Pilot projects and their diffusion: a case study of integrated coastal management in South Africa

Abstract

Pilot projects are policy instruments mainly applied to introduce or test new practices, concepts or technologies. Pilot projects can lead to a broader policy transition. However, the diffusion process associated with the pilot projects is not well understood. In this paper, we investigate the diffusion of pilot projects, focusing on the nature of the diffusion (the innovation itself, cooperation, methodologies or institutional designs), the channels of diffusion (internal and external) and the patterns of diffusion (dissemination, expansion and institutionalisation). The analytical framework developed for pilot project diffusion is applied to the Saldanha Bay project in South Africa, yielding additional insights on the functioning of the pilot, its contribution to the diffusion of the innovation and so to a policy transition in South African coastal zone management. Finally, we identify types of pilot project and the accompanying design choices that are most suitable for transition management.

‘Mind the Gap’ between ecosystem services classification and strategic decision making

“…This evidential basis can then be used to roll out the technological or administrative innovation at a broader institutional scale (Sanderson, 2002). A successful pilot project may therefore act as a stepping stone to wider application of policies and innovations, making it a favoured policy instrument (Vreugdenhil et al, 2012). The relatively small scale of a pilot project is usually selected to reduce risks, while allowing for experimentation.…”

Evaluation of Socio-Economic Factors that Determine Adoption of Climate Compatible Freshwater Supply Measures at Farm Level: a Case Study in the Southwest Netherlands

“…Several studies stemming from various scientific disciplines (Bouma et al 2011;Kiparsky et al 2013;Ortt et al 2008) highlight the importance of economic, behavioural, institutional, and social factors in the adoption of innovations in various sectors, including the water management (Nji and Fonteh 2002;Vreugdenhil et al 2010a;Vreugdenhil et al 2010b;Vreugdenhil et al 2012) and climate adaptation science (Bolson and Broad 2013;Zilberman et al 2012).…”

Patching vs Packaging in Policy Formulation: Assessing Policy Portfolio Design

“…Older concepts such as consistency', 'coherence', and 'congruence' which set out the goals towards which complex designs should aspire have now been joined by other considerations such as those concerning what level or 'degrees of freedom' designers have in moving towards new designs or building on old ones. Such considerations often promote 'policy experiments' or trial runs and pilot projects which may or may not be scaled up into full-blown programmes depending on their outcomes as a means to determine policy fit to practice [32,33] and have led to suggestions for more resilient or adaptable designs which retain adequate 'flexibility' or adaptive elements to allow them to be adjusted to changing circumstances once in place [33,34].…”

“…In the mid-1970s and early 1980s, for example, Bruce Doern, Richard Phidd, Seymour Wilson and others published a series of articles and monographs that placed policy instruments on a single continuum based on the 'degree of government coercion' each instrument choice entailed [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. They argued that choices of tools, or policy designs, should only 'move up the spectrum' of coercion as needed so that the 'proper' sequencing of tool types in a policy mix would be from minimum levels of coercion towards maximum ones [45].…”