Local Governments are leverages of educational innovation. We are aware of the opportunities & the needs in the city, we have a privileged knowledge of the stakeholders and, above all, we grow the future citizens. Thus, we should play an active role as educational policy-makers. ON BOARD Transfer network aims to help local governments to build new partnerships to co-create policies to empower younger people with the necessary skills to become active & engaged citizens able to face the challenges of new societies.
BioCanteens Transfer Network is about ensuring the distribution of sustainable school meals in participating cities as a key lever towards the development of an integrated local agri-food approach, protecting both citizens’ health and the environment. The project aims to transfer Mouans-Sartoux’s Good Practice in the field of collective school catering, to other highly committed cities across Europe. Mouans-Sartoux’s Good Practice is based on the daily distribution of meals that are 100% organic and mostly composed of local products, the drastic reduction of food waste thereby fully compensating the higher cost of switching to organic products, and the organisation of dedicated educational activities to raise children’s awareness about sustainable food.
Education - Food - Environment - Local Economy - Governance
BioCanteens#2 Transfer Network is about ensuring the distribution of sustainable school meals in participating cities as a key lever towards the development of an integrated local agri-food approach, protecting both citizens’ health and the environment. The project aims to transfer Mouans- Sartoux’s
On the occasion of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, Europa Nostra and its President Maestro Plácido Domingo invited all citizens in Europe and beyond to contribute to the #Ode2Joy Challenge. The best entries in the Ode2Joy Challenge will be included in a special video of the project which will be shown on 22 June during the European Heritage Awards Ceremony at the Berlin Congress Centre.
From the INT-HERIT Project, we would like to follow up this excellent idea, encouraging creative local people from our cities to produce any kind of artistic expressions immersed in their favorite heritage sites, record them on video and share them with us, ready to be released and shared trough our social media.
It could be a way to encourage the reinterpretation of our sites, promoting visits to them through multiple visions, as many as visitors or users may the cultural sites of our cities have. A participatory and co-creative approach to make the storytelling of our sites, as a first step for a more participatory management.
We started it in Baena, sharing a video recorded in the Municipal Historical Museum. A group of young people of the city have come together to collect a unique, poetic and vital moment, around a song and the images captured from the site, the artist, the echoes of a contemporary voice that speaks to the ancient cold of the earth in winter, next to the monumental Roman sculptures that also come from old stone...
The artists responsible for this video that we present here, are:
Composer, violin, voice and piano: Ángela Varo Moreno
Lyrics: Laurenn Berthélem Malpica
Film: Luis Muñoz Cubillo
Producer: Alfredo García Picazo
English Translation: Carmen Rodríguez García
The Municipal Historical Museum of Baena is located at the heart of the city, in a building, the House of Tercia, cataloged by its historical and monumental character and contains in its three floors important collections connected with different stages of local history, highlighting the numerous findings from the archaeological site of Torreparedones.
Implementation Networks (IN) are a new initiative within the URBACT Program, joining European cities involved in the implementation phase of their local urban plans. The particular features existing in this step predetermine the conditions around all dimensions included in their performance. One important topic in this process is how an efficient participatory approach should be promoted, according the URBACT method recommendation.
The URBACT Program has delivered a set of guidelines to facilitate the achievement of challenges in which the cities are facing. One of these is named "Maintaining involvement of local stakeholders and organizing decision-making for implementation". Some headlines can be extracted from this document. The first one is related to the distinction between two specific objectives, aimed at reaching an effective involvement of local stakeholders and to organize a suitable decision-making procedure during the implementation.
Taking into account that a stakeholder is a broad term, a more detailed distinction should be developed, separating actors according to their different interests or roles (political /project officers, community, citizens, ONGs, business representatives...). A clear separation between stakeholders and delivery partners is consequentially recommended.
Governance for delivery is the second aim to be achieved, creating an adequate structure, addressing aspects such as direction, tracking progress, managing risks, corrective actions, management, and communication..., in the frame of a Results Framework context.
Reviewing the ULGs performance in the INT-HERIT network
Aware of the importance of the participatory approach in the URBACT Program, the INT-HERIT network of cities has promoted an analysis session about how the launching and implementing of those is going. We would like to share some reflections expressed during this session.
On the one hand it is interesting to highlight the different role and characteristics that local groups can play in the different types of existing networks within the framework of the URBACT Program. So while in the Action Planning Network a creative and exploratory role could be underlined in order to create realistic and balanced plans, in the Transfer Network an expansive but flexible and innovative character would be the most useful for an active group in the transfer proposal that best suits each city, while the role of the local group in the Implementation Network would be closer to a movement of attentive concentration aimed at focusing attention on the task of monitoring and control of effective implementation of the plans.
The reflection shared by the partners of INT-HERIT emphasizes among the capacities to promote in the bosom of these local groups involved in implementation networks, the skills in the use of technical tools, skills of analysis and decision making, effective management of adjustments in relation to the initially planned actions …
The recommended profiles in terms of the size and composition of the groups suggest small core groups from different sectors, while the presence of those responsible for the conservation and restoration of heritage is highlighted along with those responsible for economic and social revitalization and entrepreneurs.
