20 years of bottom-up, participative governance in rural areas: lessons learned and prospects for...

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10th Summer Academy“Local Governance and Sustainable Rural

Development”Gandia, Valencian Community, Spain 27th August – 4th September 2011

Index

1. Introduction: governance and sustainable development in the complex rural world

2. A quick note on the evolution of rural development policy in the EU

3. Lessons learned from the analysis of the impact of public action on rural development in the European Union

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Introduction: governance and sustainable development in the

complex rural world

What is sustainable rural development?

Activities related to the “green economy” (Kennet and Heinemann, 2006), that takes advantage of the

opportunities arising from the need to replace the current energy and production models to generate

economic activity and employment in rural areas and, at the same time, contribute to global sustainability?

Option 1: the Green Economy

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Is it, rather, to reach a rural world where residents and visitors can

adequately address the difficulties in accessing all kinds of goods, services and employment, especially in the

case of disadvantaged social groups and in remote areas (Borden and

Moseley, 2006)?

Option 2: the citizen’s based model


Options 1 and 2 Not Exclusive

But a choice is needed to clarify what is the philosophy behind the

concept of "sustainable countryside": the one centred on

the rural culture, the rural area and the needs and demands of rural

people, or another that focuses on responding to the needs and

demands of the urban environment?

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A model of rural development (Noguera, Esparcia and Ferrer, 2004) that focuses on the need

to: (i) respond to rural land management in an effective and

sustainable way; (ii) prioritisewishes and needs of rural

residents; (iii) help meeting the needs and demands of the urban environment as long as they are

not in contradiction with the rural environment and not detract

from its inhabitants and territory.

The “third way”

Initial conclusion

(i)the complexity and diversity of rural areas;

(ii)the different government and governance traditions and cultures in the

European Union;

(iii)the generalised lack of power in small and medium size rural municipalities to design and implement strategic policies

and programs;

(iv) the dominance of a “municipal” rather than “territorial” conception of rural development in many regions, etc..

The challenges for the rural governance

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A quick note on the evolution of rural development policy in the EU

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Lessons learned from the analysis of the impact of public action on rural

development in the European Union

Lessons learned (FAO 2008)

1. BELIEVE IT..... OR NOT

Endogenous growth is better achieved if regional and local

actors take ownership of the strategy

According to the document from FAO (2009)“The evolution and impact of EU regional and rural policy”, the following lessons can be

learned from the EU regional and rural policy:

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2.INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITY

The administrative capacity and

commitment of local and regional administrations in the development of the strategy is

fundamental


3. POLICY COORDINATIONPolicy coherence with wider fiscal

and labour market policies

is key

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4. VARIABLE INTENSITY OF

SUPPORTFunds should concentrate in

areas in need and should finance

investments that would otherwise

not have been undertaken


5. THE KEY ROLE OF INTERMEDIATE

NODESConcentrate funds on regional urban centres to develop

economic hubs. They can then be

linked to surrounding areas

and generate spillover effects

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6. BOTTOM-UP, YES, BUT EXCELLENT

BOTTOM-UPB-U approaches that include consultation (concertation) with

civil society, combined with the proactive

attitude of administrations, can

lead to ground-breaking initiatives and positive results

…because otherwise, “the bottom” will (is?) rise(ing?) maybe in a way that we do not like

http://www.peoplesorganizing.org/index.html

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7. ACCOUNTABITY, TRANSPARENCY AND

PARTICIPATIONFunding should be

awarded through open calls for tenders and clear procurement

procedures, to ensure the best possible

selection of projects. To achieve this, civil

society needs to be involved at all stages,

from strategic planning to implementation

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8. AN STYLISED FALACY: “WE NEED MORE

INFRASTRUCTURES”: THE NEED TO FOCUS ON “SOFT” FACTORS

Infrastructure investments have marginal returns.

