1st Meeting of the partnership18 November 2009, Brussels

INTERREG IVC

Capitalisation projects

Overview and guidelines

for their preparation

About INTERREG IVC

Main objectiveto improve the effectiveness of regional development policies 2 calls for proposals so far 115 approved projects, including 13 capitalisation projects 65% of available ERDF allocated (=185M€) => on average, 1.6M€ ERDF per project Next call only for capitalisation projects: deadline for submission = beginning of March 2010 with 15M€ allocated

Types of projects under INTERREG IVC

1. Regional Initiative ProjectsExchange of experience and good practice, development of tools and instruments of regional policies

2. Capitalisation Projects, including Fast Track ProjectsCapitalisation projects: optimise results achieved, transfer of good practices identified into mainstream programmesFast Track projects: Specific European Commission assistance and expertise offered to certain capitalisation projects with reference to the “Regions for Economic Change (RFEC)” Initiative.

Type 2 ‘Capitalisation Projects’Fast Track Projects

Focus on Fast Track Projects

• Fast Track projects are Capitalisation Projects which benefit from additional expertise from the European Commission in order to contribute to the Regions for Economic Change initiative. The Commission will provide this additional expertise at its own costs

• In order to earmark projects for additional assistance, the Commission will assess the Capitalisation Project applications according to a certain number of questions.

• There is no specific applications to Fast Track Projects (FTP). The approval of projects and their designation as FTP will be the subject of separate and independent processes.

Regional Initiative Projects(Type 1)

Capitalisation Projects(Type 2)

Purpose Exchange, dissemination and transfer of experience. Possible development of new approaches if based on the exchange of

experience

Transfer of good practices into mainstream programmes

Involvement of MA /intermediate body designated to carry out MA tasks

Not required Compulsory

EC support No Yes, for Fast Track Projects

Recommend number of partners

Depends in general on the intensity of cooperation proposed. Large

partnerships are possible in light networking projects but a limited number of partners is

recommended for projects with a higher intensity of cooperation.

In mini-programmes, the number of partners must not exceed 8.

No recommendation on number of partners involved but

recommendation in terms of the number of countries represented in the

project:Minimum recommended number of countries represented: 6Maximum recommended number

of countries represented: 10

Recommend duration 36 months 24 months

Recommend budget Min ERDF: EUR 500,000Max ERDF: EUR 5 million

Min ERDF: EUR 300,000Max ERDF: EUR 3 million

Beneficiaries Public authorities and bodies governed by public law (as defined in section 2.3.3)

Public authorities and bodies governed by public law

Overview of the main characteristics of the two types of intervention

Co-financing rates

75% ERDF

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland,

France, Germany, Ireland, Italy,

Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain,

Sweden, UK

85% ERDF

Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus,

Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania,

Latvia, Malta, Poland, Portugal,

Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia

Content - Project activities

• Component 1: Management and coordination• Component 2: Communication and dissemination• Component 3: Exchange of experience

NOTA: As Capitalisation projects focus on the transfer of regional development good practices into mainstream EU Structural Funds programmes, there will not be an opportunity for them to add components to the three already pre-defined components. Therefore, all content related activities for Capitalisation Projects must be grouped under component 3.

Guidelines for capitalisation projects

Key features identified by INTERREG IVC JTS in its brochure published in November 2009 :

1) PARTNERSHIP

2) GOOD PRACTICE

3) TRANSFER PROCESS

4) ACTION PLAN

Key feature n°1CORE ACTORS – PARTNERSHIP

Managing Authorities are the core actors of Capitalisation projects as the success of any policy implementation depends mainly on them (or the intermediate bodies carrying out some or all of their tasks).

Often, the partnership will be wider, including other policy makers such as:

Relevant members of the monitoring committee of the regional OP

Best practices owners.

Key feature n°1CORE ACTORS – PARTNERSHIP

• Policy-makers and other relevant bodies responsible for policy delivery, known as ‘deep delegations’ should naturally be involved in the project, especially in all events organised at local, regional and international level.

• Deep delegation refers to the wider stakeholders that each partner needs to have on board to ensure successful implementation of the good practice(s) transferred.