Partners found out that in an implementation Network setting up and running the ULG requires a different approach regarding the APN’s. There are multiple recommendations during this first year of networking. Here are some of them:
Implementation Network ULG’s vs Action Plan Network ULG’s
Setting Up
put the focus on how it is implemented more than on what is done regarding the management of plans
short but influent group focused in implementation not strategy
more decision makers than planners in the group
flexibility to change the group according to implementation requirements
bring inverstors and other kind of funding organizations to the discussion in a yearly stage of the project
Running
give room to unexpected contributions; invite beyond the ''usual suspects''
focus in crocrete problems; invite specific stakeholders for a meeting to discuss a specific topic of the implementationphase
conduct frequent meetings of a technical nature with small groups, extending the size of the group at specific times
use engagement techniques to keep the meetings productive
organise quided tours with LG to the area under discussion at Int-Herit
task forces to manage a big group - useful to speed up some decisions
plan visits to other good examples togeteher with your LG
Capture Knowledge
develop a continuous feedback activity capturing the contributions of the participants;
put in practice a local stakeholders feed-back system
Communicating decisions to your LG is not the same of engaging the LG in building decisions
Use the ULG to think the city on a permanent basis not only during project duration
experiment with an adequate governance model for the implementation phase, connecting the role of the local group with decision-making by the competent bodies of the municipality
The still experimental steps of this type of groups that are acting in this network of nine small European cities explain the irregular number of meetings held over a year, varying between two and ten, depending on the nature and function of the same, although if it shows a more constant number of participants, around fifteen.
INT-HERIT hopes to be, together with the other active implementation networks within the framework of the URBACT Program, a useful field for testing the adaptation of a participatory proposal in this specific moment of urban sustainable strategies, which is implementation.
This article has been co-written by Antonio Zafra; Lead partner coordinator and Pedro Soutinho; Lead Expert Int-Herit Network.
You might not expect Twitter to be the place for informed debate on the future of the EU Cohesion Policy. But you’d be wrong. Amidst the white noise on this social media platform, a fascinating catalogue of exchanges is developing.
The other week some of the big beasts popped their heads above the parapet. First, John Bachtler, Director of Strathclyde University’s European Policies Research Center, tweeted about the importance of European Social Fund + and skills in closing inter-regional gaps. Then Andrés Rodiguéz Pose (London School of Economics Professor and author of a recent influential paper on places left behind, jumped in, reacting to a recent World Bank publication on the future of Cohesion Policy as a tool to address regional inequalities across Europe.
This timely World Bank report makes for interesting reading. One of its principal conclusions relates to capacity building, and in particular the need to invest in the capacity of public administrations.
"A second implication of taking a more “region-centered” approach is that, along with local ownership, should also come capacity building, to enable local actors to plan and deliver on regional policy. The lack of local-level capacity is a major barrier both in planning and implementation. In terms of planning, it has been highlighted in several lagging regions that capacity at regional and lower (e.g., municipality) levels for planning is weak."
The case for investing in the skills and competencies of public officials, alongside organizational development, has been gathering momentum for some time. Within a busy landscape of research and activity, some of the more eye-catching contributions have come from Demoshelsinki, the OECD and NESTA. It has also been a recurring issue within the Action Planning processes of the Urban Agenda for the EU Partnerships – for example Digital Transitions and Jobs and Skills. Capacity building is also one of the three key features in the proposed European Urban Initiative, contained in the new draft ERDF Regulations.
It is too early to say whether this represents a sea-change away from the culture of out-sourcing and reliance on external expertise that has held sway in the sector for the past twenty plus years in many parts of Europe. More likely, it is a rebalancing. After years where city authorities struggled to attract and retain talent, there is a sense that the pendulum has at least stopped – and may even be moving slowly in the other direction.
15 years supporting European civil servants skills to develop integrated urban planning solutions at URBACT
This shift is encouraging. However, there is a long way to go. And although it is good to see more debate on the importance of capacity building and a recognition of its value, there are not so many examples of it working well in practice. Within the context of this Cohesion Policy debate, the URBACT Programme has a great deal to contribute. For more than fifteen years it has supported cities of all sizes to more effectively deliver integrated sustainable urban development. What are the key messages to share from this experience?
Much of this experience has been gleaned from URBACT’s established Action Planning Network (APN) model. These networks have extensive experience of building municipal capacity to design and implement integrated sustainable plans.
Here are five important lessons that have shaped the approach:
Listen to cities, and involve them closely in programme design
As a Programme, URBACT has an unusually close working relationship with participating cities – around 500 in the current programming period. There is a continuous dialogue and exchange that includes the use of focus groups, surveys and other tools.
Underline the importance of peer-to-peer learning
Our experience supports the efficacy of peer to peer learning and support between urban stakeholders. Having the opportunity to walk in the shoes of someone doing your job in another city is a great learning opportunity. The URBACT networks – and key capacity building events like to URBACT Summer School – provide a supportive structure for this.
Create safe spaces to learn, build trust and experiment
Public services are under pressure to innovate whilst at the same time saving money. A tall order! Civil servants are in the public eye, and mistakes are not always looked upon kindly. URBACT provides a safe space for city stakeholders – primarily public officials – to learn from trusted colleagues in other member states, and to apply those lessons in safe spaces.
Provide support and access to tools and resources
URBACT provides a tried and tested methodology to support learning and to build capacity. This includes the URBACT Toolkit, translated into several EU languages, offering a range of practical tips designed to get better results. It also includes hands-on learning events like the URBACT Summer University, where stakeholders collaborate with peers to generate solutions for the problems of a synthetic city.
