Following on from our general assembly, we are going ahead with a number of new initiatives. We are planning a workshop on Social innovation and local development: linking urban and rural approaches. It will take place in 20 February 2020 in Brussels, on the conclusion of the SIMRA conference. Peter Ramsden will lead from the urban and Robert Lukesch from the rural … [Read more...]
LDnet events & activities
A lively debate on ‘Capitalising on diversity in local development’ at EWRC2019
On 9 October 2019, as part of EWRC2019, LDnet, organised a workshop in partnership with ELARD on 'Capitalising on diversity in local development' under the theme 'A Europe Closer to Citizen'. The workshop aimed at demonstrating that bottom-up approaches to local development, like CLLD, have succeeded in engaging ‘Unusual Suspects’; people left out of mainstream development … [Read more...]
LDnet General Assembly: New initiatives for 2019-2020
This year's general assembly of the LDnet association took place on Tuesday 8 October 2019 in Brussels, with teleconferencing facilities allowing members and friends not present in Brussels to participate remotely. In addition to the normal business of the general assembly, there was a wide-ranging debate covering several topics led by colleagues, including: Building … [Read more...]
Urban Innovative Actions: 20 new projects
Following the 4th UIA Call for Proposals, 20 new projects have been selected. The selected urban authorities will have the opportunity to try out creative, innovative and durable solutions to address the challenges linked to the digital transition, sustainable use of land and nature based solutions, urban poverty and urban security. For the description of the approved … [Read more...]
Jelte Huizenga
When I joined Leda programme, in 1995, I met many high-level professionals, I learnt a lot from, Jelte Huizenga was one of them. The programme evolved in Leda Partenariat and Jelte was still there. Even if retired, he continued to be very active politically in his Almere (NL), and not only: he has been working unceasingly in the network, he has always rejected a leading role, … [Read more...]
Strengthening the impact of research on EU local development policies: towards a community of experts
On 6 June 2019, LDnet organised a special session at the annual conference of the RSA in Santiago de Compostela on the topic of "Strengthening the impact of research on EU local development policies". The LDnet workshop presented the opportunities and challenges of involving the research community in designing and analysing EU local development policies, in particular CLLD … [Read more...]
Updated LEADER toolkit
An updated version of the LEADER toolkit, now available on the ENRD website, provides information for both local actors and Managing Authorities. The toolkit serves as a guidebook for beginners and a reference source and checklist for more advanced users in the 2014-2020 programming period, containing the most recent updates in guidance and changes to the Regulations. The … [Read more...]
Internships with LDnet
There are opportunities for internships with LDnet for people with studies or interests related to local development. We have offered such internships, jointly with other Brussels-based organisations, in the last two years with students from French and German universities. We expect to be able to offer one or two internships in 2019. We follow a flexible format and an … [Read more...]
RELOCAL project: early findings
Early findings from the RELOCAL EU Horizon 2020 research project ‘Resituating the local in cohesion and territorial development’: R E L O C A L in brief: Departs from the premise that “place” can precondition the chances of local action in promoting fairness and well-being; Aims at identifying factors that favour local accessibility of European policies and funds; … [Read more...]
LEADER in the witness box: Hearing in the European Parliament
On 22 November 2018, the AGRI Committee, together with the CONT (Budgetary Control) Committee of the European Parliament held a Public Hearing on LEADER experiences - lessons learned and effectiveness of EU funds for rural development. The aim was to evaluate how the LEADER programme had worked over the past, what its added value was and how it could be improved in the … [Read more...]
Local strategies for retaining and attracting talent
The workshop on "Local development strategies: retaining and attracting talents in the regions" took place on Thursday 11 October 2018 in the framework of the European Week of Regions and Cities. Organised by LDnet as lead-partner, in cooperation with ELARD, CIM Alto Minho and AEIDL, it offered a forum for the presentation of concrete experiences from different countries … [Read more...]
Fernando Barreiro (1949-2018)
We are very saddened at the news of the death of Fernando Barreiro, a long-standing friend and colleague in the field of local development, one of the founders of LDnet and member of its board. Fernando was born in Uruguay, moved to Spain in the 1970s as a refugee during the time of the Uruguayan Dictatorship and lived in Barcelona. His professional work from the 1980s … [Read more...]