Collaboration in Local Development

1
Collaboration in Local Development
The Benefits
1
www.nrn.ie
2
The current context

• Rural areas are under sever pressure
• Everything from the McCarthy Report to the
  weather, to the National Spatial Strategy to the
  farming sectors difficulties
• The population of the rural areas of Ireland is
  now very diverse in many areas
• Though diverse they share many common problems
  rural services, rural transport, management of
  development, unemployment, broadband access and
  so on

www.nrn.ie
2
3
What is it?

• Collaboration and networking
• Networking is between those organisations that
  are similar and pursuing the same objectives
• For me collaboration is shared activity between
  unusual partners
• Principle of collaboration is that the cake we
  are seeking to share is not of a set size
• True collaboration means
• Sharing the goals
• Sharing the costs
• Sharing the benefits
• Getting more of your things done than you could
  get done on your own

www.nrn.ie
3
4
Collaboration

• Can happen at many levels
• On policy development
• On strategy development
• On an issue especially in terms of the media
• On a project
• Often think of it in terms of projects but is
  possible and sometimes critical, for other areas
  as well
• Important for example that rural areas get their
  share of all funding and not just that directed
  at rural areas

www.nrn.ie
4
5
Who should be involved

• Often state and community and voluntary sectors
  the ones that are involved
• Two key sets of stakeholders are often missing
• The business community
• The financial community
• This needs to be reflected on

6
What are the benefits

• Tangible
• More likely to get approval or be heard
• More likely to have influence
• Able to apply for bigger projects
• Able to share overhead costs so they are less
• Able to bring individual expertise to bear on a
  project or issue
• Able to avoid unnecessary competition
• Intangible
• New relationships created and new dialogues
  started
• Able to deal with problems you couldnt have even
  talked about together previously

www.nrn.ie
6
7
Policy Aspects

• Developing shared policy positions regarding
  local rural areas
• This is both possible and necessary
• Many policy and legislative decisions are made
  that require rural proofing in the interests of
  all inhabitants of rural areas
• Development plan policies, for example, can have
  considerable implications for the inhabitants of
  rural areas and this may become even more
  problematic

www.nrn.ie
7
8
Addressing Issues

• Collaboration around media issues for example
• Rural areas got positive attention in the recent
  flooding
• However, coverage is often negative or
  non-existent
• Rural issues are often dismissed or treated with
  ridicule
• Rural divisions are exploited
• Urban perspective on rural issues often the one
  presented on mainstream media

www.nrn.ie
8
9
Accessing Funding

• Rural Development Programme an obvious source
• But also even at a local level
• Philanthropic funding
• EU funding in a wide range of areas
• Concerto
• Interreg
• EU Health Programme
• Other international funding
• National funding

www.nrn.ie
9
10
Some examples

• Collaboration between Local Authorities and
  communities on road improvement
• Community provides land
• Local Authority provides expertise and materials
• Community provides labour and machinery
• Collaboration between local organisations in a
  community Integrated Area Plans
• Ferbane Plan
• Ferbane Enterprise Centre

www.nrn.ie
10
11
And......

• Collaboration in accessing European funding
• SERVE project in North Tipperary Local
  Authority, TI, TEA, SPIL, participant
  householders and businesses
• Local Food networks Tipperary for example
• Philanthropic Funding - The Carnegie UK Trust
• Developing resilient rural communities
• Funding to facilitate the development of
  collaboration in rural areas

www.nrn.ie
11
12
And a final one ......

• Collaboration between communities and within
  communities with a focus on enterprise
  development
• Dunhill Eco-park in County Waterford
• Mixture of voluntary activity, some state
  assistance and private enterprise

www.nrn.ie
12
13
Conclusion

• Collaborative approaches are not easy
• They require a change of mind-set and a letting
  go of some level of control
• Adopting perspectives but not positions
• The cake can be made bigger through working
  together

www.nrn.ie
13
14
Conclusion

• Collaborative approaches should focus on outcomes
  rather than mechanisms in the first place
• The stakeholder base needs to be widened
• Rural communities have more in common than they
  have differences
• If they work together with clear purpose many
  good outcomes cn be achieved

www.nrn.ie
14