Promote participation and support municipalities to involve wider stakeholders
Increasingly, collaboration is the key to successfully tackling urban challenges. Across Europe, public officials are working in partnership with other local stakeholders to design and implement new solutions. However, capacity and experience to work this way is uneven. Building the confidence and capacity of municipal employees to engage differently with citizens, NGOs and other urban stakeholders, is a key dimension of URBACT’s work.
Cities leading adaptation and transfer of Good Practices to other cities across Europe
From April 2018 the programme has extended this experience through the launch of a new network type, Good Practice Transfer networks, which will take the learning and capacity building elements further.
At the centre of these networks is an established example of urban good practice Over the next 2 years and a half, Good Practice cities will lead a network whose primary focus will be the adaptation and transfer of these practices to other cities across Europe. Once their partnership is finalized, these networks will consist of a balanced ticket of partners in terms of regional development levels. Narrowing inequalities and allowing space for peer-to-peer learning amongst cities of all sizes remains an important URBACT principle.
Peer to Peer
In this new network model, the peer-to-peer learning paradigm has altered. Where traditionally, city partners enter through the door of a shared problem, here one partner enters with a ready-made solution. Other partners share the problem for which the solution was designed. Yet, despite this distinction, learning and capacity building will take place at multiple levels for all participants.
The learning will take place at three main levels: personal, organizational and city. In addition to this, it is likely that each network will derive its own unique learning experiences across the partnership.
Individual learning
At the individual level, we expect participants in these networks to make significant professional development gains. One of the model’s strengths is that individuals are learning from their direct peers. Municipal workers are sharing their own perspectives, unpacking familiar challenges and discussing ways to solve them. Beyond this, other important urban stakeholders are doing the same.
Organisational and City Level Learning
One of the pilot transfer projects focused on the transfer of an integrated public food policy successfully developed in Sodertajle, Sweden. That good practice involved a long list of key contributors, ranging from senior elected officials, to public procurement officers, local food producers and school canteen staff.
In the resulting exchanges, each participated in relaying their learning experiences to peers from other cities. Feedback suggests that this precise mapping of stakeholders was an important contributory factor to the success of the project – now widely adopted in other EU cities.
This eclectic group of stakeholders is likely to be a characteristic of this new generation of transfer networks. As its name suggests, the Bee-path network, led by Ljubljana, places beekeeping at the heart of a new concept or urban ecology. Beekeepers, environmental policy officers and mobility experts may be amongst the stakeholder map in each city. Meanwhile, Manchester’s Culture for Climate Change project explores ways in which the creative and cultural sectors can contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions. Arts officers, NGOs and museum staff may be in the frame here. In Badalona, Silver Cities brings together older people, health and care professionals and caring NGOs to transfer a model of supporting older people to live fulfilled independent lives.
Open and Trusted Space
These learning exchanges take place in an open trusted space created by the networks. No one is selling anything and transfer partners get to hear the real story, not an air brushed version, as we are as likely to learn from what didn’t work as to what eventually did. And the learning is two way. For those intent on transferring their good practice, this is an opportunity to see it again through fresh eyes – and to gather valuable suggestions on how to make it even better.
A learning Lab
These networks are something of a learning lab for all concerned – including URBACT, as the programme runs them for the first time. Understanding the lessons that emerge will be very important, and the programme will do this through a number of tools. For example, within each city there will be designated transfer diarists keeping track of the lessons that emerge. At the city level, each partner will also track its own journey, through an initial Transfer Report and, ultimately, through a final Learning Log.
To complement these city level products, the National URBACT Points will broker events across much of Europe to showcase the results, disseminate the learning journey experiences and, most important, seek to promote and encourage a learning cascade. In this way, the programme will reach a wider network of second circle cities, extending the capacity building and the lessons.
Cohesion Policy in action
URBACT is in the business of supporting urban transformation. Across Europe, cities face many shared challenges, and although there is no shortage of ‘good practices’, transferring them successfully is not always so easy. Keys to this include establishing a deep understanding of the practice, exploring the scope for adaptation and supporting its eventual re-use. Successful stakeholder participation is an integral part of this. Supporting them – with municipal employees often at the centre – is central to this mission.
Through this work, URBACT is making a strong contribution to building urban stakeholder capacity across Europe. In doing to so it continues to support the change needed to optimize the use of public monies and the closing of inequalities between Europe’s regions. Here, we have a tangible example of the Cohesion Policy in action.
Back in September, Sager der Samler (translated: Uniting Causes), in collaboration with many other stakeholders, organized the people’s festival Rethink Activism in Aarhus. We put together a program of 250 workshops, conversations, concerts and so forth which were all initiated by citizens and grassroots. The aim was to highlight a new capacity for action which is emerging across society and to raise the profile of everyday activists who are changing the world right there where they are through creativity and cooperative spirit. We set the stage for the experience of concrete local initiatives with an optimistic vision for society – not methods and fine speeches.
The festival took place in the area surrounding the old slaughterhouse and power station at Sydhavnen in Aarhus which was transformed into a city within the city with town hall, school, factory, culture house, day shelter, health house etc. The city spread across an area the size of 10 football fields and as the festival opened on Friday morning the city’s new inhabitants flocked to the place. The interest and curiosity turned out to be enormous, lasting all the way until the end Sunday evening. Despite a very limited advertising budget more than 10.000 people visited the festival that was held over three days.
Amongst those participants were partners involved in the URBACT CHANGE! Network. Led by Eindhoven, Aarhus is an active member of this network which is exploring how we can involve citizens in reshaping urban policy and practice. Each of the network’s cities came to festival with their own ideas and experience of how we can do this.
