The 2025 edition of the ANCI Assembly (National Association of Italian Municipalities) came to a close yesterday in Bologna, an event that over three days brought together mayors, administrators, institutional representatives and partners in a full programme of meetings and discussions. The initiative offered an opportunity to present the progress of the NP Capacity for Cohesion, with this year’s focus on the Territorial Services Centre – CST.
Over the three days, at the stand of the Department for Cohesion Policy and the South, CST experts met with around 40 administrations in one-to-one working sessions to support accreditation on the AppCOE service delivery platform and to manage service requests among the 60 available in the catalogue. In addition, around 100 direct contacts were established with mayors and senior officials from other administrations to activate the service within their respective entities.
With regard to the cohesion policy recruitment plan—another major operation financed under Priority 1 of CapCoe—on Thursday the 13th a dedicated event was held, organised by ANCI’s Cap4City project and moderated by Agostino Bultrini, Head of the Personnel Area at ANCI. The event also featured contributions from Alessandra Augusto, Managing Authority of the NP, and Riccardo Monaco, Director of the Office for Strengthening Administrative Capacity for Cohesion Policy at the Department for Cohesion Policy and the South (DipCoeS).
Highlighting the significant investment deployed by the Programme in support of local authorities—aimed at making a substantial impact on the implementation indicators of Cohesion Policy in the Less Developed Regions for 2021–2027—the Managing Authority outlined progress in the onboarding of officials within their respective destination administrations. Once the onboarding phase is completed, including for the technical profiles for which the full staffing needs could not be met and for which a second recruitment phase is foreseen, a new training initiative dedicated to Cohesion Policy will also be launched. This represents the “third pillar” of the Programme’s strategy which, together with the officials and the CST, completes the toolbox made available to support administrations.
Also during the event held on Thursday the 13th, ANCI launched a call for the selection of pilot actions aimed at initiating experimental activities under the Cap4City project. The purpose is to test advanced support tools for a group of 30 local authorities that have been assigned officials for Cohesion Policy. The initiative—presented by Valentina Piersanti, Head of Administrative Capacity at ANCI—provides for the development of a customised pathway for each authority, lasting between 6 and 12 months, to be completed by 30 June 2027. The pathways may involve promoting inter-municipal cooperation models to strengthen shared service management, or implementing retention measures designed to improve stability and the valorisation of human resources in local authorities.
Deadline for applications: 15 January 2026.