PROSPECT was organised in such a way that the first project period was intensely oriented towards the development of essential project activities: the learning programme, indicators to monitor the success of the learning programme, learning material for different modules of the learning programme, the application and matching process to reach the right applicants, developing the benchmarking tool to have a basis for identifying replication potential, and of course, developing means to disseminate our activities. After this seven-month preparation and development period, the learning cycles started occurring, with a new learning cycle launching every eight months.
The regional and local authorities who joined PROSPECT as mentors or mentees exchanged knowledge in two ways: through peer mentoring (a one-to-one relationship between a mentor and a mentee) and study visits (a peer group composed of one (1) mentor and between 2 to 7 mentees). The PROSPECT learning programme was implemented in 4 learning cycles, which are:
• Learning Cycle 1, May 2018 – January 2019
• Learning Cycle 2, September 2018 – May 2019
• Learning Cycle 3, March 2019 – November 2019
• Learning Cycle 4, December 2019 - August 2020
For each learning cycle, an engagement campaign was launched in which European local and regional authorities could register as either a mentor or a mentee informing their preferred learning module(s) and financing scheme(s) to be covered in the learning programme. Furthermore, each learning cycle was completed within a period of 9 months (maximum), organised into 4 stages or steps: Getting Started, Working Together, Meeting Up, and Moving Forward. The duration of each step depended on the types of interactions and involvement of the participants.
PROSPECT’s thorough monitoring process ensured that important aspects were tracked and that main lessons were learnt, enabling us to adapt the learning programme according to the needs and suggestions from the participants. The monitoring process confirmed that the method used for the learning programme was overall successful. The participants were highly satisfied with the learning programme, and the learning exchanges were effective in supporting them to achieve their learning objectives.
The results coming from the three and a half year learning journey are the following:
- 195 participants from 29 countries and 160 cities, including 149 local authorities (municipality, city, regions) and 46 Local energy organizations (Energy agencies, associations, networks, etc.)
- 45 learning groups under 5 learning modules:
PRIVATE BUILDING module: 5 groups, 23 participants
PUBLIC BUILDINGS module: 15 groups, 63 participants
TRANSPORT module: 4 groups, 20 participants
PUBLIC LIGHTING module: 18 groups, 65 participants
CROSS-SECTORAL module: 3 groups, 11 participants
- 18 Innovative schemes in total:
60% EPC
38% Soft Loans, fiscal, Green bonds, PPP, Revolving Funds, ELENA funds, Lending to ESCOs, ASC, European programmes (e.g. H2020)
2% Third-Party financing, Citizens Finance, Cooperatives, Crowdfunding
To help disseminate information about PROSPECT, as well as its results, over 1888 dissemination actions were taken in form of publications, social media, project website www.h2020prospect.eu and many other forms of communication about PROSPECT. It is estimated that over 130,000 people were reached, including over 40,000 from the scientific community and over 50,000 policymakers.