And if the festival proves one thing it is this: a lot of people are committed to society and to making societal change. As journalist at Politiken Anne Bech-Danielsen commented: “They are young, they are old, and they act: Refugees, unemployed or people who have simply had enough of overconsumption, isolation or not doing anything and there are more of them than just a handful of cheerful civilians.”
The festival program presented several hundred concrete and visionary examples of how we as ordinary people can contribute to finding new solutions.
One example is Annbritt Jørgensen and Steffen Sand who have been social assistance recipients for years and live with psychiatric diagnoses. They stand behind Skraldecaféen (translated: The Dumpster Diving Café) - which uses food waste from supermarket containers to create new communities and help socially isolated people like themselves.
Or local enthusiast Jeppe Spure Nielsen who is one of the initiators of “Forskøn Hans Broges Gade” (translated: Beautify Hans Broges Street) which at the same time improves an urban environment in a concrete manner and creates a sense of community between the residents in the Frederiksbjerg neighborhood in Aarhus. The street community is thus experimenting with being urban creators instead of just users of the local, public space in which they live.
Yet another example is entrepreneur Metin Aydin who assists a Syrian refugee stuck in the municipal system. The Syrian has a dream of becoming a self-employed hairdresser. Metin helps him through VAT rules and how to set up a Facebook business page. Today Aarhus has a new mobile hairdresser and Metin has created the association Egenvirksomhed.nu (translated Ownbusiness.now) where he, together with other volunteers, helps people on social welfare realize their dream of becoming self-employed.
Metin acted because he met a person in great difficulty whom he was able to help. And at the same time, it is a way for him to be politically active by putting into play competencies of his own which lack in the public system. It is a way for him to make a difference.
Everyday politicians with a small “p”
Researchers and opinion formers have also spotted the new movement which was showcased during the festival. Often, they use the term “ad-hoc volunteering” to describe it, but the term is misleading. Instead, we have chosen the word “everyday activism”.
This new vigor is not directly comparable to classic volunteerism. Everyday activism is an expression of a more entrepreneurial approach where we as citizens are neither users nor volunteers. No one is set to do anything. On the contrary, we as citizens break away from our traditional roles and through our initiatives we become political individuals who create platforms for promoting causes and pointing out solutions.
In other words, the movement reflects a new, democratic people’s culture which connects everyday life and politics in a very concrete way. People are no longer waiting for local, national or any other kind of authority to take up the reins. They want to change the world right where they are, and they are fed up with talking. They just go ahead.
Some people question the ability of everyday activists to look beyond their own self-interests. And indeed, you can be very engaged in your own cause, but personal engagement is not necessarily a reflection of narrow self-interests.
The point of departure for Annbritt and Steffen’s dumpster diving café was their own situation but at the same time they moved beyond what was right in front of them and looked further. They are experts in their own lives and they use that special knowledge to show us something which concerns the whole society, and that is how to combine sustainability with solving social problems.
That way Annbritt and Steffen become a kind of everyday politician with a small “p” is because they represent something bigger without being attached to one specific political party.
Active participation is a movement in its own right
Another misinterpretation of what’s happening comes from the fact that everyday activism and initiatives are being described as temporary. This casts doubt on their durability.
The Dumpster Diving Café is, like many other initiatives, loosely organized and managed by people who have no professional training or fixed budget. On the other hand, there is a strong sense of ownership and the project is the result of years of striving to change difficult life circumstances. It is a higher purpose that makes us want to get up in the morning and therefore the work will go on with or without project funding. There is no volatility here but of course the impact is greater with backup than without.
The special quality of the Dumpster Diving Café and many other initiatives started by citizens is that they, through their example, discover new ways to solve a difficult problem, question prevailing standards and call attention to important but overlooked resources. At the same time, they have taken back control of their lives and experience a renewed faith that they have a part to play in the big community.
That is why we have got to renew the way we talk about “active citizenship” and its original meaning. We have got to move away from a tendency that wants to turn our participation in society into a resource the municipal budget can draw upon, the public administration can administer, researchers can analyze or politicians can use to create a public image. Citizens should be a part of the renewal of our welfare society, but not in a way that consigns them to a narrow role as consumers or spare pairs of hands.
The Rethink Activism People’s Festival created a narrative about active participation as a movement in its own right. Here, everyday activists call into question what politics really is. They say: how can we create a new society? What would it look like? They try themselves to create examples of new solutions and show what today’s dream society would look like. This is a much deeper role than any repackaged concept of volunteering. Instead, it rests upon the shared values that still exist within our communities and draws upon the creativity and social entrepreneurship which characterizes this new generation of everyday activism.
It is high time we talked together
Come by and talk to Annbritt and Steffen about marginalization and get some ideas as to how food sustainability can foster new communities. Come by and talk to Metin about how entrepreneurial competencies can inspire new ways of supporting refugees into jobs. Come by and talk to the many, many everyday activists who are out there and make a difference. And through networks like CHANGE, these conversations are taking place not only in Denmark, but throughout Europe. Change is in the air.
At a time when democracy itself is at risk, it is high time we talked together and reinvented the person-to-person political talk. Democratic disparities can only be reduced through dialogue, collaboration and a desire to reach a common ground through mutual learning - and formative processes. It will not happen through strategic communication which is a one-sided way to make the electorate support a certain policy.
