Misure di benessere dei territori e programmazione strategica: il livello comunale

The paper concerns the application of the indicators defined under the Istat?s projects to measure the Equitable and Sustainable Well-being (the BES projects) to the strategic planning of Italian Municipalities. To this end, the BES indicators are categorized according to the public accounting classification, so to enhance their relevance and usefulness in supporting policy-making and evaluation at local level. Recently, a governmental reform introduced for the first time in Italy a standard classification of the municipal budgets: according to the new rules, the municipalit?s budget planning is now going to follow a goal-oriented approach, to identify the strategic objectives to pursue through the administrative action. To better address local needs, a socio-economic analysis must support the strategic planning in order to set the goals and fix the targets. A standard set of indicators may suitably complete the harmonized budget and planning brought about by the reform. The BES indicators can provide the required information to decision-makers and they can inform both policy makers and citizens about the economic, social and environmental state of the local context. The BES indicators can also support the monitoring and benchmarking of the local well-being, as they are comparable in space and time. In addition, as the BES framework relies on a participatory process with the civil society and the stakeholders, the BES indicators, impartial, reliable and transparent, can be properly used for local policies? planning and evaluation.