 |
|
|
|
CONDUCTING THE LOCAL ECONOMY ASSESSMENT
June 08, 2006
OBJECTIVE
To acquire and assemble key data and information on which to base future decisions. Information collection is undertaken by stakeholder representatives, especially members of the Planning Commission.
The specific outputs of the process are:
- Statistical hard and soft data about the socio economy of municipality;
- Overall view of private sector business concerns;
- SWOT analysis based on relevant data.
|
METHODOLOGY
The local economy assessment methodology has followed these steps:
- Data collection
- Municipal records and other regional and national sources
- Attitudinal survey of businesses (carried out by hired specialists)
- Data interpretation and development of comparisons and trends
- Development of competitiveness analysis through SWOT
The steps mentioned above are undertaken under the leadership of the LED Planning Commission chaired by the Mayor (see Session 10 for more detail on Planning Commission) and facilitated by FLAG facilitators. The LED office at the municipality (or the person in charge of LED at the municipality) collects and collates the data gathered.
PROCESS
a. Collect information in City Hall on the regulations and procedures that affect businesses; determine which pieces of information are accessable and which are not.
The aim of the collection of statistical data on various fields is to provide knowledge of the local socio-economic situation in the DELTA cities. The findings are used to provide all the commission members with a good understanding of the development trends and gaps, identify problems, and establish a data base to be used by the LED office for continuously providing advice and forecasts on development policies.
After the fist stage of data collection, gaps are identified in the data base. The LED process is an ongoing one that needs continuous improvement, meaning that each decision asks for specific information and data.
Surveys are a good source of information and they also offer an alternative viewpoint. The drawback may be that surveys seldom have open-ended questions; therefore they offer limited room for subjective inputs.
The Planning Commission also provide invaluable input for the data collection process.
i. Suggested baseline data to be collected
Several baseline data are identified as necessary categories: demographic, economic, business enabling, hard infrastructure, regional and national. Each of these categories was further elaborated as follows:
1. DEMOGRAPHY
- Population size
- Ages
- Growth Rate
- Projected Growth Rate
- Household Size
- Population Density
- Employees by Industrial Activity
- Locally; - Regionally; - Nationally (comparative analysis)
- Age Structure of Employed People
- Occupation Breakdown of
- Employed; - Unemployed;
- Structure of Employment Over Time (full/part-time/ male/female)
- Locally; - Regionally; - Nationally (comparative analysis)
- Average gross weekly earnings
- by gender; - full-time; - part-time
- Unemployment figures
- numbers; - age; - duration
- The Informal Sector
- numbers; - other information
- Numbers of Schools
- Types of Schools
- Numbers of teachers (full time equivalent)
- Class Sizes
- Educational Attainment levels over time by type
- Locally; - Nationally (comparative analysis)
- Numbers and types of training programs and providers
- Assessment of skill/occupational shortages/oversupply
2. ECONOMY
- Number and type of recent (e.g., last 10 years) firm closures
- Size; - Sector; - Date
- Numbers and sizes of firms
- by sectors; - numbers of full-time equivalent employees
- Number of inward investments by employee size, sector and date
- foreign; - domestic
- Number of new business start-ups,
- size; - sector/activity; - longevity
- Number of companies that export
- to where; - what by sector; - company size
- Top 50 companies by
- size; - employment; - turnover
- Business tax income
- Rental/purchase costs for vacant industrial and service sector units
- Vacancy rates of industrial and commercial space
- size; - location; - absorption rates
- Port/airport/rail cargo/passenger statistics
- Estimated number of informal businesses,
- type of sector; - employee number; - location
3. BUSINESS ENABLING ENVIRONMENT
- Taxation of Business
- Existence of supporting business networks, such as Chambers of Commerce
- Support services offered or subsidized by Local Government
4. HARD INFRASTRUCTURE
- Condition of water, electricity and wastewater provision in areas of economic activity
- Availability and quality of road and other transport modalities to nearest and major markets
- Assessment of provision of land, real estate/office space for economic development activities
5. REGIONAL AND NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT
- What neighbouring cities are doing in terms of their local economic development
- How neighbours are competing
- How they are, or could, collaborate
- What is happening nationally with LED
- Opportunities available through the national government
- International/global trends that may impact on the local area
The above formats are delivered to the LED core group as guidance in data gathering. Nevertheless the core groups also maximise use of Planning Commission members to gather the data according to the formats that are available in the given municipality, respective region or deconcentrated central government agencies.
1) Work division for data gathering
Data to be collected is organised in 19 categories. For gathering each of these categories a work group, composed by several Planning Commission members and municipal staff is assigned.
In the meantime FLAG gathers the data from the central level in order to be able and compare the socio economic situation in every individual municipality with the overall situation in the country. Such comparative analysis helps the Planning Commission to better plan directing their municipality's development in the coming five years.
