As already reported, LDnet and RSA initiated a new COST Action proposal in the Spring of 2020 and coordinated and supported its development. It was provisionally entitled ‘Community solutions – When social Innovation meets local development’. We shared a concept note and invited researchers and practitioners interested in the topic of social innovation and local development to contribute in the development of a sound proposal. Through such … Continue Reading
New CLLD country profiles (Poland, SIovenia) & Where does the EU share of CLLD funding come from?
This LDnet initiative aims to present in a systematic and succinct way how local development is implemented in different EU member states, as explained by Urszula Budzich-Tabor in her introduction to this initiative. CLLD country profiles for Poland and Slovenia have now been published, added to those for Austria, Sweden, Portugal and Czechia. They can be accessed by clicking below. More are in preparation, including Italy, Estonia, Greece … Continue Reading
Events & activities
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
New series of RSA webinars
The Regional Studies Association continues with its successful Webinar Series and the LDnet community is warmly invited to join these webinar sessions. In addition, the RSA’s European Foundation (RSA Europe) offers also a number of high profile webinars delivered in partnered with EU Institutions. Please … Continue Reading
A new series of webinars: ‘Recovery through community led approaches’
Between 18 June and 9 July 2020, LDnet organised - in association with RSA Europe, AEIDL and ELARD - a series of four webinars on "Rebuilding local economies after lockdown", on the following topics: Reinventing local shopping and hospitality New solidarity services Stay at home vacations - … 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
CLLD in Europe: An initiative of LDnet
Local development has different faces across the EU. Probably its most structured form is “Community-Led Local Development” (CLLD). It was implemented initially as the LEADER approach (developed within EU rural development funding since 1991), and the last decade it can be funded also from other EU Funds: … 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