One of the most important activities of the H2020 project PoliRural is the implementation of 12 regional foresight initiatives. Each region is expected to develop a complete Foresight ‘package’ consisting of a ‘Vision for the growth and development of the region’, an ‘Action Plan’ containing the measures needed to achieve that vision, and a ‘Roadmap’ that lays down the sequencing of measures and the actors responsible for their implementation. The success rate of this exercise will be determined through the endorsement of this package by key economic and social stakeholders of the region; and adopted by appropriate actors in public administration, who will see the program of measures through to implementation.
One of the most important tools developed so far is an ‘Inventory of Drivers of Change’. The 12 regional teams of the PoliRural project worked together to co-create this inventory, giving all regions a starting point for their work with local stakeholders on the analysis of drivers. This work was divided among teams based on the well-known STEEPV tool, which groups drivers under the major headings of Social, Technological, Economic and Environmental, Political, and Values.
The use of the STEEPV tool ensures that the search for candidate drivers is as complete and comprehensive as possible. In this case, 64 drivers were identified and described indicating why these are worth investigating, along with the opportunities and threats they might present for rural regions.
The inventory was completed by a set of methodology notes explaining how the regional teams might use it as an input to their Drivers’ Analysis task. It clarifies the kinds of results they should aim to obtain. In particular, a prioritised list of challenges that the region must address, based on a deeper understanding of change; what is driving change at regional level; and how regional actors can work with the unfolding of such change to achieve a shared vision of the future.
The ‘Inventory of Drivers of Change’ can be downloaded here. Find out more about PoliRural!
Published by Polirural