In the context of the recent economic downturn, carefully balanced strategies are needed so that agencies use their increasingly limited resources to help meet shared economic priorities at the local level and set local economies back on the track to economic growth. National government policies can make a great deal of difference in building economically viable, sustainable communities, but not if policies are fragmented, services duplicated and agencies do not communicate with each other on what they are trying to achieve. As government spending is reduced to pay off deficits, a drive is needed to make public policy more effective through reducing duplication at the local level and better aligning activities. Many lessons exist from different OECD countries on how to make local governance more effective, now is the time to put these into practice.

Government intervenes in a myriad of ways at the local level, and rarely are these interventions co-ordinated effectively. Most of us are familiar with the policy “silos” which exist at the local level – employment offices, economic development agencies and local training institutions working separately from each other, following different policy objectives and working to different time scales. Such divisions are often taken for granted, blamed on historical working relationships (“it has always been like that”) and organisational cultures (“they don’t work like we do”). However, these divisions come at a cost. The issues and challenges facing local communities are often complex and require a holistic approach to be resolved.

This part provides a synthesis of the findings and international policy recommendations for how to better integrate policies at the local level. It explores the implementation of employment, economic development and skills policy in 11 countries to identify common obstacles to policy integration, and approaches which have led to policy alignment. Each participating country and region has a different institutional framework, different economic strengths and weaknesses, and a different culture regarding collaboration and partnership working. However, the study has found that common factors are at play for all 11 and the opportunity for learning through sharing experiences is great.

Francesca Froy is a senior policy analyst at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), working within the Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme in Paris. She coordinates the work of the programme on employment, skills and local governance and has developed a stream of work on immigration and ethnic minority youth. She is the co-editor of the OECD publications From Immigration to Integration: Local Solutions to a Global Challenge, Designing Local Skills Strategies and Flexible Policy for More and Better Jobs. Prior to joining LEED, she was involved in evaluating European projects and helped to manage the DG Employment and Social Affairs initiative IDELE (identification and dissemination of local employment development). A British national, she has worked for the Public Employment Service and for a local municipality in the United Kingdom, where she led a multi-sector partnership to create employment and skills opportunities within social housing. She has a BSc in Anthropology from University College London and an MA in cultural theory from the University of Reading.