Imagining cultures of cooperation: Universities networking to face the new development challenges Proceedings of the III CUCS Congress 525 FROM A DONORS/BENEFICIARIES RELATIONSHIP TO MUTUAL TRANSFORMATION: IMAGINING AND EVALUATING THE RELATIONAL DIMENSION IN DECENTRALIZED COOPERATION INITIATIVES Egidio Dansero o , Stefano Rossi* o University of Turin, Italy - egidio.dansero@unito.it *Training Centre for International Cooperation, Trento, Italy - stefano.rossi@tcic.eu New approaches to international development cooperation, focusing on the so called “decentralized cooperation” (i.e. cooperation between communities, territorial systems, co-development etc.) emphasize the relational dimension and the processes of mutual transformation between the subjects belonging to “donor countries” and those belonging to “beneficiary countries”. Can we speak about a mere statement of principles or rather of processes actually taking place? Has this perception been developed only in the so-called “donor countries” or is this also a theme debated in the discourse and practices of the so-called “beneficiaries countries”? How decentralized cooperation initiatives change the perception of those involved about issues such as the idea of “cooperation”, “development” or the evolution of paradigms such as “local development” or “sustainable development”? How is the relational dimension weighed and evaluated in the decentralized cooperation projects? How are the dimensions of the relationship and the mutual transformation imagined, experienced and evaluated in the University cooperation initiatives? These questions have stimulated six presentations in the CUCS Congress, on the basis of which papers were prepared that have been collected in these acts, encouraging a lively discussion between the authors of the papers, the panel coordinators, Local Authorities’ s representatives and NGO practioners. The papers, together with participant’s interventions during the panel, r presented a retrospective analysis of experiences and tried to highlight those elements related to the issue of “relationships” that are generally considered to be the added value of decentralized cooperation, but that are, at the same time, very difficult to understand in a evaluative analysis. Participants, as the panel discussant Andrea Stocchiero suggested, have offered contributions that can be ordered on the basis of a scale of action going from projects (micro level), to programmes (meso level) to policies (macro level) of decentralized cooperation. At the macro level, the contribution of Stocchiero himself, presente and critically reflected Cespi analysis on “What is the future for a policy of Italian territorial cooperation integrated with the Western Balkan countries?”. In terms of the meso level, three contributions focused on decentralized cooperation regional programmes (in Trentino and in Piedmont) as well as the associative dynamics in the context of decentralized cooperation in Tuscany. The presentation by Stefano Rossi (with the contribution of Capuano, De Marchi, Franch and Rosso) analysed “Decentralised cooperation as a policy change for local and international partnership: the experience of Trentino in the Balkans and in Mozambique”, while Nadia Tecco considered “La dimension relationnelle de l’ “ici” dans les initiatives de coopération au développement. Réflexions sur les effets au Nord de la coopération décentralisée des aires protégées du Piémont”. The last contribution at the meso level of analysis given by Berti, Capineri and Nasi focused on the “New social pathways: Voluntary Organizations for Development and International Solidarity in Tuscany”. At the micro level two analysis were presented. The first was “Entre théorie et pratique: Université de Turin et coopération décentralisée piémontaise. Quinze ans de récherche dans le domaine des déchets” which focused on decentralised cooperation activities in the field of solid waste management was presented by Roberta Perna, and considered also the collaboration between universities and local authorities in this area. The second was “Competences et pratiques de cooperation internationale en Sénégal sur la route des Talibés” and focused on a decentralized cooperation project, presented by Julia Gozzelino. Looking more specifically at the contributions, Cespi presentation analyzed the intertwine and overlapping of decentralized cooperation and territorial cooperation promoted by the Italian regions with the Balkans, hoping for a more explicit integration of these two policies that could have important implications for decentralized cooperation which increasingly focuses on cooperation between territorial systems. The analysis of Trentino decentralized cooperation policy presented experiences that require a constant monitoring of their objectives at the operational level, and particularly how they relate to the more ambitious and intangible goals of decentralized cooperation such as the creation of regional networks and relationships between territories. The importance of knowing how to read the characteristics of the territories in which one operates was highlighted, both in relation to the territory “here” and the “elsewhere”, in order to be able to identify the priority areas where the cooperation should focus. From the presentation of the Tuscany development cooperation voluntary organisations emerged an interesting map of the relationships between organizations, indicating the difficulty of cooperation between local actors even within the