Main objective of this paper is focusing on local institutions and their ability to effectively respond to local needs in designing and implementing rural development policies. The main unit of analysis is the Province of Grosseto. In this area a great number of public national and regional programmes provided for development funds during the last decade. The Province tried to co-ordinate these funds according to some strategy, but the real success in doing so is unknown and, more important, the driving forces and the conflicts/alliances which permitted this co-ordination have been explored. RDP is part of this process of co-ordination, probably one of the most relevant policies in the hands of Province. The research explore the following elements: strategies/rules adopted by the Province in order to coordinate the development strategy; the role played by the different stakeholders in the process of design objectives; impacts generated in provincial areas by the coordination process.