Introducing Sustainability Assessment in a Crowded Institutional Landscape: the case of the Flemish Region of Belgium.

In Belgium's northern region, the institutionalisation of sustainable development is progressing rapidly. Within this dynamic policy environment, the 2006 Regional Strategy for Sustainable Development explicitly called for the development an 'impact assessment tool' to identify the sustainable development impacts of each policy proposal in a systematic way.
During a three-year study, the Flemish Policy Research Centre for Sustainable Development analysed the potential, the challenges and the practical possibilities of sustainability assessment in Flanders, with the aim of developing a framework tailored to the needs of its future users. The overall qualitative research method focussed on learning effects through the use of participatory methods.
The quality of the knowledge used -entailing the framing of the concept of sustainability- and existing as well as future institutional arrangements were identified as key elements determining the design, the application and the ultimate policy impact of sustainability assessment.
A document analysis; expert interviews; a survey amongst officials as well as focus groups with citizens allowed the research team to identify the alleged functions of sustainability assessment in the decision-making process, and to propose a working definition of sustainability in the Flemish context. The analysis of the institutional aspects entailed a discourse analysis that identified elements of convergence between the better regulation agenda and the sustainable development agenda. The potential of the existing Flemish regulatory impact assessment (RIA) framework as a starting point for a sustainability assessment scheme was analysed and solutions for a future integration were suggested. The European and international experience with sustainability assessment yielded interesting insights. Finally, the project's findings were translated into practical policy recommendations including a sustainability assessment guidance emphasising participatory process characteristics.
As a result, the proposed Flemish sustainability assessment framework has its roots both in international practice and science, and in the context-specific sub-national institutional landscape. Although the project aimed at providing practical recommendations yielding rapid policy improvements, the potential transformative power of sustainability assessment was not ignored. However, re-framing the policy preparation process towards sustainability is a long learning process, to which this research project has hopefully contributed.

Keywords:sustainability assessment, institutional learning