Too often, politicians overestimate themselves and underestimate the inventiveness of their citizens. Therefore, we urge politicians to sharpen their eyes to the political visions which are created in everyday life. The everyday activists want to get into the game, testing new solutions together with the established system – the point of departure being everyday life.
The challenges cities face are well-established – lack of trust, migration, climate change – amongst them. We are deeply convinced that the only way to address them is if everyone becomes part of the solution. The most important foundation for a living democracy is that more people take ownership of the development of society and help create optimistic visions for the future.
Let us take back everyday life as the basis for new politics – this is where we live our lives.
No próximo dia 13 de fevereiro, o Ponto URBACT Nacional, em parceria com a Câmara Municipal de Aveiro, promove o URBACT Infoday 2019 no Pequeno Auditório do Centro de Congressos de Aveiro.
Cities and people working in this field are very well aware of the phenomenon of Early Leaving from Education & Training (ELET) as a problem, normally with a good sense of the scale of it within their city. Getting to the specifics can be more of a challenge, and many cities have to operate without good data to help them focus and target their efforts.
This can be for a variety of reasons, from the national legislation and framework not making the data available at a city or district level (as is the case for most cities in France, for example) to the cities themselves having poor systems in place to capture or use this data. Whatever the reason, it makes targeting activities and measuring the effectiveness of interventions much harder on a local level. City partners in this situation have to rely on their own, anecdotal, knowledge of the local conditions without having concrete data to back up those assumptions.
Many cities have access to the relevant data but are not yet effective at using it to understand the ELET landscape in their locality and to structure their response accordingly.
But even in those cities where data is available and used effectively, the tracking of both the causes and the results of drop-out from school is still a challenge. Without individual tracking of young people through the school system, it is almost impossible to understand the true picture. Does someone leaving a school at age 17 leave education and training entirely, or do they appear three months later at a different institution? If they do leave altogether, how can we get to understand the circumstances if we don’t know where they are now, or even who they are in many cases.
Cities can obviously improve and develop their capabilities and capacity regarding the collection and use of data, and this appears to be a priority for many. But introducing new tracking and monitoring systems can be, at best, complex and expensive, and at worst, not permissible under the prevailing legislation. Without this type of insight, cities will always be replying on a degree of intuition in their policy responses.
A Rich Policy Context
The advantage in this field is that good practice in reducing ELET is both well-established and well-documented. For the EU, the reduction in ELET (formally ELS - Early School Leaving) has been a priority since before 2010, and there is now a wealth of carefully developed policy responses and interventions available and applied in member states across Europe. Many of the policy measures are based on a greater involvement of a wide range of stakeholders in the life and running of schools and the ongoing development of young people. This builds on a variety of research which points to parental and other extracurricular support being a core determinant of education success, sometimes greater than the educational systems themselves. Policies such as the ‘Whole School Approach’ and developing ‘Community Schools’ advocate this type of wider involvement and are promoted at an EU level within the field of Education.
What we still need more of is the robust testing and evaluation of policy measures as well as guidance or assessments on how to implement such policies effectively to have the desired effects.
Conditions for Implementation
Whilst this field is rich in policy, it is relatively poor in terms of tried and tested measures that have been evaluated in detail, including considering the context in which the intervention was implemented. Context is everything with implementing policy responses for ELET - what works well in one setting will not necessarily work well in a different one. A successful method from a city with a stable population may not work effectively in a city experiencing high levels of immigration; a plan that works in a small provincial city reliant on just one or two industries may not work in a large capital city with a diverse and mixed economy. This understanding of context is a core area for further investigation, and one that URBACT's Implementation Networks are seeking to address.
Education systems across Europe vary considerably, meaning any particular ‘best practice’ may only be relevant in certain contexts or certain countries. It is critical to understand the important ‘conditions for implementation’ for any particular good practice: what exactly makes it effective? why does it work? what conditions are required? If that is then combined with a thorough baseline evaluation of the city looking to adopt a good practice, this enables the practice and the city to be checked against each other to determine a suitable ‘fit’ (and likelihood of success). They can then adapt the practice or alter the context (or both!) to ensure that the practice being adopted is deployed effectively and creates the desired results. Without making such adjustments, there is an increased risk of a policy being less effective than it could be. With many local authorities facing shrinking resources, we can’t afford to spend time and money trying to push a square peg into a round hole.
A Wider Application
However, ELET is not the only field for which context is important for implementation. Most fields will need to consider this to a greater or lesser degree. URBACT’s Implementation Networks (and the upcoming URBACT Transfer Networks scheduled to be agreed later in the year) will all need to contend with these issues as their respective action plans and good practices are put into practice in cities across Europe. The Implementation Networks have already begun to grapple with these challenges and the URBACT network Stay Tuned is no exception.
For URBACT Implementation Networks, the biggest change from the Action Planning Networks is the fact that collaborative delivery is not the same as collaborative planning. While much of the same mindset and principles apply (such as the integrated approach and participation of stakeholders), the practical application is quite different. At a very basic level, the URBACT Local Groups (ULGs) have quite a different role in the Implementation Networks. For the successful implementation of a new policy or plan, in addition to ‘policy practitioners’ (subject experts on the policy side) we also need ‘change practitioners’ to design and manage the roll-out of the policy, guiding the transition from current state to future state. This is an often overlooked point, not least because it is sometimes (maybe even often!) possible to successfully implement new policy without any expertise in the art of ‘change’. This generally occurs due to one of two things: either 1) luck; or 2) that the people implementing the plan already have a natural ability in implementing policy in this area - they just don’t treat it as an explicit skill or discipline.
