Structural Funds are a powerful, underestimated lever for steering sustainable development and new forms of governance in Europe. The paper argues that multi-level governance in the spirit of subsidiarity requires flexible, objective-oriented management rather than rigid competences, and presents SQM (Sustainable Quality Management) as a coherent system to design, support, monitor and evaluate programmes across the whole policy cycle. Built on ten sustainability components, sixteen social-potential factors and six transformation levers, SQM provides a common language, participatory methods and web tools tested in pilot regions. It improves transparency, learning and coherence, while acknowledging cultural diversity and typical resistance to change.
Schleicher-Tappeser, R. / Strati, Filippo (2004): Structural Funds and Sustainable Development – The SQM Approach. Innovation, The European Journal of Social Sciences, Vol 17, No 1, 2004 pp.75-94.
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