The data that are relevant for the situation analysis are taken into further consideration and analysed (trend and comparative analysis, depending on the baseline data collected). The head of the LED core group in the DELTA cities is the person responsible for supervising the data collection.
ii. Undertake a review of municipal regulations and procedures effecting the businesses
Simultaneously with the baseline data collection, information on development projects undertaken in the municipality are identified and documented.
In addition to the above data categories. FLAG designed a format to be used for identifying the services that each of the municipal officees provides to local businesses. This format enables the LED planning commissions to consider the time and effort spent by businesses in dealing with various local government offices, which will help in the deign of procedures to reduce improve overall efficiency.
3) Municipal Organogram (example)
The municipal organogram provides information on various municipal departments and interlinks.
4) Information on public services provided by the municipality
These forms help to gather information on public services provided by the municipality. It provides qualitative and quantitative information for each specific service.
5) Questionnaire for municipal departments
It elaborates on the relationship between the municipal departments and the SME, by highlighting services that each department provides for the local businesses. Such information also created the picture of the route that SME have to undertake in obtaining their legally required documentation locally.
6) Municipal events impacting DELTA
The form helps cataloguing the municipal events, such as city council decisions, etc., that impact the progress and direction of DELTA project.
7) Municipal Budget Report
Along with a complete copy of the approved municipal budget the municipality provides DELTA with an explanation of the budget. It also indicates infrastructure improvements and investments funds provided by the approved municipal budget.
8) Business services provided by the municipality
This is a summary sheet of services provided to the businesses pointing the department within the municipality that offers the service.
Identification of development projects under way, targeting or impacting the municipality, are also part of this data gathering process. A form is designed by FLAG for the LED core teams to facilitate such identification process.
Standard forms have been handed out to NGOs and other planning commission members who have been invited to fill in information as requested.
Some data is collected regularly from statistics and processed within the municipality; these data are updated and seen in evolution (number of registrations / closure of businesses, industry of these businesses, performing trend analysis).
11) Employment record
Such form helps in gathering data about the employment situation in the municipality by identifying the trends as well as job creation capacity of private and state run enterprises. It also enables trend and data comparison with the regional level.
Some decisions may call for specific data that have to be collected (i.e. in order to organize a one-stop-shop it is interesting to know how many people gave up registration, in which phase and why).
12) Business data sheet
The form was prepared by FLAG to facilitate gathering information on businesses operating in the municipality and observe their trend.
Data collection is performed through usage of alternative sources: statistics from local administration (number of registered businesses, active ones, number of unemployed, number of employed, structure of employers, status of infrastructure, level of education), Chamber of Commerce, research institutions, available surveys made by national or international institutions.
13) Sample Central level publication
Such publications can be used for comparative analysis of the given municipality with the country's average.
14) Sample regional statistic
DELTA strived to collect regional data in order to be able and interpret the municipal data. The file was also used to demonstrate to all of the municipalities databases that are operated at the regional level.
b. Undertake the Business Attitude Survey
The aim of the Local Business Attitude Survey is to obtain information on the businesses' perceptions of local conditions and regulations effecting them. Policies and practices that hinder business development are highlighted and key concerns and issues facing local businesses are identified. The information obtained is treated confidentially and neither the name of the person nor the name of the business is used.
15) Information letter to the businesses
FLAG prepared an information letter for the businesses that are interviewed during BAS conduct. Such a letter explains the DELTA project and the purpose of the BAS, encouraging the local businesses to fully and adequately respond to the interview.
The Business Attitude Survey aimed at:
- Colleting information from the businesses about their perception on local rules and regulations which impact in the development of local business
- Revealing policies and practices that hinder development of local businesses
- Identifying the principlal issues and problems that businesses at the local level contend with.
FLAG hired experts to administer the BAS. DELTA provided technical expertise and the methodology for undertaking BAS as well as trained all of the interviewers that were used locally. Such training explained in detail the purpose of the survey and the various parts in the questionnaire as well as the way interviewers should communicate with the business representatives. BAS is organised as a common effort of the LED office at the municipality, the local Chamber of Commerce, the business representative participating in the core group under FLAG guidance.
The preparation and implementation of the BAS followed three main steps:
- Preparing the questionnaire
- Administering the survey
- Analyzing the responses
The preparation of the questionnaire went through two phases. A preliminary questionnaire was prepared by FLAG under close guidance of World Bank and OSI specialists. This preliminary questionnaire was tested in order to assure that it was easily understood by the businesses. The test was conducted with 5 businesses, 2 in Lezha and 3 in Durres. A set of necessary improvements were identified. That led to modification of the business survey and after the approval of the World Bank experts, FLAG prepared the final version to be used during the conduct of the BAS.
The final questionnaire document was divided in four sections: Basic information about your business; Business perspective in the operating environment; Expectations and Judgement of Business on Municipal Government; Business View on the Economic Development of the Community.
Conducting the survey took about 6 weeks. The local teams provided FLAG with the full list of businesses in each municipality based on the tax department database. FLAG experts then proposed an interview list by dividing business by size and industry. This list was shared with the core group who made the final adjustments.
