The URBACT Local Support Groups (ULSG) are one of the key innovations in the URBACT II programme that allow participative policy making at the local level. Each URBACT partner is required to set up a Local Support Group gathering the local stakeholders most concerned by the issue addressed by the project.
1. NEWS
2. TOOLS AND RESOURCES
3. USEFUL LINKS
1. NEWS
A summer university specially dedicated to the URBACT Local Support Groups
For the very first time, the URBACT Programme set up a Summer University designed to reinforce the capacity buildings and knowledge’s of the URBACT local support groups’ members. The event was held in Krakow (Poland) from August 29th till 31st 2011. This first edition was composed of thematic speeches, training sessions, targeted exercises in the purpose of the Local Action Plan finalization, and meeting times in between national partners.
During 3 days, 300 URBACT Local Support Group members did an intense training session on methodological steps in the perspective of the Local Action Plan design. Participants spend out into small working groups have had the opportunity to test tools working on problematic of fictitious cities to build up Local Action Plan. Meanwhile, they have had the chance to meet their national partners and exchange on their own functioning’s. All the Summer University long, special moments have been reserved to thematic speeches on local development issues and European regional policies.
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Case studies, methodological tools, power point of speeches, report… available on wiki.urbact.eu
See photos and videos!
Results of the URBACT Local Support Group survey
An online survey was launched in October 2010 among all URBACT partners focused on the way partners have set up their Local Support Group, on how they run it, difficulties they meet, possible good practices, etc. A total of 156 partners took part to the survey out of 267 partners meaning a response rate of over 58%.
Would you find yourself in the results of this survey?
Mid-term evaluation of the URBACT II programme by ECORYS and Old Bell 3 Ltd, May 2011
In this mid-term evaluation report find benefits and useful experiences from ULSGs so far!
URBACT Local Support Group Polish Seminars
A specific support scheme for Polish Local Support Group members was designed and set up for the 23 Polish URBACT partners. This action was led by a consortium gathering the Polish Ministry for Regional Development, the National Association of Polish Cities, the Silesian Union of Cities and Districts (both National Dissemination Points of URBACT), the Institute for Urban Development of Krakow and the URBACT Programme.
This support scheme consisted of three 2-day sessions (Poznan, Katowice and Krakow) in the first semester of 2011 and gathered members of each Polish ULSG. Seminars were dedicated to exchange and learning on urban integrated policies, as well as capacity building applied to urban action planning. A total of 80 participants attended the 3 sessions.
Read more:
- URBACT experts presentations : Phil Stein, URBACT II Thematic Pole Manager and James Devitt, from Kirklees city council (UK) - PDF
Interactive collaborative platform for the URBACT Local Support Group members
This interactive web tool has just been created and allows you to share experiences and good practices in a forum. Just visit wiki.urbact.eu and express yourself freely!
2. TOOLS AND RESOURCES
These are some issues you will or might have been confronted with when setting up and running your URBACT Local Support Group.
A toolkit has been produced mainly to help those involved with the URBACT II projects to produce a Local Action Plan. This tool is dedicated to URBACT Local Support Groups members throughout Europe and to all actors interested in participative policy making.
The toolkit is translated in all EU languages.
To download the toolkit in your own language, you have to click on the documents and resources page and select in the searching engine: "UBRACT II Programme documents" and "Methods and tools".
A URBACT Local Support Group what for?
In the framework of an URBACT project each partner is expected to set up a Local Support Group to define and develop a Local Action Plan on the urban issues the partner is trying to tackle.
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Who should be on board?
There is no pre-defined list for you to compose your URBACT Local Support Group. It should include the key stakeholders concerned by the problem/ policy issue you are willing to tackle. Stakeholders are those persons who have an interest in the Local Action Plan. They can be intended beneficiaries, intermediaries, those involved or excluded in the decision-making process, etc.
An efficient way to identify the relevant stakeholders is the stakeholders analysis.
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What resources for your URBACT Local Support Group?
To develop the Local Action Plan, the URBACT Local Support Group has different kind of resources at their use. These resources are both technical (budget) and knowledge based (thematic guidance given by experts, exchange and learning meetings with national and international peers).
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How to run your URBACT Local Support Group?
- Defining a road map for your URBACT Local Support Group
ULSG members are recommended to draft a roadmap with the most important tasks and activities to follow from the beginning until the end of the project. Ideally, the work programme of the ULSG would be organized around the following tasks or activities:
- Project transnational seminars: In the framework of the network’s transnational meetings with the project peers, each ULSG is represented by one or more members. A ULSG meeting should be organized beforehand in order to prepare members’ participation in the transnational meeting and after the seminar to share lessons learnt and follow up activities.
- The draft of the Local Action Plan.
- The dissemination and communication of the theme worked out.
2. Organizing your meeting
The format and style of your meetings and events should be carefully planned to provide a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere for URBACT Local Support Group participants.
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3. Ensuring communication among ULSG members between meetings
There are many communication tools. Getting to know which ones, when and how to use them can ensure a solid communication and interactivity among the members of the URBACT Local Support Group.
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4. Communicating to the outside world
Communicating to wider audiences is not only a way of putting forward the objectives and activities of the network but a way of propoting local changes as well.
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5. Make it sustainable
Lack of time, workload and others factors can demotivate people to attend the meetings. Why and how to keep an URBACT Local Support Group into time is a challenge during and after the end of the project.
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6. Assess your ULSG
Assessing the way your ULSG fucntion can be a benefit process for both members and results of the Group. You are invited to use the ULSG assessment tool and see how your ULSG is situated to governance and decision-planning criteria. This process will help you to adjust your ULSG according to strong points and weaknesses identified in the tool.The highest score you get the better your ULSG will work!
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How to produce a Local Action Plan?
Local Action Plans (LAPs) should provide for each partner a concrete roadmap and a range of solutions to tackle the core issues identified at the start of the URBACT project. If funding is going to be sought from the Structural Funds the involvement of Managing Authorities is recommended. But there is no rigid definition of what a LAP has to be, and project partners and URBACT Local Support Group members are encouraged to be creative in determining the best format for their needs.
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Assess your Local Action Plan
Once the first draft of your Local Action Plan is ready it is useful to sit with all members of the ULSG and assess your Plan. This self-assessment process will help you to adjust your LAP according to strong points and weaknesses identified and present a LAP ready to be implemented. The URBACT programme has created such a LAP self-assessment tool based upon 5 criteria.
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3. USEFUL LINKS
Interactive URBACT Local Support Group WIKI platform
Willing to exchange with other URBACT Local Support Group members across Europe and share experiences and good practices? Join the interactive URBACT Local Support Group community on the WIKI platform!
Looking for information in your own national language?
The National Dissemination Points are web sites that relay URBACT information in each country's national language. They are currently operating in 21 countries.
Contact
If some of your questions have still not been answered, please feel free to contact us at: urbactlsg@gmail.com