Economic Development through Inclusive Local Empowerment

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From the year 2000 to the recent political uprisings, South Mediterranean countries have been welcoming an increasing inflow of public and private investment projects. However, facts show that these projects have often not been as beneficial as expected for local economies, creating few jobs (on average, only 1 single direct job created per million Euros invested by foreign operators), generating limited local economic spillovers (few opportunities offered to local subcontractors) and sometimes underestimated negative impacts (on the environment for instance). Correlatively, procedures for project evaluation are not evenly developed in the Mediterranean area and public authorities involved in investment regulation lack the necessary tools to proceed to a sound assessment of projects. Yet, evaluation can play a key role in selecting the best public investment projects and in supporting private projects which are the most likely to contribute to the inclusive development of territories. When conducted adequately, evaluation has indeed proven to be an efficient mean to support job creation, local subcontracting, training or environment conservation. The EDILE project will therefore strive to reinforce capacities of local and national public authorities in project appraisal and evaluation, thus encouraging a better selection of public investment projects and an effective negotiation to maximise private investment impact. Specific objective To enhance the capacities of local authorities & economic bodies in assessing & improving investment projects, using an innovative process mixing case studies, design of assessment tools, dialogue with enterprises & civil society and practical search for higher social benefits

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