LDnet was for the second year a partner in the RSA's 'Regions in Recovery' e-Festival, RinR22 - see below for more information. As part of RinR22 we organised a special session (Ref: SS 23) on 24 March 2022 focusing on bridging research, policy and practice in local development. The recording of the LDnet session can be accessed HERE. The LDnet special session was entitled Local Development: Lessons for the future from recent research and … Continue Reading
Events & activities

40 years of the OECD local development programme!
The OECD Local Development Forum 15-17 June 2022, Cork, Ireland. It will be an in-person event with live streaming of selected sessions. This year's Local Development Forum will mark the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the OECD’s Local Employment and Economic Development and will debate the issues … Continue Reading

Evaluation study on the ENRD and NRNs’ contribution to the implementation of the EU Rural Development policy
DG AGRI has commissioned consultants to carry out an evaluation study aimed to assess how and to what extent the ENRD and the NRNs contributed to the implementation of the EU Rural Development policy in the 2014-2020 programming period. As part of this study, four surveys were designed to obtain inputs into … Continue Reading

REBOUND: Experts in rural community resilience wanted!
Erasmus+ project ‘REBOUND’ focuses on compiling state-of-the-art knowledge in the field of rural community resilience and well-being After kicking off in February 2022 the REBOUND partnership, including LDnet, has begun the initial planning and work on the project. In order to place the main objectives of … Continue Reading

The ‘Debate on the future of local development and LDnet’s strategy’- the full recording
The Annual Assembly of LDnet took place online on Wednesday 2 February 2022. It was attended by 40 practitioners and researchers and included a lively debate on the future of local development and LDnet's strategy with contributions from many of the participants. The full recording of the debate is now … Continue Reading
Articles

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

COP26: Social innovation and just transition to climate neutrality
How social innovation contributes to just transitions to climate neutrality A side event at the COP 26 in Glasgow, organised on 10.11.2021 by the James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen, Scotland/UK The James Hutton Institute, UK, lead partner of the HORIZON 2020 research project SIMRA (Social Innovation in … 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
PUBLICATIONS

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

URBACT Transfer Guide – Social Participative Model using Volunteerism
The network “Volunteering Cities” has decided to develop this Transfer Guide with the objective of giving support to other cities that need/wish to re-visit their Social Policy Governance Model in order to set-up: Co-creation policy making, and Action Plans design processes by incorporating the … Continue reading

CLLD comparisons: ESI funding available to LAGs in different countries
How does the average ESI funding per Local Action Group (LAG) compare by Member State? This analysis is part of the CLLD in Europe initiative of LDnet, comprising CLLD country profiles and horizontal analyses (see here). We have seen that the EAFRD is the dominant ESI Fund in most EU Member States (see … Continue reading

Local responses to the COVID-19 crisis: A new briefing on lessons for rural development
Several organisations have been 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 … 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 … Continue reading

Territorial Approaches for Sustainable Development
Perspectives and approaches that put territories at the centre of development have returned to become important in international debate and policy to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Among the reasons for the renewed emphasis is the need to improve the effectiveness of sectoral … Continue reading