This leads to ‘Implementation Blindness’ - a situation where those who implement something successfully don’t know why they succeeded, for example when people succeed by natural ability without being aware of a particular implementation method.
Looking at things through an implementation ‘lens’ is new to many people. In the example of the Stay Tuned network, the majority of the project leads from the partner cities are Education or Youth practitioners, rather than change practitioners. This does not mean they cannot implement action plans successfully; but it does mean that the act of considering Implementation as a discipline in its own right, with a core set of skills, methods and mindsets is not commonplace.
Keeping the Door Open
With such a rich set of policies in this field, the Stay Tuned network will shed a much needed light onto the practice of implementation, drawing out lessons and good implementation practice that can be shared with other city departments and with other cities across Europe. But there is also the other side of the project, which is that these partners are looking to reduce ELET rates in their cities and help young people gain much needed qualifications.
Implementation itself is the means not the end - but good practice in implementation is essential to help meet our goals. For Stay Tuned, that means keeping more doors of opportunity open for young people across Europe, so that they may pass through and onto greater things. Let’s hope that the lessons from keeping those doors open can also be passed on to others to help them implement their plans and successfully change their cities to improve the lives of those living in them.
You can see the video summary from phase 1 of the Stay Tuned network:
'La Fabrique de Gonesse" is the first project of the Roissy Pays de France Agglomerations' (FR) digital strategy. Launched in 2015, the programme uses digital technologies, mass communication, digital fabrication, repairing, networking and project management as an empowerment tool for tackling the problem of school dropouts, especially in deprived neighbourhoods. It combines flexible teaching with peer-to-peer methods, based on an innovative pedagogic method. After three cycles, the remobilisation rate is 90%. 70% of trainees return to the education system, and 20% access their first job opportunity within 6 months of completing the programme.
The solutions offered by the good practice
Gonesse is an integral part of Roissy Pays de France Agglomeration, composed of 42 cities. Social and urban issues are directly linked to this project. Since 2016, the rate of people living in deprived neighbourhoods has risen to almost 40%. Roissy Pays de France is aware that poverty and exclusion must be tackled. Therefore, Roissy Pays de France set up a pluriannual strategy (2014-2020), an integrated and territorial investment based on digital development, to reinforce the social cohesion of its territory. The regional programme of EU funds constitutes a financial framework for this strategy and its projects. It aims at structuring the digital sector based on economic potential and the research capacities of the University of Cergy-Pontoise. The aim is to help the creation of entrepreneurship and digital activities, enhance the digital skills of firms and inhabitants, and reinforce social and cultural development. The project makes a junction between several issues: helping young people through innovative technologies. It offers a local, bottom-up, constructive approach to digital challenges, as close as possible to peoples' issues. Local authorities put innovation at the heart of this project and propose to build on it. This concrete and highly innovative project shows how, thanks to new technologies, social innovation could help youth pepping up, but also territorial development on a larger scale.
Building on the sustainable and integrated approach
Located in a disadvantaged neighbourhood, La Fabrique Numérique de Gonesse promotes sustainability by creating a bridge between teenagers exposed to school failure and the local government through the use of digital techniques that encourage agility and a cooperative and collaborative peer-to-peer approach. La Fabrique Numerique de Gonesse is exemplary of a fully integrated, participative approach that creates a circle of value based on professional mobilisation and empowerment that is highly effective for young people exposed to school failure. An agile educational initiative, which helps develop autonomy and digital awareness among the local population and stakeholders through educational interactions led by the trainees in a “learning by teaching” peer-to-peer approach. An innovative approach of public action and governance that engages young people with academic and/or professional difficulties in the delivery of missions of general interest, in a spirit of local collaborative development and innovation. An R&D awareness and literacy action relevant in the field of territorial development, and the digital transition in the public sector. Strong horizontal and vertical integration are combined and promoted in this project, as shown above.
Based on a participatory approach
The participatory approach is a core aspect of La Fabrique Numerique de Gonesse: • At grassroots level: autonomy of trainees is strongly encouraged. Self-organisation of training time as well as frontline responsibility of the young trainees as “project managers”, interacting with NGOs and local government services through productions and/or services. Peer-to-peer learning by teaching initiatives are organised on a regular basis, missioning trainees as educators, i.e. to promote digital awareness among children ages 7 to 13, towards the audience of local public libraries or through technical support provided to the local TV team; • At territorial level: empowerment of local NGOs and public actions through digital communication projects led by the trainees (posters, logos, websites, flyers, etc.). Providing participatory tools and solutions for programmes of public and general interest (interactive test-game on justice and rights, participatory cartography, co-designed solutions for disabled people, website design and development for the local resource centre for education, monumental sticker design for the inauguration of the new hospital, etc.); • At governance level: development of a trainees/alumni association to promote self-government. Individual tracking of the young trainees before, during and after their studies at La Fabrique Numerique, through various partnerships with specialised local structures and programmes in the educational, professional insertion and orientation field.
What difference has it made?
