Final Declaration for a sustainable territorial economic development and participatory structures to implement it.

Transcription

1 The LEDA workshop 100 good practices from the territories for a better world Final Declaration for a sustainable territorial economic development and participatory structures to implement it. Local economic development: an answer to crucial global problems The vast majority of people live their lives in a geographical space with a radius of not more than 500 kilometres. Within that space they live, form a family, work, obtain education and health care, spend their leisure time and, usually, are buried there, if they are not forced to escape because of war, starvation, dictatorships, lack of work and income, etc. Nowadays, the West is living a major paradox. Notwithstanding the continuous search for happiness and wellbeing, local territories are experiencing an increase of poverty, economic marginalization, social exclusion, violence, inequalities, wars, environmental damage, social unrest, and a decrease of traditional energy resources and high quality food production. Luciano Carrino (2005) distinguishes between different qualities of development, depending on the capacity to meet human needs. He considers as bad, development that meets the needs of only a part of the population, leaving the rest frustrated and insecure, damaging their health, generating violence, undermining social cohesion, or irreparably destroying natural resources. On the other hand, he considers good development that which favours inclusion, tries to respond adequately to everyone s needs, encourages the psycho- physical wellbeing of individuals and peaceful cooperation between social actors and governments. Good development improves collective resources and provides opportunities for material and cultural responses to social needs, while enhancing the territories environmental, cultural and historical heritage. It is easier to obtain good development starting from a local perspective and within a favourable national policy framework that enables local development processes and helps to reduce imbalances between local territories in the same country. At local level, in fact, several factors coincide: 1) economic resources can be fully valorised, because they depend on local people s knowledge and experience, as well as on their uniqueness; 2) economic productivity can be higher, thanks to the proximity and the ease of establishing networks and common actions; 3) local people have an interest in maintaining their context as a harmonious and clean reality that generates cohesion and long term sustainability and facilitates the production of nutritious and high quality food, work and income in an inclusive manner; 1

2 4) proximity between people and local authorities facilitates participation in decision- making processes and in determining development priorities as a shared process, and reduces the risk of corruption and the mismanagement of financial resources. As Vandana Shiva argues, biodiversity is the most flexible answer to climate emergencies because of the capacity to adapt to change. There are millions of plants, and they provide the best responses to hunger if they are cultivated where they are born and according to the knowledge of local people. So far, though, the pressure small- farmers receive to produce new improved varieties and to buy new breeds of cattle and livestock has caused many local and traditional varieties to be abandoned and face extinction, while the massive use of pesticides and other chemical products has provoked severe environmental damage that undermines public health. Comprehensive territorial service systems: an important instrument for making LED work Why? To effectively implement local economic development strategies and plans, avoid duplications, redundancy, and a waste of resources, a tool is needed. For each local resource with a competitive potential, in fact, a strong combination of different support programmes and services are needed: training and research (academic world), entrepreneurial investment (private capital), customised finance (bank system), education (schools and the NGO world), animation and innovation (service system). It is fundamental all of them are coherent with the shared development objectives and priorities. This can be done through the building of a Comprehensive Territorial Service System (COTESS), that in the majority of cases have been called Local Economic Development Agencies (LEDAs), or Local Action Groups (LAG), or Centre Integré de Services Economique et Social (CIDES), or Business Innovation Centers (BIC). What? According to OECD, the best definition of a LEDA (or of a COTESS) is the one ILS LEDA uses, i.e. legal, non- profit structures, generally owned by the public and private entities of a territory" which act as a mechanism through which "local actors plan and activate, in a shared way, initiatives for territorial economic development; identify the most convenient instruments for their realisation; and enhance a coherent system for their technical and financial support. Where? This type of LEDAs has existed since So far 61 LEDAs are operating in 19 countries: Albania (2), Argentina (3), Bolivia (1), Bosnia- Herzegovina (1), Colombia (11), Dominican Republic (6), Ecuador (3), El Salvador (7), Guatemala (4), Haiti (1), Honduras (2), India (1), Nicaragua (2), Libano (4), Mozambique (4), Senegal (2), Serbia (2), Sri Lanka (1), Uruguay (3). They are part of the global LEDA network ILS LEDA ( How? The LEDAs in general provide comprehensive services to the population (mainly disadvantaged people), local administrations, community organizations and associations and other structures. 2