Key feature n°1CORE ACTORS – PARTNERSHIP

Deep delegation• Only costs of partners listed in the application form can

be reimbursed.• In order to cover the expenses of the deep delegations, it

is highly recommended to include the organisations involved as partners in the application form (AF). This allows them to receive ERDF funding.

• If they are not officially listed in the AF, it means that: either they participate at their own costs or are involved and budgeted as “external experts” with

the condition that their costs will be fully paid and thus definitively borne by one of the official partners.

Key feature n°1CORE ACTORS – PARTNERSHIP

Wide geographical coverage is essential. Necessity to have a good mix of less and

more advanced regions. Especially the involvement of new MS should be carefully considered.

It is also very important to carefully select partners that share an interest or expertise in a precise field of competence.

Key feature n°2

GOOD PRACTICE

The starting point of every Capitalisation project is a pool of good practices, which have already been identified and successfully tested by the partners.

The good practices can result from any successful policy experience at the local, regional, national or even European level.

Key feature n°2

GOOD PRACTICE

• What is a good practice? => an initiative (e.g. methodologies, projects, processes, techniques) undertaken in one of the programme’s thematic priorities which has already proved successful and which has the potential to be transferred to a different geographic area.

Key feature n°2

GOOD PRACTICE

• Towards TRANSFERABILITY

=> It is crucial when selecting good practices to check as early as possible whether they can feasibly be transferred to the partner’s regional OP.

Key feature n°3MAIN ACTIVITY => TRANSFER

As the good practices are already identified in the regions, the focus of Capitalisation project activities will be on preparing their transfer into regional OPs, BUT implemention stage is not financed by INTERREG IVC.

The projects use typical tools for exchange of experience such as seminars, study visits, workshops, staff exchange, and so on.

It is also important to disseminate the findings widely beyond the partnership of the project.

Key feature n°3

MAIN ACTIVITY => TRANSFER

• The transfer process usually consists of three key milestones:

1) selection,

2) adaptation,

3) commitment.

Key feature n°3

MAIN ACTIVITY => TRANSFER

1) SelectionRegions have to express their interest on which good practices they would like to see implemented in their territory. Ideally this first step should be initiated already during the project’s preparation.

• Method: Organisation of a meeting where each region presents its good practices.

Key feature n°3MAIN ACTIVITY => TRANSFER

2) AdaptationThe proposed practices need to be analysed to see why it was successful in a specific context and how it should be adapted to fit within the context of the recipient region(s) = ‘transfer roadmap’.Method :

A smaller working group is created within the project between the donor region and the recipient region(s).

The involvement of experts and practitioners are often necessary to ensure the successful transfer.

Study visits are generally a decisive step in order to gain firsthand experience on the good practice and to discuss relevant issues with the staff involved in the implementation.

Key feature n°3MAIN ACTIVITY => TRANSFER

3) CommitmentEndorsement of the transferred practices by the recipient region(s). This is carried out through the finalisation of a binding action plan by the recipient region, specifying how these good practices will be implemented under its OP.

=> Necessity to ensure the commitment of the local relevant stakeholders: e.g., they can be invited to the main interregional events. A number of local feedback meetings may be also necessary to raise their awareness.

Key feature n°4

MAIN RESULT – ACTION PLAN

The main result of Capitalisation projects is considered to be the development of an ’action plan’ for all participating regions.

These plans specify how the good practices will be transferred and implemented under the regional OPs.

Each action plan will be signed by the respective Managing Authority and relevant regional stakeholders.

Key feature n°4MAIN RESULT – ACTION PLAN

• The action plan is the main result of the project and should be signed by the Managing Authority.

• Minimum content of this strategic document: Definition and description of good practice(s) to be

transferred; what form they will take and how their implementation will be evaluated.

Names and roles of the main stakeholders in the region that will need to be involved in the implementation process.

Identification of the relevant priority and measure concerned in the regional operational programme, along with the budget required to fund the implementation.

Details on how the implementation will take place.

Key feature n°4

MAIN RESULT – ACTION PLAN

NOTA:

It should also be noted that the action plan does not guarantee implementation of a practice within a particular region.

It will be subject to the rules governing allocation of the regional funds, such as calls for projects or decision by a monitoring committee.

Thank you for your attention

PASCAL CHAZAUD - Consultant

External assistance

to NIVERLAN