Development agencies in Turkey: an inter-regional performance assessment

Abstract

Regional inequalities and regional development policies came to prominence in Turkey in the early 2000s as the EU accession and adaptation process gathered pace. Development Agencies (DAs) were established to reduce inequalities by implementing regional development policies and accelerating regional development in Turkey. This study aims to assess the performances of DAs in Turkey between 2010 and 2017 based on their activities. In view of the options and limitations suggested by the literature, the study adopted 13 performance indicators to evaluate DAs’ performance and effectiveness. These indicators have different forms so they were converted into standard values to be able to rank the performances of the DAs by the total of the scores they received. Frequency analysis was then used to divide the DAs into four performance groups. An evaluation of the results of the assessment in conjunction with the levels of socio-economic development of the regions in which the DAs operate indicated that the performances of the DAs and their contributions to regional development can be enhanced by increasing their means and resources in the case of underdeveloped regions and by a focus on the strategic areas called for by the region in the case of developed regions.