LEADER LEADER - The acronym ‘LEADER' derives from the French

words "Liaison Entre Actions de Développement de

l'Économique Rurale“ which means, ‘Links between the rural economy and development actions'. (ENRD LEADER toolkit)

- The idea is to enlist the energy and resources of people and bodies that could contribute to the rural development process by forming partnerships at a sub-regional level between the public, private and civil sectors.

- In 1990, when a group of officials at the European Commission came up with the proposal for LEADER, this concept of connecting with people was quite new.

LEADER LEADER - The LEADER approach is associated with local empowerment

through local strategy development and resource allocation.

- The main tool for the application of the LEADER approach to area development and involving local representatives in decision-making is the Local Action Group (LAG).

LEADER LEADER

LEADER 1991 - 2013LEADER 1991 - 2013- In the experimental phase in 1991-93, LEADER involved

217 regions, focusing on disadvantaged rural areas. This was also true for 1994-1999.

- In 2000-2006, based on the encouraging results, the method quickly expanded to cover all types of rural areas.

- In its fourth programming period (2007-2013), the approach was mainstreamed as an integral part of the EU's rural development policy, covering 2402 rural territories across the Member States. The method has also extended thematically to fisheries policy with some 300 FLAGs on that side

Aims of PresentationAims of Presentation

2014-2020: What is Community Led Local 2014-2020: What is Community Led Local Development (CLLD)?Development (CLLD)?

-Focused on specific sub-regional areas

-Led by local action groups composed of representatives of public and private local socio-economic interests in which, at the decision making level, neither public authorities nor any single interest group represents more than 49% of the voting rights. -Carried out through integrated and multi sectoral area based local development strategies (LDS). -Designed taking into consideration local needs and potential and should include innovative features in the local context, networking and, where appropriate, cooperation.

2014-2020: What is a Local Development 2014-2020: What is a Local Development Strategy (LDS)?Strategy (LDS)?

-An LDS is a plan or method for achieving a specific goal or result.

-For LEADER LDS are designed using a community led approach facilitating participation by any member of the rural community and taking consideration of both local need and potential. -An LDS should examine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that face a particular area and outline the types of actions to be supported to address the weaknesses and threats and exploit the strengths and opportunities

-The strategy should be a realistic reflection of how LEADER funding might best be used to support the sustainable development of the area outlined.

2014-2020: Minimum Requirements for a 2014-2020: Minimum Requirements for a Local Development Strategy (LDS)?Local Development Strategy (LDS)?

(a) the definition of the area and population covered by the strategy;

(b) an analysis of the development needs and potential of the area, including an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats;

(c) a description of the strategy and its objectives, a description of the integrated and innovative features of the strategy and a hierarchy of objectives, including measurable targets for outputs or results. In relation to results, targets may be expressed in quantitative or qualitative terms. The strategy shall be consistent with the relevant programmes of all the ESI Funds concerned that are involved;

2014-2020: Minimum Requirements for a 2014-2020: Minimum Requirements for a Local Development Strategy (LDS) cont’d?Local Development Strategy (LDS) cont’d?

(d)a description of the community involvement process in the development of the strategy;

(e)an action plan demonstrating how objectives are translated into actions;

(f) a description of the management and monitoring arrangements of the strategy, demonstrating the capacity of the LAG to implement the strategy and a description of specific arrangements for evaluation; (g) the financial plan for the strategy, including the planned allocation from each of the ESI Funds concerned.

Aims of PresentationAims of Presentation

2014-2020: What is a Local Action Group 2014-2020: What is a Local Action Group (LAG)?(LAG)?

- Local Action Groups are groups of people made up of both public and private partners from a defined

geographical area.

- LAGs are responsible for both the design and implementation of LEADER LDS in any given area.

- As part of this LAGs are also responsible for supporting local projects that contribute to the aims and objectives of the LDS.

- The regulatory framework outlines the basic functions of the LAG as follows.

2014-2020: What is a Local Action Group 2014-2020: What is a Local Action Group cont’d (LAG)?cont’d (LAG)?

(a)building the capacity of local actors to develop and implement operations including fostering their project management capabilities;

(a)drawing up a non-discriminatory and transparent selection procedure and objective criteria for the selection of operations, which avoid conflicts of interest, ensure that at least 50 % of the votes in selection decisions are cast by partners which are not public authorities, and allow selection by written procedure;

(c) ensuring coherence with the community-led local development strategy when selecting operations, by prioritising those operations according to their contribution to meeting that strategy’s objectives and targets;

2014-2020: What is a Local Action Group 2014-2020: What is a Local Action Group cont’d (LAG)?cont’d (LAG)?

(d) preparing and publishing calls for proposals or an ongoing project submission procedure, including defining selection criteria;

(e) receiving and assessing applications for support;

(f) selecting operations and fixing the amount of support and, where relevant, presenting the proposals to the body

responsible for final verification of eligibility before approval;

(g) monitoring the implementation of the community-led local development strategy and the operations supported and carrying out specific evaluation activities linked to the

strategy.

2014 - 2020 LEADER Themes 2014 - 2020 LEADER Themes • Individual operations shall be eligible if they contribute to

achieving the objectives of the LDS and correspond to the objectives and priorities indicated for support in the RDP.

“LEADER Themes”

• Rural Economic Development/Enterprise Development and Job Creation

Rural Tourism Enterprise Development Broadband Rural Towns

LEADER Themes LEADER Themes

-Social inclusion through building community capacity, training and animation

Basic Services for hard to reach communities

Rural Youth

- Rural Environment

- LEADER and cross cutting objectives

Selection ProcessSelection Process

- 2 Stages• Expression of Interest• Development of the Local Development Strategy

- Incremental development of the proposed partnership

- Complementary to other development processes at local level

- Presentation on EOI process

Any Questions?

Thank You.