This study has been carried out by Jean-Pierre Vercruysse for Directorate D, DG REGIO of the European Commission with the purpose of better understanding the added-value of cross-border CLLD in the framework of Interreg. We publish below the Executive Summary of the study and we’ll add the link to the full report when published. Community-Led […]
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InDaLE project – Innovative public service provision in rural areas: Closing event 13 December 2022
Innovative public service provision in rural areas: Mutual learning between Germany, Sweden, Austria and Scotland The InDaLE research project In many structurally weak and sparsely populated rural regions of Europe, demographic change coupled with unstable local finances are pushing public services to the brink of their feasibility. With this, the quality of life in such […]
Michael Dower (1933 – 2022)
We are very saddened at the news of the death of Michael Dower, a great champion of rural communities, leading light in rural development, long-standing friend and member of LDnet. Michael passed away on 7 November 2022. He had a long and fruitful life. He trained as a chartered surveyor and town planner followed by […]
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 […]
European Rural Parliament 2022 – Resilience to Crises, Security and Solidarity
Report, Joint Declaration & Workshop (Does anyone listen?) The fifth meeting of the European Rural Parliament took place in Kielce, Poland, from 12 to 15 September 2022. The European Rural Parliament is a process aimed to strengthen the voice of rural communities in Europe, to promote self-help, solidarity, exchange and cooperation between rural communities and […]
The 40th anniversary of OECD’s ILE/LEED programme: Lessons for the future
This document was written by Ron Gass for the 40th Anniversary of the Local Employment Initiatives Programme (ILE) and the Local Employment and Economic Development Programme (LEED). The anniversary was celebrated at the OECD Local Development Forum held in Cork, Ireland on 15th-17th June 2022. Mr Gass was OECD’s Director of Social Affairs, Manpower and […]
Handbook of Territorial and Local Development Strategies launch
Inspiring experiences and future opportunities The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has recently published a “Handbook of Territorial and Local Development Strategies”. It is addressed to both managing authorities and to strategy owners and other local stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of CLLD, ITI or other territorial instruments, especially in non-urban areas. […]
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 regional science research on the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) on regions, […]
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 Executive Summary and the Conclusions and Recommendations. We have also published […]
Rural Pact: European and local leaders join forces to make local communities stronger
The Rural Pact conference, 15-16 June 2022, brought together EU, national, and regional politicians along with local authorities, social and economic stakeholders in a participatory event that reflected the rural vision’s ambition and bottom-up character. It sought to engage participants in designing the governance of the Rural Pact and gather commitments for the achievement of […]
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 (ÖIR); Maria Toptsidou, Kai Böhme (Spatial Foresight). Its executive summary is reproduced below. The […]
CLLD – Giving value to coastal landscapes from the bottom up
On 27 May an event organised by the Chair of Landscape Architecture of the Estonian University of Life Sciences, within the series of open seminars “Exploring Landscape Boundaries”, offered an interesting opportunity for an exchange between research and practice in local development. In the seminar on “Community-Led Local Development – giving value to coastal landscapes […]