Policy Paper "Achievements of local economic development initiatives in Serbia: Area-based development approach versus sectoral/issue-based development approach"

After a decade since the beginning of intensive implementation of the variety of local economic development (LED) practices in Serbia there is certainly a need for analyses of their achievements. And while independent project evaluations tell us that LED projects implemented in Serbia usually achieve their expected results, measured in terms of project outputs, we don’t know much about achievement of long-lasting transformations. Nonetheless, all development actors  agree that sustainability and achievement of long-lasting transformations is the main goal of LED projects.

This paper, in fact, will analyse two main families of development approaches implemented in Serbia, Area-Based Development approach (ABD) and sectoral/issue-based approach. In examining the long-lasting transformations induced by those two types of LED initiatives, this study will focus on two indicators: administrative capacities of local governments and participatory policy making and planning. It will therefore try to answer the following questions: Does ABD approach, when compared to sector/issue approach, prove to be better in terms of improved administrative capacities of local governments and participatory policy making?