This LDnet initiative aims to present in a systematic and succinct way how local development is implemented in different EU member states, as explained in the introduction CLLD in Europe: An initiative of LDnet. CLLD country profiles have now been published for Austria, Czechia, Estonia, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden. They are also available as PDF - click below. More are in preparation, including for Italy, Germany, Greece, Finland, … Continue Reading
CLLD comparisons: ESI funding dedicated to CLLD in different countries
What share of ESI funding did Member States dedicate to CLLD in 2014-20 and how does this differ by Fund? This analysis is part of the CLLD in Europe initiative of LDnet, comprising CLLD country profiles and horizontal analyses (see here). CLLD continues to be dominated by the EAFRD, which contributes three quarters of the overall CLLD funding (see here). This dominance is mainly due to the obligatory minimum LEADER allocation of 5%. Figure … Continue Reading
Events & activities
Invitation to LDnet General Assembly – 27 January 2021
All members of the LEDA-Partenariat Association (LDnet) are cordially invited to the next General Assembly of the Association, which will take place on Wednesday 27 January 2021, 17:30 – 19:00 CET. The meeting will be online and members will receive shortly by email the information on how to join the … Continue Reading
A new series of webinars: ‘Recovery through community led approaches’
LDnet is planning a series of four webinars for April 2021 on the theme of 'Recovery through community led approaches' with a focus on community-based initiatives for sustainable development. Details of the programme will be announced in February. Between 18 June and 9 July 2020, LDnet organised - in … Continue Reading
Territorial approaches – The potential of Community-led Local Development
The Interreg Annual Event 2020 was organised on 15-16 October in a digital format. The aim of the event was to review implementation of the Interreg Programme, share practice and experience between managing authorities and celebrate 30 years of Interreg. Among the parallel workshops on 16 October there was … Continue Reading
‘Reinventing local shopping and hospitality’ – The recording and ‘take away’ points from the webinar of 18 June 2020
The webinars on Rebuilding local economies after lockdown kicked off on Thursday 18 June 2020. The 1st session was on Reinventing local shopping and hospitality and was attended by some 40 participants. The full programme, link to the recording of the session and some "take away" points are available … Continue Reading
‘New solidarity services’ – The recording and ‘take away’ points from the webinar of 25 June 2020
The second session of the Webinar series on Rebuilding local economies after lockdown focused on new solidarity services which have emerged during the Covid-19 crisis. Special focus was placed on how these services came to fruition, the issues they are addressing, and what their legacy will be as lockdown … Continue Reading
‘Stay at Home Vacations – Staycations’ – The recording from the webinar of 2 July 2020
The second session of the Webinar series on Rebuilding local economies after lockdown focused on the impact of Covid-19 on travel and holidays and the local economies. With more people having vacations within their own country there is both an opportunity and a threat for rural, coastal and mountain … Continue Reading
‘Worsening inequalities / social inclusion’ – The recording from the webinar of 9 July 2020
LDnet organised, in association with RSA Europe, AEIDL and ELARD, a series of four forward-looking webinars on Rebuilding local economies after lockdown, from 18 June to 9 July 2020. The final session was on Worsening inequalities / social inclusion (Thursday 9 July 2020) - click here for the recording … Continue Reading
Articles
Where does the EU share of CLLD funding come from?
The 2014-20 programme period introduced the option for Member States to support Local Action Groups (LAGs) from more than just EAFRD or EMFF, allowing to also use the Structural Funds ERDF and ESF. Yet, only 16 Member States decided to make the use of Structural Funds for CLLD possible. For more detail please … Continue reading
Social Innovation, Societal Change, and the Role of Policies
In this new paper in the journal SUSTAINABILITY the authors explore the links between social innovation and policy and the "triadic relationships" between the state, intermediary organizations, and local actors. Authors: Robert Lukesch, Alice Ludvig, Richard Slee, Gerhard Weiss, Ivana … Continue reading
“Which future do you want in rural areas?”
From May to August 2020, 3 436 people from 26 different countries answered the survey which was carried out by ELARD, the European association of LEADER groups, in cooperation with REDR, the Spanish rural development network. The aim of the survey was to find out what rural citizens and actors think of life … Continue reading
Post COVID-19 Futures; Changing Work and Re-Thinking Skills
Peter Lloyd has been among the active contributors to the series of webinars on ‘Rebuilding local economies after lockdown’. In a new paper, Peter and his co-author, Michael Blakemore, make a valuable contextual contribution to this debate focusing on work and skills. They see scope for making an … Continue reading
Local responses to the COVID-19 crisis: What’s happening, what can we learn?
Several organisations are collecting and publishing local initiatives in response to the Covid-19 crisis. We have updated our overview and are offering below the links to a number of these initiatives (see sections 1 and 2). We have also conducted a number of discussions in June/July 2020 through the … Continue reading
LDnet: a community of experts building bridges between research and practice
Local development is multi-faceted with practitioners split between the urban and rural domains, while researchers come from different academic disciplines. A community of experts dealing with local development could help harvest lessons learnt and overcome silo mentality. LDnet and the European Commission … Continue reading
PUBLICATIONS
EU lagging regions: State of play and future challenges
The EU’s lagging regions face significant challenges to transform their economic under-performance. Current ongoing transitions, such as digitalisation and towards a sustainable society, and the COVID-19 pandemic are accentuating these challenges. This is both creating new and exacerbating existing internal … Continue reading
EU Cohesion Policy in non-urban areas
A new study by Stefan Kah, Neli Georgieva and Liliana Fonseca of EPRC, carried out for the REGI Committee of the European Parliament, looks at the role of EU Cohesion Policy in rural areas. The study analyses the challenges of these areas and discusses the extent and thematic orientation of rural Cohesion … Continue reading
Delivering CLLD effectively: a new guide on how to design delivery systems that strengthen the bottom-up approach
FARNET has just published its latest guide, on “Delivering CLLD effectively”. Although labelled “A guide for EMFF Managing Authorities”, in fact, it can be useful for the managing authorities of CLLD under any of the ESI Funds and it is, of course, of considerable interest to local development experts. The … Continue reading
The LEADER Approach and Social Innovation in Rural Areas – a Liaison?
R. Lukesch, H. Gassler, B. Ecker, L. Fidlschuster, M. Fischer, S. Mair, S. Philipp, N. Said[1] Abstract –The research project SILEA aimed at exploring the significance, extent and possible effects of Social Innovation in the framework of the LEADER Measure of the Austrian Rural Development Program 2014-20. … Continue reading
4th European Rural Parliament – Let Europe´s rural voice be heard
The 4th European Rural Parliament took place in the rural, green north of Spain, in the coastal village of Candás (Asturias) from 6th to 9th November 2019. Alistair Adam Hernández participated and his report is presented below. I attended the ERP as LDnet representative and was kindly invited to join the … Continue reading
Social innovation in LEADER areas in Austria
We present below the summaries of three case studies from the SILEA research project on social innovation in LEADER areas (2014-2020) in Austria. The first and second case studies are similar concerning the thematic field – local coordination of informal voluntary work – but different in their outcomes. … Continue reading