3 At territorial level, they create a favourable environment for valorising local resources - including the most disadvantaged people - and for protecting the environment through a comprehensive, financial and non- financial support. At national level, they are effective and efficient instruments for implementing public policies, since they can harmonise actions, coordinate different professional competences, and generate synergies. At international level, they create a favourable environment for promoting and realising territorial partnerships with other territories in the north and south. How LEDAs contribute to healthy food and a clean environment The LEDAs, LAG, and the CIDES participating in the ILS LEDA network have contributed in different ways to increasing the local supply of typical healthy food, the attractiveness of their territories, and to the protection of the environment. The most common and effective practices regard support to local actors in valorising the most important and typical territorial resources, in reinforcing the local cultural heritage, in improving opportunities for jobs and income generation to avoid further migration and also to support the return of migrants, in supporting micro and small entrepreneurs, cooperatives and families in enhancing and improving the production of typical local food, decreasing the use of fertiliser, incentivising the organic and biological production, influencing local and national policies for the organic production and the environment protection, realising education campaigns about the use of local healthy food, the waste, energy save, and, in general, the environment protection, in realising alternative clean energy projects. In the Manifesto that launched the initiative for a new international development cooperation, focused on territorial development, the LEDAs are considered one of the strategic component, since their task is to "implement the strategic plan through the organization of local services systems, regarding the economy". The LEDAs commitment The LEDAs of the ILS LEDA network are staunch promoters of the post United Nations objectives and they are committed to reduce poverty, hunger, environmental degradation, health hazards, obstacles to access to information, education and culture, to combat all forms of exclusion, to enhance the natural heritage, to transform economies to make them more inclusive, to promote peace, to create transparent and accountable institutions, and building international cooperation based on solidarity, mutual interest and search for the common good. In particular, the above- mentioned LEDAs are committed to implement the Manifesto for a new international cooperation for development, through reinforcing the dialogue of the local public, private, social, and communitarian actors with the aim of: valorising local products and services, with particular reference to those, which contribute to safeguard the environment, enable jobs and income with priority to women, young people, and in general the most disadvantaged people, to the social economy. contributing to territorial sustainable strategy and plans in coherence to the Manifesto for a new international cooperation for development enhancing local capacities and tools for improving the territorial attractiveness and enabling the local context to provide harmonic and cohesive living standards for the population 3

4 making efforts for pushing the public policies towards a human and sustainable territorial development The LEDAs of the ILS LEDA network are committed to work together with other institutions and organisations that share the same vision and objectives. Final Recommendations 1. The Conference recognises the strategic role of the LEDAs of the ILS LEDA network in promoting, and supporting strategies for sustainable territorial development. 2. The Conference recommends considering these LEDAs as a valid, effective, and efficient instrument for implementing the territorial partnerships promoted and sustained in the framework of the Manifesto for a new international cooperation for development. 3. The conference recommends to national government, international organizations, and local institutions to assume the leadership, each in accordance with its duties and responsibilities, for promoting and supporting territorial economic development based on environmental sustainability, on an inclusive approach, on participatory bases, with a gender vision, and so as to produce healthy goods and services. In particular: I. National governments should harmonise national policies and programs according to the needs and priorities of its local territories and in line with national guidelines. II. National Governments should facilitate territorial public- private partnerships for defining the above- mentioned priorities in a participatory and shared way. III. National governments should define a regulatory framework for promoting the creation of LEDAs at decentralised level, their national networks, and the means for actualising their role as autonomous intermediary structures for implementing decentralised national programs. IV. National governments should define a regulatory framework for facilitating local economic development financing and access to finance for entrepreneurs and producers that are marginalised by the standard financial means. V. International institutions should apply the Manifesto for a new international cooperation for development and its pilot programs to help Local Authorities of the South and the North and their actors to network with each other and to support an information and cultural campaign, that shall convince more and more politicians and public authorities that the territorial approach to development helps to effectively solve, nationally and globally, the dramatic social, environmental and migratory patterns of growth generated by unbalanced current approaches. VI. International institutions and cooperation entities should support territorial public- private partnerships and their strategies and priorities, utilise the LEDAs where they exist, and support their establishment, where they do not. VII. International institutions should promote and support international territorial partnerships, in accordance with the principles introduced in the Manifesto. VIII. Local institutions should work through permanent dialogue between the private, public, social, and community actors, facilitating strong partnerships aimed at defining territorial development strategies, using the LEDAs as implementing structures, and allowing an interactive 4

5 collaboration with the national government for strengthening their strategies and instruments and for accordingly defining a regulatory framework. IX. Local institutions should work for strengthening the capacity of local actors and enabling them to establish proactive international territorial partnerships, in accordance with the principles introduced in the Manifesto that launched the initiative for a new international development cooperation. 5