The role of development agencies in regional development

The process of mechanization, which started with the industrial revolution, caused concentration in certain regions in the world and increased these regions compared to other regions. The differences that reached serious dimensions in the early 1900s have become a problem to slow down the growth and development of countries today. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), founded in 1933, was the first to reduce the differences between the regions. Later, in order to eliminate the negative effects of the Second World War, as a result of restructuring activities, policy-producing formation semerged in many parts of Europe. In particular, global competitive economies, which began to show themselves in the 1950s, have almost made some formations necessary for cooperation on a local scale. Regional Development Agencies have also been remarkable in reducing regional disparities in these formations. In Turkey, the regional development agency, has gained momentum in a uniform acceleration of the accession process in the early 2000s. Work prepared under this topic, Regional Development Agencies within the frame work of national development plans based on the strategy set by the plan made in Turkey, has emerged in order to examine the impact on the region. In this study, giving information about the development and implementation of regional development agencies in Turkey 26, one of the agency, Doğu Marmara Development Agency (MARKA) 's structure and activities evaluated, regional development effects that were examined. The effect of the Project Support activities carried out by the Agency between 2010 and 2016 on regional development; In the light of indicators such as Import, Export and Gross Domestic Product, the Granger Causality Test and Least Squares Method were analyzed. As a result of the evaluations, the positive effects of the agency on regional development were supported bye conometric analyzes. The positive picture that emerged in the region in the short term shows that the agency plays a key role in regional development. It is thought that it will be a driving force for the realization of sustainable development targets in the long term.