From Aurora Borealis to Carpathians. Searching the Road to Regional and Rural Development

This paper aims at analysing the current regional and rural development tools available for Romania and Finland, as well as common encountered problems and differences in the local realities. The theoretical framework covers contemporary concepts typical for regional development and for rural development, such as learning regions, knowledge creation, social networks, innovation, bottom-up versus top-down approaches, and social, cultural and economical sustainable development. References to the specific problems encountered in remote areas or related to the communities with limited access to various resources are made and the existing policy trends are compared. Rural reality embraces very particular characteristics both in Romania and Finland. However, the history trends have been different and the actual situation of countries’ economy indicates a potential of learning in case of Romania and available solutions to similar problems in case of Finland. Still, transferring models and solutions is not an easy task and the particular challenges encountered in Nordic knowledge transfer projects are mentioned as a starting point helping to formulate assumptions related to the impediment to be expected in such a transfer case. Project Cycle Management in its newest version is brought in the discussion in an attempt to asses in what extent its recommendation could be useful and applied in the case of rural development programmes. The potential quality increase and the high technicality of the used terms are some of the analysed features of project Cycle Management. The concrete examples used in the paper are based on the interviews carried on by the authors in different and common research and evaluation projects in Finland and Romania. The paper brings into discussion the lacks existent in rural and regional development policy in an EU country and a accession one, as they appear using the initially proposed theoretical framework. Recommendations to be followed in the coming year are suggested in this paper evaluating comparatively some of the existent problems affecting local development

From Aurora Borealis to Carpathians. Searching the Road to Regional and Rural Development

This paper aims at analysing the current regional and rural development tools available for Romania and Finland, as well as common encountered problems and differences in the local realities. The theoretical framework covers contemporary concepts typical for regional development and for rural development, such as learning regions, knowledge creation, social networks, innovation, bottom-up versus top-down approaches, and social, cultural and economical sustainable development. References to the specific problems encountered in remote areas or related to the communities with limited access to various resources are made and the existing policy trends are compared. Rural reality embraces very particular characteristics both in Romania and Finland. However, the history trends have been different and the actual situation of countries' economy indicates a potential of learning in case of Romania and available solutions to similar problems in case of Finland. Still, transferring models and solutions is not an easy task and the particular challenges encountered in Nordic knowledge transfer projects are mentioned as a starting point helping to formulate assumptions related to the impediment to be expected in such a transfer case. Project Cycle Management in its newest version is brought in the discussion in an attempt to asses in what extent its recommendation could be useful and applied in the case of rural development programmes. The potential quality increase and the high technicality of the used terms are some of the analysed features of project Cycle Management. The concrete examples used in the paper are based on the interviews carried on by the authors in different and common research and evaluation projects in Finland and Romania. The paper brings into discussion the lacks existent in rural and regional development policy in an EU country and a accession one, as they appear using the initially proposed theoretical framework. Recommendations to be followed in the coming year are suggested in this paper evaluating comparatively some of the existent problems affecting local developmen

Aurora Borealis. Project Cycle Management in Regional Development

This paper aims to analyse Project Cycle Management approach in the context of regional development. The theoretical framework covers contemporary concepts typical for regional development and specific project/programme management tools. The comparative approach is used to take into account the two versions of Project Cycle Management presented by European Commission among evaluation methods and instruments, in 1993 and 2001. A practical application is drawn using mid-term evaluation of Barents Specialists project, conducted in 2003. Regional development related concepts referred to in this paper include general level concepts such as (but not only) regional development policy, networked environment, learning region, and also specific ones, related to peripherical and Northern regions. In the knowledge era, it is important to consider the role of learning and networking in designing regional development policy in an effective manner. Using standardized tools, as Project Cycle Management might assure the desired efficacy in those cases of projects/programs applying a tailored critical approach of the method. A proper customisation of the tool could be done due to increased awareness and familiarization with Project Cycle Management, after a comparative analysis of the two versions provided by European Commission. Barents Specialists project, a regional development project aiming to explore and develop local skills and knowledge in an innovative way, is used as a practical example. Authors of this paper apply the Project Cycle Management principles to the Barents Specialists project, using the recent mid-term evaluation as starting point. At last, the paper provides recommendations regarding the use of Project Cycle Management in regional development projects/programs

How to Make a Living in Insular Areas - Six Nordic Cases

This study focuses on the following six insular areas in the Nordic countries: Bornholm in Denmark The Eyjafjörður region in Iceland Gotland in Sweden The Kainuu region in Finland The Ulstein region in Norway Åland &nbsp Insular areas do not have to be islands surrounded by water they can be insular due to the sheer distances involved, or due to difficult terrain. The concept insular means that it is not realistic to commute on a daily basis to a neighbouring labour market and therefore the areas are insulated in terms of opportunities for the population to make a living there. Because these labour markets are insular, they cannot fully operate as markets. There are often other types of processes matching the labour supply and demand. It is moreover, also often necessary to take special steps to recruit key professionals to these areas, e.g. within the medical profession. Over a year, and a working life, individuals who live in these insular areas are likely to move between the labour market, i.e. having a job or being self-employed, and other parts of the income system. These other parts of the system may be education and training, unemployment or parts of the social insurance system