LDnet – Local Development Network

A review of the ECA report on LEADER and CLLD

The European Court of Auditors has recently published a special report on LEADER and CLLD and we have presented it HERE. The overall message from the ECA is that "LEADER and community-led local development facilitates local engagement but additional benefits still not sufficiently demonstrated". The analysis and conclusions of the report merit a thorough examination and discussion. We now present below a commentary on the report by Robert Lukesch … Continue Reading

EWRC 10-13 October 2022: CLLD, Smart Villages, EUI, SDGs, and more

Registration is open for this year’s European Week of Regions and Cities. Under the motto New Challenges for Europe’s Cohesion the EWRC2022 offers a wide range of events. Some highlights include: Cross-border community-led local development: the success of four local action groups in the Interreg IT-AT … Continue Reading

RSA research funding opportunities

The Regional Studies Association (RSA) provides a range of research funding opportunities to suit different career stages. Forthcoming grant and award deadlines: 2022 Small Grant on Pandemics, Cities, Regions & Industry This scheme aims to support a discrete piece of regional studies and/or … Continue Reading

European Rural Parliament, 12-15 September 2022, Kielce

The 5th European Rural Parliament 2022 will take place from 12 to 15 September 2022 in Kielce, Poland. The full programme of this event and further information are available HERE. … Continue Reading

Smart Rural 21 Project – Final Conference: 17-18 October 2022, Gdansk

The conference will take place on 17-18 October 2022 in Gdansk (Poland) and will present the final outcomes of the Smart Rural 21 Project that are the result of intensive collaboration with rural communities and other relevant stakeholders across Europe to realise Smart Villages on the ground. More … Continue Reading

Third Joint EU Cohesion Policy Conference: 14-16 November 2022, Zagreb

Green, Digital, Inclusive and Fair: How can Cohesion Policy rise to the new territorial challenges? Third Joint EU Cohesion Policy Conference 14-16 November 2022, Zagreb, Croatia The RSA is organising the Third EU Cohesion Policy conference in partnership with the European Commission, DG Regio and the … Continue Reading

CLLD country profile: France

This new country profile, the 23rd in this LDnet series on CLLD in Europe, offers an overview of CLLD in France in the 2014-2020 period and beyond: local development approach, use of EU funds, number of LAGs, achievements so far, barriers encountered, national specificities - May 2022Main author: Yves … Continue reading

CLLD country profile: Denmark

This new country profile, the 22nd in this LDnet series on CLLD in Europe, offers an overview of CLLD in Denmark in the 2014-2020 period and beyond: local development approach, use of EU funds, number of LAGs, achievements so far, barriers encountered, national specificities - February 2022Main author: … Continue reading

CLLD country profile: Ireland

This new country profile, the 21st in this LDnet series on CLLD in Europe, offers an overview of CLLD in Ireland in the 2014-2020 period and beyond: local development approach, use of EU funds, number of LAGs, achievements so far, barriers encountered, national specificities. January 2022Main author: Brendan … Continue reading

CLLD in Europe: country profiles & EU-wide analyses

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. We have now published 22 CLLD country profiles for Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, … Continue reading

The ENSAMBLE project: Expertise and Networking to Sustain Actions in Med through Blue and Local Economy

Engaging local communities to boost the blue economy in the Mediterranean is the main goal of the ENSAMBLE project. Coordinated by the Italian FLAG "Costa degli Etruschi" for the Tuscany Region, the project partnership involves an innovative French cooperative based in the Mediterranean (Petra Patrimonia … Continue reading

Update: Implementing cohesion policy funds through multi-Fund CLLD

Community-led Local Development (CLLD) was introduced in the 2014-20 programme period and is based on the well-established LEADER tool. While LEADER is distinctly rural, co-funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), CLLD allows Member States to make use of up to four different ESI … Continue reading

European Court of Auditors report on LEADER and CLLD

The long-awaited special report of the European Court of Auditors on LEADER and CLLD has been published. The overall message from the ECA is that "LEADER and community-led local development facilitates local engagement but additional benefits still not sufficiently demonstrated". We present below the … Continue reading

Rural proofing – a foresight framework for resilient rural communities

This report for the European Committee of the Regions aims at identifying the mainstreaming potentials of existing rural proofing methodologies and territorial impact assessment methodologies in the EU policy process.It was written by Roland Gaugitsch, Isabella Messinger, Wolfgang Neugebauer, Bernd Schuh … Continue reading

Rural Europe Takes Action

This new book by ARC2020 and Forum Synergies - Rural Europe Takes Action - offers incisive and inclusive proposals for political and practical rural action to address the ongoing challenges of the transition towards a more resilient agriculture, a circular economy, a more inclusive rural infrastructure and … Continue reading

Towards a Brussels Citizens’ Assembly

"En Question" is the quarterly journal of "Centre Avec", an association located in Brussels aiming at promoting the common good and citizen engagement. The journal addresses ecology, democracy and interculturality with a view to encouraging action for social justice. In its June 2021 issue, the journal … Continue reading