Beyond the complexion of basic infrastructures,

a strong focus on education, training and

R&D is essential to sustain growth in the

long term

More lessons learned

1. The need for a long-term territorial planning

framework at multiple levels

The action of public and private institutions needs a

territorial model for the future that establishes

(among other) potential land uses, constrains to certain uses in certain places, the

strategic development axis, the threshold capacities, and

incompatibilities between activities and uses

From my own experience

(CTM)

A(CTM)

B(FTM)

B

B2

B3Bn

analysisTerritorial analysis

Technicaldiagnosis

Participation -consensus

Shared diagnosis EE1

E2 E3

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Example: Box 5. The winding road to regional land-use planning in Valencia

In Valencia, Spatial Planing can be described as highly deficient:• First law in 1989 that just came to be implemented• Second law in 2004 on "spatial planning and landscape protection" that

only from 2010 began to bear fruit.

In the absence of a regional framework for SP, the last 30 years have beenpresided over by a cluster of economic and urban developments in which theonly reference was the local. Decisions taken by a small municipality (eg, thelocation of a hazardous or highly polluting activity) involved a supra-municipalarea that, despite being affected, could do nothing about it. In this context,local planning became the only instrument of spatial planning and overviewneeded was absent.

The result is a unsustainable and irrational territory in which the logic ofhuman occupation has squandered the natural and cultural heritage withirreversible changes, has diminished the potential of many land resources,and has created or exacerbated many environmental hazards.

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1950

2011

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2. Putting the strategy at the center of rural and territorial

developmentThere must be a rural

development strategy at the state and, where appropriate, regional levels, with adequate

tools and resources for implementation.

The rural territory can only be understood as a system.

Consequently, it is meaningless carrying out uncoordinated actions that may be not only

ineffective but counterproductive


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3. Combining history, identity, functionality and sustainability

in a new rural governanceIt is urgent to create more rational territorial levels of government by promoting

legislation that provides supra-local scales (counties or similar)

with skills and powers to the provision of services, the design

of territorial development strategies, etc.


Rural governance, whatever it may be, must base its action in aprocess of strategic reflection and action agreed by localstakeholders. Although there are countries or regions in which thisclaim appears to be the "truism", the reality of many regions andcountries of the European Union is that rural governance barelyexists, there is little supra-municipal cooperation and there is littlestrategic processes of reflection-action that rationally directdevelopment efforts. Consequently, the proposal goes through thedefinition of "territorial model of Future" to be defined in a sharedand agreed form with local stakeholders. This involves: (i)commitment at the political level (not appropriation), ( ii)commitment of the main institutions of the territory, (iii) involvementof social and economic organizations, (iv) working towards a realmodel of participatory democracy.

Noguera, 2011 (Euroacademy Academic Guide)

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4. Privileged places to test participative democracy

Growing dissatisfaction of citizens with regard to political representatives and

democratic system. Misuse and perversion of principles of

representative democracy led to “politicians” being perceived by

citizens as a “problem”. Representative democracy has been

perverted so that serves primarily the interests of political groups and the

associated social and economic lobbies.


Rural areas become privileged places for the promotion of participatory models of governance closer to the concept of participative democracy.

This “new” governance model has been tested for over 20 years mainly in rural areas through EU programs

like LEADER, LIFE, INTERREG, TERRA, etc.

Therefore, the principles of “participative democracy” are well

rooted in most rural societies Europe-wide


5. Recognize thevalue and

validity of thespecificities of

the LEADER method,

framed in a mainstreamsmart rural

policy


LINKAGES

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5. The necessityof coordination

mechanisms


Administration is sectoral… … but the rural territory is a system

To conclude…..

1. Functions expected from rural areas both in sectoral policies (ie. the role of agriculture) and territorial policies;

2. What the EU and national governments want or need to transfer or play (action, methodology, institutional structures, etc.);

3. The very features expected from the future RD policies’ method (animation, territorial balance, promotion of other instruments or policies, intervention in the local economy, empowerment, revitalization of social and territorial networks, promotion of cooperation mechanisms, etc.);

4. The most suitable future innovations in RD policy making and what role should they have in relation to mainstream rural policies

Future rural development policies will have to define more clearly thefollowing aspects…

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Now, we can just forget about all this, or spread the news......

20 years of bottom-up, participative governance in rural areas: lessons learned and prospects for...

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