Development agencies in Turkey and Italy (Their roles in administration and contributions to local development)

Regional Development Agencies have come to a gradually increasing position in the agenda of EU after 1980s in the context of standardization of administrative levels of the European Union and supplying the development with local dynamics. Constitutively, Development Agencies which have been founded with the purpose of improving cooperation among public sector, private sector and the society; ensuring the active and appropriate usage of resources; decreasing intraregional and interregional development differences, actualize the principles of local planning and local participation in the regions they operate. Development Agencies which are regarded as a new development model in Europe and Turkey constitute the subject of this thesis. Regional Development Agencies which have existed for many years in Europe; emerged in Turkey in 1999 as a result of the European Commission including it in Accession Partnership. Development Agencies which were established in Turkey with Development Agencies Law in 2005 have been present in Italy since 1970s. This study compares ERVET and East Marmara Development Agency (MARKA) with regard to their historical development processes, management structures, projects and relationships with the EU. The reason for this comparison is that Italy which has similar administration structure with Turkey, has obtained important gains in the context of local and regional development and that especially Emilia-Romagna Development Agency (ERVET) is prevalently shown as a good example in the literature. After development agencies were established in Turkey, the example of ERVET has been emphasized and experience of ERVET has been utilized in the subject of employee training and project preparation. The purpose of the study is to seek answers to the question of how the example of ERVET Regional Development Agency can guide the contributions and works of East Marmara Development Agency in local development. Key Words: Development, Regional Development Agencies, East Marmara Development Agency, ERVET.