AND MODERNISATION ACCORDING TO ACQUIS (EU STANDARDS) ENHANCING LEAVING STANDARDS IN RURAL AREAS Axis 1 - Market Efficiency and Community Standards Investments in agricultural holdings Investments in processing and marketing of agriculture and fishery Supporting the setting up of producer groups Axis 2- Agri-environmental measures and Leader Preparation of actions relating to environment and the countryside Preparation and implementation of local rural development strategies Axis 3 - Development of the Rural Economy Improvement and development of rural infrastructure Development and diversification of rural economic activities Training Technical assistance 6

7. IPA implementation Funding Apart from Croatia and Turkey, the newest candidate (Macedonia) launched the first call for 24 M€ with 121 applications and should arrive to 45 M€ by 2011, with a high effect of multiplication on the agricultural investment 7

8. IPA impact on local agriculture and rural development Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia should start as well All are preparing and funding pre-IPARD programmes IPARD multiplies the additional agricultural investment in these countries by more than 1.5 times. Most concentrate on the institutional and technical arrangements necessary (Paying Agency, Management Authority, IPARD document). The weak point however is the promotion of new initiatives and capacities at rural level. Enhancing local partnerships to inform and promote: agricultural households, production and processing enterprises, preparation of investment projects, combining agriculture development and rural infrastructure, diversifying the rural economy 8

9. Leader-like territorial partnerships Such type of partnerships very important in Poland, to mobilise rural communities and smallholders. 190 area based partnerships existed in the early 2000 Croatia and Turkey have important leader components Macedonia has a Leader-like programme supported by SIDA (IPARD doesn’t include Axis 2) In BIH, Sutra project supported by UNDP In Albania a Leader-like programme has been initiated with the support of IFAD, by MADA, in 2005 9

10. Territorial partnerships in the mountain areas in Albania MADA, the Albanian Mountain Areas’ Development Agency, has promoted local partnerships at district level through the establishment of Local development Fora in 21 districts with a global population of 400.000 people Most of the Fora are registered associations, with their statute and their structure. Some of them are relatively active, though they need strengthening The Fora are composed by three components, like LEADER: local governments, enterprise associations, and civil society. They discuss local development priorities and organise lobbying to solicit infrastructure projects and government interventions (connected with MPs) 10

11. The change in agriculture and rural economy in Northern Africa Tunisia (98), Morocco (00), Jordan (02), Egypt (04), Algeria (05), Lebanon (05) have signed Association Agreements with the EU, to gradually integrate into a common Euro-Mediterranean market. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are negotiating specific AAs too. Free trade has some exceptions on agriculture, but the trend is toward a global integration. This is why restructuring, upgrading to EU standards, diversifying rural economy is a must for these countries. EU support programmes, through ENPI do not include any extension of the EU rural development policy like in pre-accession However, most states have realised that they need to proceed towards such deep restructuring, upgrading and diversification. And have set up Agriculture and Rural development programmes, which are similar to IPARD, including priority measures, incentive and co-financing mechanisms. 11

12. Rural territorial partnerships in Northern Africa Algeria SDRD(IPARD-like document : Stratégie de Développement Rural Durable) in place since2000, PER (Emploi Rural), PPDR (Projets de Proximité DévRur) local projects(forestry, fruit & vegetables, others), GADER (Groupes d’Accompagnement de Dév. Rural) Tunisie Participative Rural Development since the second half of the nineties. FromGroupements d’Intérêt aux Groupements de Développement Agricole (law1999), support structures for Rural Dev 12

13. Leader-like local partnerships To build the local partnerships for rural development, LEADER has focused on the establishment of: a method, an area of interest, and a limited practical action The method regards the establishment of a public-private partnership (possible creation of mixed companies), with the participation of the most representative components of the rural society. Combine representativeness and managerial capacities; The area of interest regards the human and natural resources of the territory and the ways to enhance their potential; The practical action regards the autonomous identification, financing/co-financing, and execution of small local development plans. 13

14. Next steps Better explore the experiences of Local Partnerships in Rural Development in IPA and ENPI countries Propose ways to better integrate Local Partnerships in RD in the IFAD approach in these areas 14