Managing authorities working with cities Regions for Economic Change 17 th February 2009 Peter Ramsden Pole Manager

Who are the designated management bodies? Managing Authority Certifying Authority Competent Body for Payments Intermediate Bodies (as appropriate) Audit Authority National Strategic Reference Framework coordination body Responsible bodies for ‘horizontal’ policies –State Aids –Public Procurement –Environment –Equal Opportunities

Key Management Authority functions Partnership management Communications and publicity Project pipeline Project appraisal and selection - contracting ‘Client’ management / aftercare Programme monitoring Coordination with other programmes Financial management Servicing the Monitoring Committee

Managing Authority Certifying Authority Intermediate Bodies Beneficiaries Programme Monitoring Committee ProjectsSchemes European Commission Payments to Beneficiaries may be via a designated ‘competent body’, depending on the Operational Programme concerned Programme management

Delegation of tasks MAs may delegate tasks but not responsibility to Intermediary bodies – e.g. to: –provide application and claims guidance –provide support to applicants –receive and register eligible applications –appraise projects –ensure compliance of application and claims –monitor projects’ progress –monitor financial profiles –support the partnership –support committees

Sectoral programme structures Measures Priority OP IndustrySMEs Finanical initiatives Innovation Climate for Investment

URBACT II An exchange and learning programme for cities. Supported out of the European Territorial Cooperation Objective under the ERDF Strategy to implement the EU Cohesion policy and the Lisbon- Gothenburg Strategy for competitive, socially integrated and sustainable cities Main objectives are to improve the effectiveness of urban development policies and strengthen the common concept of integrated urban development To date there are 21 thematic networks and 6 working groups plus two pilot networks. At least 253 project partners, over 3000 members of Local support groups

Exchange Model URBACT methodology

Innovations in URBACT 2 A 4 or 6 month development phase in which partnership is completed, baseline study carried out and work programme drawn up Local support groups formed in Partner cities Local action plans developed The ERDF (and some ESF) Managing authorities implicated in all Fast Track projects and majority of others

Different levels of engagement of MAs with URBACT projects Occasional involvement – attending kick- off and final meeting, information sharing Active involvement – attending all meetings Learning apart, learning together Membership of local support groups

URBACT ll Policy context: Mainstreaming URBAN Urban strands in all three Cohesion Policy Objectives Mainstreaming of the URBAN Community Initiative (Art. 8 of Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006) Operational Programmes are not required to include specific urban actions Challenge of including local actors into the implementation But many programmes are organised in a sectoral hierarchic logic This is a challenge for the integrated approach Need for cooperation between cities and their Managing Authorities to improve programme quality and performance

Potential benefits for cities –Exchanging knowledge and good practice –Drawing on urban expertise (local support group, Lead Expert, thematic experts, URBACT support) –Understanding needs, building capacity to act, and experience of implementation –Enhanced relationships with MAs –Learning with others by peer review of LAPs –Learning by building local support groups –Better prepared project applications for funding –New policies developed in partnership with MAs and parent ministries

Lead Partner Venice Sevilla Timis oaria komotin i Torin o Vantaa Nea Alarkan nasoss Thematic experts Lead Expert MA ERDF Andalusia MA ERDF Veneto MA Romannia MA MA Piemont e MA MA ESF Veneto ESF MA Andalusia DG REGIO

Ambitions of cities working with MAs Develop an adult relationship between cities and MAs Conduit up and down (for ideas, projects and policies) Influence the policy and design of programmes Access financing packages Learn to build urban policy Matching the demand and offer Influence the Terms of Reference for calls for proposa l

City ambitions Building capacity and understanding constraints Finding out about funding opportunities Management approach Learning about city needs URBAN mainstreaming

Opportunities for Managing Authorities to learn from URBACT experience Learning about concrete urban operations Getting in touch with local actors, Opportunity to support integrated urban operations Testing new governance structures in the cooperation with cities Converting good models into general practice Forming learning networks with other Managing and authorities and implementing bodies Facilitating the implementation of OPs

Issues Complex structures – in cities and in MAs Need for variable geometry MAs need to ensure fairness (across all cities) No ‘one size fits all’ URBACT projects are very diverse in objectives and working methods Political issues between levels of governance Integration is difficult across sectoral programmes or priorities, and across funds Degree of access to programmes varies Need for capacity building - on both sides