croatian experiences budapest | december 14th 2010 cross border partnerships

Croatian ExperiencesBudapest | December 14th 2010

CROSS BORDER PARTNERSHIPS

Why to be a drop if I can be a waterfallWhy to be a drop if I can be a waterfall

TOPICS

• Partnerships pros and cons

• CBC Lessons learned from Osijek-baranja county

• Challenges & Perspectives

ABOUT PARTNERSHIPS

PARTNERSHIPNo one is good enough to succeed alone. Win those who choose the best partners.

J. Marioti | Smart Things to Say About Partnerships”

Pozorno smišljena veza s dodanom vrijednosti i obostranom koristi između suglasnih tijela/organizacija, koju se njeguje tijekom vremena i koja vodi prema mjerljivim rezultatima. World Bank Development

Forum

WHY DO WE NEED CBC?

Dillema or not

WHY CBC?

• All EU policies based on cooperation • Unbalanced regional development • Globalization causing regional

approach competitiveness | recognizing specific regional strengths | positioning through being different

• Sharing insufficient resources• Building new regional identity • Transfer of know-how

BENEFITS (PROS)

• Sharing resources • Partners sharing risks and

responsibilities• Covering wider area (program and

geographic) • Easier to make long-term impact• Improving image of all stakeholders• Transfer of know-how - developing

human resources of all stakeholders • Models and best practices - replicable

and serving as motivator for other potential stakeholders

WHY DON’T PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS WORK TOGETHER?

Dillema or not

“Don’t use force, use bigger hammer.”

Artur Bloch |“Murphy’s law and other reasons why things go wrong”

MOST COMMON REASONS (CONS)• Unequal distribution of power among partners

causing distrust; no long term impacts • Lack of credibility of any partner may

jeopardize entire project • Lack of human resources – come up with

realistic goals • False expectations – dissatisfaction with

achieved results• No common plan - partners going into different

directions;• No real support at the highest level – no

results• Lack of trust among partners - hard to

compensate with control mechanisms

IPA CBC Hungary-CroatiaOsijek-Baranja county

IPA CBC Projects (1st call)

• 42 projects approved• 20 projects within Osijek-Baranja

county• 25 partners from Croatian side

(OBC)• Only 2 lead beneficiaries from OBC

(City of Osijek and PI Croatian Waters)

• 2,6 mil Eur (12 mil Eur total)

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED SO FAR?

Lessons learned, Challenges or an on-going learning process

MAIN CHALLENGESOnly real partnerships make

impact• Many last minute partnerships

without knowing partners (resources/goals/credibility/values/ responsibility)

• No equal participation in early phase of creating project (no proper understaning/contribution and therefore no real impact)

1/4

MAIN CHALLENGESLegal and implementation framework between Croatia and Hungary not adjusted•Delays and misunderstandings in implementation•Slow procedures

2/4

MAIN CHALLENGESCroatian institutions need to be more flexible and ensuring proper capacities in HR•Legal procedures within Cro institutions not adjusted to apsorb EU funds and efficiently implement CBC projectsEmployment procedures for project management staff; administrative procedures and capacities

3/4

MAIN CHALLENGESPre-financing capacities low•Only organizations with secured funds for pre-financing (up to 9 months) able to participate •No support for CSOs (loan system not established)•Local governments need to pre-plan and allocate funds

4/4

MAIN BENEFITSLearning process has speed out - Capacity building programs •(University of Osijek / RDA / OBC / Slap /Credere – post graduate specialistic study in PCM for Project Managers (3 groups, 70 students)•Seminars, courses, info days, technical assistance, partner search (RDA / DAoOBC )

1/3

MAIN BENEFITS

Each project has multiplied number of new partnerships – avenue for new partnerships / projects •Example: Crost II – creating opportunities for new partnerships

2/3

MAIN BENEFITSAwareness of the necesity to work together as belonging to the same region •Seing the benefits of joint activities in sharing common problems; transfer of know-how and becoming more competitive within the EU market

3/3

DILLEMA

How much time could we afford to continue learning?

MAIN CHALLENGES

WHY TO BE A DROP IF A CAN BE A WATERFALL

CONTACTSonja Vuković

Udruga za kreativni razvoj SlapLorenza Jagera 6/3

31000 OsijekTel: +385 31 213 556Fax: +385 31 213 557

Mob: +385 91 510 2172udruga.slap@gmail.com

www.slap.hr