The LEADER approach and the

Community-Led Local DevelopmentMgr. Vivien Kohútová

Local Action Group Chopok juh

The LEADER (Liaisons Entre Actions de Développement de l’Economie Rurale - Links Between Development Actions Regarding the Rural Economy) is an approach to promote the integrated, endogenous, sustainable development of rural areas.

LEADER approach

3. LAG:Local public-

private partnership

4.Facilitating innovation

5. Integrated and multisectoral

actions

6. Cooperation7. Networkin

g

8. Financial and administrative

devolution

1. Area-based local development

approach

2. Bottom-up elaboration and

implementation of strategies

Translocal specificities

Local specificities

Vertical specificities

The Leader approach and the Community-Led Local Development in the 2014-2020

The LEADER approach will continue to be a compulsory element in each rural development programme.

The Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) is an option; it is financed by the CSF funds, it can mobilise local communities and organisations to contribute to achieving the Europe 2020 Strategy goals.

The main aims of the Commission proposal with the use of CLLD are: to encourage local communities to develop

integrated bottom-up approaches where there is a need to respond to territorial and local challenges;

to build community capacity and stimulate innovation from within communities and territories;

to promote community ownership by increasing their participation;

to assist multi-level governance by providing a route for local communities in shaping the implementation of EU objectives.

The key components of Community-led Local Development

the local action groups: representatives of local public and private socio-economic interests (entrepreneurs, associations, local authorities) where neither the public sector nor any single interest group should have more than 49 % of the decision-making power;

the local development strategies need to be coherent with the relevant programmes of the CSF Funds through which they are supported;

the area and population coverage of a local strategy should be coherent, targeted and offer sufficient critical mass for its implementation. It is up to the LAGs to define the areas and population that their strategies will cover, but they must be consistent with criteria that the Commission will lay down through a delegated act.

Member States will define the approach to CLLD across the CSF Funds and should include references to it in the Partnership Contracts.

A multi-funded strategy allows local development strategies to have a broader scope and to be better adapted to the territory:

it implies involving a wider variety of partners that can better define and deal with common cross-cutting challenges;

it helps to avoid overlaps between strategies as it receives support from different funds.

It may increase the total budget available for local development, given that a LAG will have access to several sources of financing.

The choice of a LAG for mono-funded or multi-funded local development strategies should consider the following: Multi-funded strategies are more complex

to design and implement and require experience and capacity. Solid preparation and capacity building actions are a must.

Multi-funded strategies require broader LAG partnerships. This brings more possibilities but also more complexity and requires better management.

In former periods investments were made to create delivery structures. It is essential to safeguard the results of this investment, including the existing local dynamic, structures and strategies.

Challenges and concerns of the multi – funded strategy

Most stakeholders embrace a refreshed application of the “LEADER method” and welcome lessons from the past;

As community-led local development is area-based and can be financed by the different CSF Funds, it is an ideal methodology for building linkages between urban, rural and fisheries areas;

in cities and urban agglomerations, the potential for applying participative approaches to a range of urban challenges is huge and the Commission suggested a specifically earmarked priority for sustainable urban development in the structural funds.

The challenge of CLLD to revitalise local democracy by new ways of involving citizens, opens news perspectives and invent new local economies and societies.

The rural LAGs will be able to co-operate not only with partners implementing a LDS in a rural area, as in the current period, but also with partners from non-rural areas within the EU developing cooperation around major themes that are better deal with on a bigger scale.

CLLD may also be implemented in cross-border cooperation programmes, provided that the local development group is composed of representatives of at least two countries, of which one is a Member State.

Conclusion

Prof. Alberto MANELLIDirector General

Thank you for your attention!

For further information:

email: manager@maschopokjuh.sk

and visit our website:

www.maschopokjuh.sk