---
id: ch2-raps
type: spine
title: "Regional Action Plans: the D3.1 method in three phases"
readingTime: 2
standalone: true
core: true
teaser: "Preparation, foresight, follow-up: how a PoliRural+ region gets from a list of complaints to a vision, an action plan and a roadmap that someone has agreed to finance."
voice: universal
parent: null
diagram: diagram-rap-cycle
recallQ: "What are the three phases of the D3.1 RAP methodology, and what three elements must the finished plan contain?"
recallA: "Phase I preparation (theme, stakeholders, local-government partners, policy gap analysis, finance sources), Phase II foresight (drivers, vision, plan), Phase III follow-up and implementation (endorsement, roadmap adoption, monitoring). The plan contains a vision, an action plan of measures with their intervention logic, and a roadmap of timing, financing and responsible institutions."
highlights:
  - "Phase I: choose a theme that needs urban-rural cooperation; find partners, policies and money"
  - "Phase II: drivers' analysis, shared vision, action plan, roadmap"
  - "Phase III: public endorsement, adoption of the roadmap by the actors, a monitoring committee"
  - "Without an adopted roadmap, D3.1 says, 'the RAP will remain a report'"
status: accepted
concept: regional-action-plan
conceptTitle: "Regional Action Plans (RAPs)"
lang: en
lens: generic
depth: standard
formalism: none
visuality: balanced
lengthBand: standard
genre: explainer
state: core
carriers: prose|table|diagram
---

A **Regional Action Plan (RAP)** is the plan each PoliRural+ pilot co-creates with its stakeholders. D3.1 describes the method as driven by local communities and adapted to local needs, and it sets the goal: a RAP should end in financed measures being carried out, not in a report. WP3 writes the methodology and WP5 applies it in the nine pilots. The thinking behind it is the [foresight framework](#c/foresight-framework).

## Phase I: Preparation

This phase is done before any group work. The team:
- **picks a theme**, often through needs gathering and issues analysis. The theme must contribute to the [LTVRA and the New European Bauhaus](#c/eu-rural-policy-context) and must address an issue that needs **urban-rural policy cooperation** (D3.1 lists climate, food, energy, waste, transport, housing, education, tourism);
- identifies the **local-government institutions** to work with, the **policies** to align with, and **possible sources of finance**;
- runs a **Policy Gap Analysis**, an inventory of existing policies, strategies and plans, so that measures build on what exists and avoid overlaps. It also runs a Review of Institutional Arrangements and a Stakeholder Analysis.

## Phase II: Foresight and the RAP

Phase II is highly participative and cannot start until the theme is clear. The team works through a **drivers' analysis**, a **shared vision** for a chosen "landing place" in time (5, 10 or even 50 years ahead) and a SWOT analysis prepared in advance, not brainstormed from a blank sheet. The output is one public document with three parts:

| Part | Content |
|---|---|
| **Vision** | what the region looks like once the measures have worked |
| **Action plan** | the list of measures, each with its **intervention logic** |
| **Roadmap** | the order of the measures, how each will be **financed**, and which institutions will secure funds, legislation and programmes |

## Phase III: Follow-up and implementation

The work turns **convergent** and ends in consensus on an executable plan. Three things make it stick:
1. **Endorsement.** Key beneficiaries endorse the plan in public, for example at a final consultation, ideally with the implementing actors present.
2. **Adoption of the roadmap.** The institutions that must act formally accept the timeline and their duties. D3.1 says the question of who does what, and with what money, must be raised early. Without adoption, "the RAP will remain a report."
3. **A monitoring committee.** People with local political standing follow up when floods, elections or staff changes derail delivery.

## Where the pilots stand

All nine pilots revised their RAPs in November 2025. D2.3 reports statuses from "early implementation" (Spain) to "advanced" (Vidzeme), with blended EU and local finance as the common answer to short-term funding.

**Sources:**
- D3.1 RAP Methodology, Executive Summary, Overview of the RAP Methodology, Phase I: Preparatory Work, Phase II: Foresight and the Regional Action Plan, Phase III: Follow-Up and Implementation — [PDF](https://www.poliruralplus.eu/docs/161/D3.1__RAP_Methodology_v1.pdf)
- D2.3 Rural-urban data analysis (submitted), §4 Regional Action Plans, Table 8 — [PDF](https://www.poliruralplus.eu/docs/382/D2.3_Rural_Urban_data_analysis_v1.0.pdf)
- PoliRural+ website, Work packages — [poliruralplus.eu](https://www.poliruralplus.eu/)