Results and outcomes concerning 3 trainee classes from November 2015 to April 2017: at the end of programme, the remobilisation rate represents 90%. Outputs of target groups: • 70% return to education, 55% digital sector, 45% other than digital sector; • 20% access their first job opportunity 6 months after the end of programme, 65% find a job related to the digital sector, 35% to an unrelated sector, and 10% leaving the programme. Results after finishing the programme (trainee class 1 and 2, 6 months after the end of programme, and results of trainee class 3): • For the period 2015-2017, the programme trained 33 youths: multimedia broadcaster (8), education assistant for mobile uses (7), communication officer (4), video production officer (2), website developer (1), digital forger (5), teacher TIC (5), social network manager (13), 2D/3D graphic designer (5), web graphic designer (9), mass media graphic designer (10), web integration (10), digital facilitator (17), 3D modelling (3), digital assistant (5), webmaster (5), fab-manager assistant (4); • Professional opportunities during the programme: training (29), alternate training: 0; • Projects for local governments or firms: 33; • Professional situation at the end of the programme: training extended (14), new training (4), return to education in the digital sector (14), general education (10), permanent job contract (3), temporary job contract (4), independent (2).
Why should other European cities use it?
This project is transferable to other cities. It supports the politics towards young people living in deprived neighbourhoods, and all actions aiming at the innovative remobilisation of youth. It could be transferable to all cities facing the problem of school dropout, social exclusion, discrimination, immigration issues, high unemployment and poverty in a global meaning. The projects' innovative action is not based on theoretic knowledge, but on project management, innovative methodology and pedagogy. Many workshops are included on topics such as personal skills, self-confidence, citizen involvement etc.
The city of Dupnitsa (BG) recently constructed 15 buildings providing 150 modern social houses to at least 460 vulnerable, socially and economically disadvantaged citizens in a district where 90% of the population are Roma. To further improve their living conditions, the city established a new community centre for counselling, retraining, vocational guidance, housing, professional advice on situations leading to poverty and social exclusion. The aim is for the beneficiaries to find permanent jobs after the project so that they are able to maintain the dwellings in which they are housed, pay rent and provide a better quality of life to their families.
The solutions offered by the good practice
The solutions offered by the good practice are: • Construction of modern social houses - 160 homes with an average size of 66 square metres in single-family and multifamily residential buildings with up to three floors, located in a new regulated urban area adjacent to other residential areas and access to infrastructure and public services. • Estimates for municipal social housing use the following output parameters: average living area per person of 25 square metres; area provided housing of 12,000 square metres; the average number of persons per household, 2.7; • Intervention to avoid segregation, as representatives of the target groups coexist with other residents of the municipality, enjoy the same social, health and public services and jointly address common problems of the territory in which they live through participation in maintenance activities of areas for public use, joint neighbourhood councils and participation in joint initiatives. This partnership provides civilian control of the sustainability of the project and the protection of newly built social housing; • Neighbourhood with construction planned for an outside corporate housing project allows for rapid adaptation and motivation of the target group among the community of Dupnitsa. The realization of the social measures contributed to increasing the quality of life of the vulnerable groups and their families and made the integration process easier.
Building on the sustainable and integrated approach
In today’s Europe we are experiencing a transformation in the perceptions of the role cities can play in developing sustainable communities of common interest and shared values. Cities are increasingly seen in a wider societal context, linking place, territory and scale with governance, inclusion and participation. They are perceived as economic, political and social assets in Europe’s changing societies. Integration refers to a variety of processes by which individuals and groups of people are incorporated into various social arenas and segments of society. The essence of integration is the acceptance and tolerance of and respect for other people possessing different values and beliefs and behaving differently, while being committed to and working towards a common future, in which all will have a fair share. This is why policy at the regional, national and European levels needs to have an urban dimension: to exchange experiences and best practices, to help overcome urban (social and cultural) ruptures, and finally to bring forward new investment in social capital. The integration of the social groups in the urban mix and providing of complex social services are the keys for sustainable and integrated urban development. Cities have also been engines of economic and social development, creating growth, innovation and employment. Economic and social sustainability is a key concept in urban policies. Economic growth means lack of poverty, social exclusion and urban problems.
Based on a participatory approach
Emphasis in the selection of the target group of the project was put on a neighbourhood shown by data to have the greatest housing problem and a lack of normal household conditions. The district has a total area of 85,000 square metres. There are 372 homes with 1,655 inhabitants, of whom 735 are men and 920 are women. Children under 18 years make up 532 of the residents, while those 18 to 64 years make up 1,040. There are 83 persons over age 65. These data are for the entire neighbourhood, as 90% of the residents are Roma, according to self-determination of their ethnicity. Over 50% of the population in the neighbourhood live in very poor conditions. All the participants involved in the project were the subjects of research for identifying their living conditions, social inclusion, etc. Two organisations were partners in the projects: Foundation Habitat for Humanity Bulgaria, a division of Habitat for Humanity, and Amala Friends. Both organisations have extensive experience in the implementation of similar projects, including in the Dupnitsa area.
What difference has it made?
Fifteen multifamily buildings were built, housing 150 families from the target group and 460 direct users of the project. As part of the implementation of the project, the direct beneficiaries underwent training to enable them to seek and find a permanent job. As a result of determining the roles of representatives, conditions were created to provide practical knowledge and experience as well as employment. This ensured the newly established service a community centre for counselling, retraining, vocational guidance and housing to improve the living conditions of the population. With this service, the representatives of marginalized groups are able to receive not only social and psychological counselling, but are able to use the services of mediators and lawyers in cases of job loss or other risks leading to poverty and social exclusion. The project aims to give marginalized groups the opportunity to retrain, have internships and remain in permanent jobs so that they are able to maintain the dwellings in which they are housed, to pay rent and provide a better quality of life for their families. The creation of a social enterprise that caters newly homes, commit at least 10 percent of the families of the target group.
