Description

In 1998 the Government of Romania ratified a Law on Regional Development (Law 151/98), which specified the establishment of a number of institutions and services for Regional development on a regional and national level. The National Agency for Regional Development (NARD) was created as a result, as were eight Regional Development Agencies, one for each development region of Romania. This project provided support and training to the NARD so as to play a central role with respect to the Structural and Cohesion Fund. The project also provided support to the eight Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), located throughout the territory of Romania, in developing the necessary capacity to become the key institutions for the design, management and implementation of regional development initiatives, projects and programmes. The project assisted in the formulation of a modern approach to national regional policy, and the creation of the necessary structures, through which participation to regional development was feasible. Assistance was provided to all eight Regional Development Agencies in accessing Structural Funds in Romania, allowing the country to become a member of an enlarged EU. The project enhanced the capacity of the Regional Development Agencies to effectively manage the process of organising calls for grant-award proposals, project selection and project appraisal and subsequent monitoring of the projects to be funded under the 1998 PHARE Regional Policy and Cohesion Programme. More specifically, the project resulted in the RDAs being able to play an effective role in the framework of National Regional Policy intervention, and promote and support an indigenous or bottom-up approach to the development of the regions, which draw upon funding sources other than the EU or the State Budget.

The project results included the following:

• approved Regional Development Plans (one per region);
• quality material from the regions for the preparation of the National Regional Development Plan;
• adoption of sound, transparent and accountable financial management and control procedures in relation to the use of the Regional Development Funds for regional development;
• ability to identify, appraise and select projects for support;
• effective management of regional and rural development projects and programmes;
• effective management of regional and rural development measures within EU regional development operational programmes;
• establishment of appropriate structures for programme management.