Europa XXI (2010) vol. 21
Regional Observatories of Development Policy as a tool for monitoring the efficiency of the cohesion policy
Europa XXI (2010) vol. 21, pp. 155-172 | 
Full text
doi: https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2010.21.12
Abstract
In the ten new EU-Member States from the Central Europe, similarly to the whole community, the regions establish their Regional Operating Programmes in direct co-operation with the European Commission and thus they can significantly influence the directions of regional development. Responsible programming requires solid foundations for the purpose of evaluation of the projects. Presently, the regions of the new member states suffer from a serious shortage of instruments required for such evaluation. The Regional Development Policy Observatory network could play the role of the supporters of regional authorities in the respective countries. Such Observatories, allowing to monitor the influence of the aid resources on the regional development could be organized in each region, in accordance with the following assumptions: 1) Monitoring and evaluation of the development policy are continuous tasks. 2) The indicators used in monitoring activities and partial evaluations of the influence of the public intervention instruments create a complete system and integrate the existing measurement and evaluation tools applied by regional authorities. 3) Professional and continued operations of the Observatories require institutional approach: in the long term, monitoring institutions should be established, and, with time, they would be transformed into a network of regional think-tanks. 4) The results of analyses and evaluations resulting from the Observatory operation should be made publicly available. It is essential for the form of result presentation, at least in part, to be easily understood by local communities. 5) The development policy evaluations and the consequential revision proposals regarding the regional government interventions should be the objects of regular public debates. A starting point for the preparation of a uniform methodology for the Regional Development Policy Observatories is the assumption that the methodology should be based on three modules: Module I - monitoring of the economic development processes and regional residents’ quality of life. As part of this module, wide-scale analyses of the diversity of social and economic development and the rate of change would be conducted in each region. Module II - measurement and evaluation of public interventions, especially of the absorptions of aid funds and their direct effects. As part of this module, information on possibly all interventions implemented in the regions, with the use of aid funds, would be collected. Module III - presentation of a general evaluation of the regional policy and the evaluation of particular instruments of such policies, and, in particular, description of the influence of the EU programmes on the regional and local development. Module III will be used for the implementation of the basic purpose of the establishment of the Observatories and it will be based on the results of Modules I and II.
Keywords: regional development policy, regional development indicators, monitoring, Poland
Citation
APA: Jarczewski, W. (2010). Regional Observatories of Development Policy as a tool for monitoring the efficiency of the cohesion policy. Europa XXI, 21, 155-172. https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2010.21.12
MLA: Jarczewski, Wojciech. "Regional Observatories of Development Policy as a tool for monitoring the efficiency of the cohesion policy". Europa XXI, vol. 21, 2010, pp. 155-172. https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2010.21.12
Chicago: Jarczewski, Wojciech. "Regional Observatories of Development Policy as a tool for monitoring the efficiency of the cohesion policy". Europa XXI 21 (2010): 155-172. https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2010.21.12
Harvard: Jarczewski, W. 2010. "Regional Observatories of Development Policy as a tool for monitoring the efficiency of the cohesion policy". Europa XXI, vol. 21, pp. 155-172. https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2010.21.12