Why should other European cities use it?
The good practice would be interesting for other European cities because the whole implementation is connected not only with the construction of housing, but also with the implementation of ‘’soft measures’’ which lead to improving the quality of life through training and courses for raising people’s professional qualifications. The activities are combined with actions to ensure access to education, employment, health and social services for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. Implementing each phase aims to achieve an integrated approach - activities in support of intervention in the sector for housing combined with other interventions, including those in education, health, social inclusion and employment. Dupnitsa Municipality has stressed the integrated approach. It targets social and economic cohesion in parallel, removing barriers to employability and investment at the same time as promoting social and environmental goals. The concept of sustainable communities and inclusive cities holds that cities will succeed best when they integrate economic, social, environmental and physical dimensions, alongside public services, leadership and quality of place. Local strategic partnerships need to ensure that citizens are fully involved in local democratic processes and may fully participate in an intercultural dialogue.
On Board is about creating a culture in public education that prioritises innovation, empowers teachers, families and students working together with research institutions, business sectors and other local entities. EIN explores innovative practices modernising education curricula also through digital technologies at different ages and stages of learning, to provide pupils with the necessary skills to enter the job market.
The solutions offered by the good practice
Educational Innovation Network (EIN) I was born in 2013 in Volladecans to rethink and update the existing education system involving public administration officials, education centres & professionals, families and enterprises to foster educational innovation. EIN carries out various projects in which the establishments of collaboration agreements among local school-enterprises-families is key to innovate. Examples are:
Collaboration agreement between enterprises, schools and the city council dedicated to senior students of the Upper Secondary School or Vocational Training to solve problems and issues suggested by local enterprises, with the scope of improving the accessibility in the job markets of the young generation.
Collaboration with research institutions such as the university of Barcelona to tackle “Emotional Education”, in which specific training is given to teachers to develop emotional competences (of teachers and pupils) in school contexts.
Collaboration with families encouraged to join EIN by participating in the school council, collaborating on reading happenings or festivities, taking part in the AFS Association of Families of Students of the local schools supported by Expert of the education department. From a technological point of view, the EIN carries out several projects, in order to ensure that Viladecans’ schools, teachers and students are provided with digital devices and skills.
Building on the sustainable and integrated approach
One of the main achievement for the sustainability of the project is the political commitment signed by all the ON board partner cities to sustain the EIN approach. The ULG gave an impetus in this sense through the creation of the “Drivers Group” of the EIN, which intends to support beyond the ON BOARD project to help ensuring the network’s long-lasting involvement and contributions to education innovation in Viladecans. Moreover, Viladecans is going one step further with the new strategy it announced recently called 360º Education, under the 360º Education Alliance, which Viladecans joined in 2019. This initiative, promoted by the Barcelona Regional Council, Federation of Pedagogical Renovation Movements of Catalonia (FMRPC) and the Jaume Bofill Foundation, brings together town councils and local bodies, educational centres, associations and free-time organisations, and the voluntary sector. To shape the strategy, a multidisciplinary Steering Group has been set up, with primary and secondary school teachers, youth and sports groups, family associations, the Psycho-Pedagogical Advisory Team, the Barcelona Regional Council and the Viladecans City Council Department of Sport and Education. 360º Education will kick off with a pilot project with organisations that work with children to help them manage their emotions in line with what educational centres do and to ensure continuity of learning at school and outside of school.The 360º Education project will complement the Educational Innovation Network and help foster the educational success of children in the city.
Based on a participatory approach
The EIN good practice is entirely designed around the concept of participation, more specifically on the creation of multistakeholders’ partnership from different sectors. In Villadecans the implementation of most of the EIN project is composed of circa 850 members (primary and secondary schools, education professionals, families and enterprises).. All primary and secondary schools in the city are voluntarily involved in more than one project out of the 10 active network projects.
What difference has it made?
ON BOARD project has given in Viladecans the time and space to reflect at themunicipal level what has worked and what hasn’t, involving teachers, families, businesses, youths and civil society entities. Thus, the creation of ON BOARD network meant the opportunity to consolidate the EIN approach labelled URBACT good Practice. The main difference for Vlladecans concerns the improvement of the EIN modus operandi, which throught the Transfer has been improved along three axes concerning :
the inclusion of Civil Society, SME entities and young people as active members of the network;
the definition of a clear set of indicators to measure and evaluate the results and impact and help us to take decisions for the future; and,
the ensuring the sustainability of the EIN in the future. As network the cities signed jointly a political declaration
Transferring the practice
The EIN good practice lays on the creation of a strong multistakehodelr network, which in Villadecas constitute now a stable ecosystem of different people created over a relatively long period of time. The complexity of the transfer was indeed in providing the tools for the creation of an healthy and context-dependent stakeholders’ ecosystem able to sustain the creation of the innovative educational approach. The methodology adopted for the On Board six participating European cities (Viladecans, Halmstad, Nantes, Albergaria, Tallinn, and Poznan) was to organise 8 transnational meetings, focusing on key partners as the teachers and their role in the promotion of educational innovation and their capacity to open the school and interact with local agents; The business and university sector and their capacity to dialogue with schools, The non-formal education organisations and other local cultural, sports and leisure entities and associations, Students families. In terms of statistics the Transfer network involved more than 600 teachers, 5 400 students, 120 families, 19 companies and 24 entities, 15 pilot projects. The disruption of COVID has been heartily felt in this Transfer Network.
