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Simplifying supra-local cooperation in the context of region formation
Tony Vermeire
Expert (local) governance
"With IDEA Consult's input and guidance, we were able to bring many partners in the Flemish Ardennes region together around leisure time. Through the input of our expertise and through the chosen working methods, we managed to give everyone a taste of the added value of regional cooperation through the meetings. We hope this is a solid foundation to put leisure even more on the map with the new management teams in the Flemish Ardennes region."
The challenge
For a guidance project in the Flemish Ardennes reference region in the framework of the open call ‘vereenvoudiging bovenlokale samenwerking’ (simplification of supra-local cooperation) of the Agentschap Binnenlands Bestuur (ABB), we searched in the spring of 2024 for a broadly supported proposal for structural inter-municipal cooperation in the field of ‘leisure’ in the Flemish Ardennes region. This was at the level of the entire reference region and with the participation of as many municipalities as possible belonging to this reference region. Thus, we make work of the Flemish ambition to put more effort into effective cooperation within the reference regions, within a clear structure.
The process & results
We first set up a core group to sharpen the structure and content of the project. We tested this with the consultation of mayors and general managers of the region.
Then, with the core group, we worked out a proposal of what cooperation on leisure could look like in the region.
This proposal was checked off. Sometimes bilaterally (for tourism and immovable heritage), sometimes through consultation tables. The consultation tables brought together officials, aldermen and actors within the leisure cluster. We tested the core group’s proposal with them. They elaborated everything further. In each case, IDEA took a substantive approach. After all, we thought it was important to work around the ‘why’ first (strategy). The second part then dealt with the structure: the ‘how’.
With this input, we drew up a final report. We now present this as a kind of memorandum that people can hopefully work with in the next legislature.
The ‘hard’ result is a final report that can hopefully serve as a kind of memorandum that the next board of mayors and aldermen, together with the leisure field, can work with. It also provided ‘lessons learned’ for other projects that want to work around inter-municipal partnerships.
The ‘soft’ result is that we were able to bring a lot of people from the Flemish Ardennes region together in a short time. They got a taste for consulting more, sharing knowledge and tackling challenges together.