17) List of small businesses
The core groups had to provide detailed and reliable lists of businesses operating in the municipality. From the list a sample group for BAS purposed was identified.
A work plan for conducting the survey in each municipality was prepared by FLAG and shared with the local core groups and facilitators. Questionnaires were delivered to the local businesses before the interview took place together with an explanatory sheet for the LED plan that the municipality was undertaking and the added value of the business opinions provided for guiding the planning process.
18) Action plan for conducting BAS
Undertaking the BAS is an exercise that involves a lot of effort and quite a number of people. An action plan delegating specific responsibilities proved useful.
The surveying workload was shared between FLAG and local surveyors hired for this purpose. The local teams selected 4-5 local surveyors, based on FLAG's guidelines. Surveyors normally had an economics background and had worked for business associations. Some had previous experience in administering surveys. DELTA facilitators also administered some of the surveys, primarill the larger corporations; the SMEs were surveyed primarilly by the local surveyors.
Each municipality had a local coordinator appointed for the BAS. The coordinator organised the schedule of interviews with the local businesses. BAS local coordinators sheet was used to plan and record the businesses interviewed. The coordinators sheet contained: Name of the business to be interviewed; Contact Person; Mobile no; Address; Name of the interviewer; Interview date; Interview time; Name of the reserve business; Contact person of the reserve business(in case the interviewer doesn't manage to conduct the preliminary planned interview); Mobile no of the reserve businesses; Address of the reserve business.
19) Contract with local surveyors
Local surveyors were hired for conducting BAS. FLAG prepared and signed a contract with them, underlining each party's responsibilities.
20) Report template for local surveyors
Each local surveyor had to submit the filled in questionnaires as well as a report template designed by FLAG.
On average 4.5% of the local businesses in each city were interviewed during the BAS. The selected businesses included a small number of big businesses. The SMEs were randomly selected keeping a proportion between the production, service and trading businesses. The BAS data entry was done at the FLAG premises, therefore each questionnaire was scrutinised while entering the data into the pre-prepared excel sheet for data analysis. The BAS data interpretation was incorporated in six different reports. Individual reports were compiled for each of the five municipalities and a common report on the findings was compiled with the data gathered in the five municipalities. The information was made available to the municipalities for their SWOT analysis.
21) BAS report
Final report of the BAS that analysis for all of the five municipalities all of the questions directed to local businesses. Individual reports (Shkodra, Lezha, Korca, Durres, Berat) are also prepared for each municipality.
c. Analyse data and produce an assessment of the local economy from the available data
This step assesses the community's economic competitiveness to reach conclusions regarding the possible projects to be developed to galvanize the economy. All available info is collected and shared with the LED team and Planning Commission. Interpretation of the data was presented to the Planning Commissions. The analysis aided the Planning Commissions to elaborate their SWOTs.
The development of city SWOTs proved to be a valuable exercise for the planning commission's in order for them to have a comprehensive understanding of the local community and business environment before drafting their strategies.
There were two SWOTs development approaches followed by the pilot cities. The first considered the analyses of general data, business survey findings base on which the planning commission developed the SWOT document; while the second one, Shkodra example, the core group organized working groups by sector: the population, business, environment, public infrastructure and sports and culture. Each working group developed a sector SWOT and then all the sectors SWOTS were brought together and discussed by the planning commission who at the end formulated the consolidated SWOT.
24) Finalised Municipal SWOTs
The SWOTS that are finalised by the Planning Commission in each municipality are included in the above document.
It proved beneficial to have a large group of people involved in the SWOT analyses. Though the rresult was a labor and time intensive proces because of the long discussions and debates, the input was comprehensive and provided a consensus on community assessment. It is useful to develop sector SWOTs, for sectors of vital importance for the development of the jurisdiction, and then incorporate each one into the overall SWOT.
CHALLENGES
Business Survey: It is crucial for the Business Survey main findings and conclusions to be presented to the whole planning commission so they be aware of the thoughts, ideas, needs and perceptions of the business community on business climate and prospects, before starting SWOT and developing further the plan. Make sure to give a copy of the BS conclusions to the Mayor and Chamber of Commerce or any other important business association involved in the process.
Baseline data collection is a major challenge for the Albanian municipalities since it is incomplete, fragmented, unreliable, and there are no consolidated methods on data analysis and measurement of indicators for economic development. Several statistics have to be retrieved from regional and central government. This is quite challenging and several interventions are required by the Mayor, and lobbying with the Members of LED Planning Commission, representing the regional and central level agencies.
Data collection and analysis introduced by DELTA is meant to be a dynamic data base that serves monitoring of LED progress in the given municipality. There are skills and consolidated data analysing methods still to be improved in order to make the municipal database reliable and up to date with LED indicators' measurement.
Throughout the data gathering process the authority of the Mayor and involvement of Regional and Central Government agencies in the Planning Commission is a perquisite in getting hold of the necessary and available information.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
//113 KB
