Where and for what purpose can PACA be applied?
PACA has been applied in cities and regions where between 50,000 and
400,000 people live. This included rural places as well as regions which
host world-class industrial firms. PACA is not suitable for application
in cities or regions which are much larger; however, it is perfectly
applicable, say, at the level of one part of a large city.
PACA has been applied in two types of settings:
- in places where local actors wanted to do something about local
economic development but were not sure how and where to start,
- in places where local actors were already conducting specific
activities targeted at local economic development, but where the
activities were isolated and where the local stakeholders disagreed
about the definition of the problems, and even more about the
remedies.
PACA can be used to kick-off a local economic development initiative
or to investigate why existing initiatives show little effect. It is
less useful in places where various activities are underway which are
based on a broad consensus, except if the local stakeholders feel that
an external evaluation of their activities is desirable.
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