Local/Regional Economic Development in South ... - Value Chains

6
.5 Island Development Program Croatia –
Between Preserving Natural Resources and Economic Transformation
Dr. Stefan Dräger
Short description of the approach
To a large extent, Croatian regional structure is shaped
and influenced by islands. The islands not only represent
an important part of Croatian regional identity, but also
mirror the current conflicts between preservation of natural
resources and socio-cultural identity, on the one hand,
and economic-social transformation, on the other hand.
Island-specific phenomena, however, also come into play
here and make the resolution of such conflicts even more
difficult: limited carrying capacities and strong social cohesion
that, on several islands, goes hand in hand with a
tendency toward insularity.
Economic development is focused almost exclusively on
tourism and in turn, on increasing the number of beds.
In contrast, upstream and downstream production and
services are largely ignored, although there are regional
differences. Municipal investment is oriented primarily
toward the interests of an extremely short tourist season
(July–August). There is really no investment policy in the
sense of broader economic development. As a result, there
is migration from many of the islands, with all the negative
consequences for demographic development and local
economic development potential.
On the basis of the law on island development and in
conjunction with the 26 Sustainable Island Development
Programs (local development strategies) and the 14 State
Programs for Island Development (sector development
strategies), instruments were created that allow government
investments and subsidies to be focused more directly
on island development. In addition, they allow sector
and local demands to be better coordinated and more
closely harmonized with the interests and strategic orientations
of the island communities. Overall development
efforts can thus be designed to be more effective, efficient,
and of course also more transparent. Joining measures of
individual programs into yearly island plans creates an
annually updated program that covers all the islands of
Croatia.
Project implementation
The project “Advice on Regional Development Planning
in Croatia” is helping the relevant department in the Ministry
of the Sea, Tourism, Transport, and Development
(until the end of 2003, Ministry for Public Works, Construction,
and Reconstruction) to prepare the island, government,
and sector programs. Project support is concentrated
on advising the responsible department, including
in-house training, on-the-job training, and discussion of
methodological and legal questions. The activities have the
character of coaching. This allows project staff members
to critically address issues relevant to the current political
culture and government organizational structure.
The sector or government programs were prepared by interministerial
working groups. This was done through presentations
and joint working-group-specific discussions to
familiarize participants with the individual steps of preparing
a strategy.
Specialized institutes and private firms were commissioned
to draw up island programs, their methodological weaknesses
becoming apparent as they carried out their commissions.
Local experts in the project advised the contractors
on methodological questions, after consulting with
the ministries and at times in conjunction with staff members
of the ministry; they also supported implementation
of the studies.
An important element of the advisory services is goal orientation
and implementation of the planned programs.
This includes setting implementation guidelines and the
process of preparing the Annual Island Plans as the basis
of the annual financing volume and its regional and sector
distribution. It also includes identifying appropriate local
and central implementing structures.
Impact
The activities and outputs of the project consist of advising
and accompanying local and central-government actors
in the preparation of integrated municipal and island
programs. The objective is the strategic design and promotion
of island development away from an inconsistent, uncoordinated
approach to a process based on effectiveness,
efficiency, and transparency.
Providing the methodological bases, procedures, and instruments
and introducing implementation structures
helps to institutionalize a sustainable development process
on the islands as a prerequisite for local economic development.
Additionally, supporting and training responsible
actors at the central level promotes improved framework
conditions for the actors at the local level of activity.
The outputs are used for raising the effectiveness of actors
at the local and central level by incorporating local stakeholders
in the process of program preparation. In particular,
articulating the interests and expectations of citizens
creates increasing pressure to plan concrete measures and
implement them for the benefit of the citizens. In addition
to the direct identification, implementation, and evalu-