As a follow up to the preliminary report on “What does CLLD bring to coastal and fisheries communities around Europe?” published in December 2024, FAMENET has published a full report “CLLD in fisheries and coastal communities. Achievements and Lessons” which includes quantitative results achieved in the 2014-2020 period as well as qualitative information based on the perceptions of FLAG managers and local stakeholders.
The report comprises analysis of implementation data based on Member State reporting, a survey of Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGs) filled by 150 respondents, and a survey of local stakeholders in FLAG areas (900 responses). This synthesis report demonstrates the effectiveness of Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) in engaging local stakeholders in development processes, thanks to the presence of local partnerships – FLAGs – and their specific outreach function and budget to fund action on the ground. The summary of findings and conclusions as well as key lessons and recommendations are presented below.
Summary of findings and conclusions
This synthesis report demonstrates the effectiveness of Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) in engaging local stakeholders in development processes, thanks to the presence of local partnerships – Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGs) – and their specific outreach function and budget to fund action on the ground.
With relatively small amounts of funding, CLLD has made a big difference in coastal communities, according to 78% of local stakeholders surveyed. The setting up of FLAGs has played an important role in bringing together people from different interest groups to develop a strategy to address their area’s needs and challenges. The participative nature of strategy development and of decision-making regarding which local priorities should receive funding makes CLLD a valuable tool for ensuring EU money goes to real needs. It is also helping to demonstrate the relevance of the EU in fisheries and aquaculture areas by supporting local people around Europe to take action that brings tangible benefits to coastal communities.
This report highlights how FLAGs have invested in developing local knowledge and capacity, through direct support, studies, training and exchange among stakeholder groups. Better knowledge, stronger networks and increased trust between local stakeholders is enabling fisheries and aquaculture communities to better manage their local resources and capitalise on their potential. New partnerships and cross-sectoral collaboration have led to innovations to make fisheries and aquaculture more environmentally sustainable, more profitable and more forward-looking.
While EMFF CLLD in some MS focused primarily on supporting activity related to fisheries and/or aquaculture, other MS have used CLLD as a tool to diversify coastal communities and foster new blue economy sectors. In all cases, the fisheries/aquaculture sector has been engaged as a central player in development processes, ensuring their integration with other blue economy sectors and better visibility for the important role that they play as a source of employment and food products.
While CLLD involves relatively small sums of money, it has demonstrated a broad range of results that are helping to foster dynamic and resilient communities in coastal and fisheries areas. Strong variations between FLAGs are apparent, but on average 60 jobs have been created or maintained in each local community covered by EMFF CLLD. An average of four new businesses were also created in each area, 12 existing businesses were supported to diversify their activities and revenue sources, and others were supported to become more resource efficient.
Many FLAGs have helped introduce a change in mindset among certain local businesses and other organisations. Actions to minimise the impact of economic activities on marine and aquaculture ecosystems are widespread among FLAGs, and actions to reduce waste and make local economies more circular are starting to take off. FLAGs have also funded the development and piloting of renewables (wind, solar and tidal energy) for boats, machinery and equipment in fisheries communities in line with Europe’s drive for a carbon neutral economy.
Between them, the 348 FLAGs funded under the EMFF supported around 14 300 local projects, equivalent to an average of 43 projects in each community. This is helping create a constructive dynamic among stakeholders in coastal communities, build ownership at local level for key EU policies, and open up access to EU funding for thousands of project promoters for the first time
Lessons and recommendations for successful CLLD in fisheries and coastal areas
CLLD has demonstrated that it can be extremely powerful for bringing change and direct benefits to local communities. However, it is only as effective as the financial and human resources dedicated to it. This report also reveals that results differ heavily from one MS to another – as well as from one FLAG to another. Below, we present some brief lessons and recommendations for ensuring that CLLD brings maximum impact to fisheries and coastal communities:
✓ CLLD is a flexible tool that allows local communities to tailor EU support to their specific needs, thanks to a decision-making body made up of community members from different interest groups.
✓ While setting up local groups implies certain costs, much of the added value of CLLD stems precisely from having this team on the ground providing outreach and support to the community. Indeed, FLAGs have proven effective at generating projects that would not have happened without their animation activities and without CLLD funding.
✓ FLAGs need sufficient budget and staff resources to be effective in mobilising community members and to fund a critical mass of different projects to address each area’s needs.
✓ Most FLAGs have associated a broad range of individuals and interest groups, however, a minority had only 3-4 interest groups on their decision-making body, missing an opportunity to mobilise talent and contacts from other sections of the local community. In particular, some FLAGs could improve female representation and many of them on could benefit from better engaging the young.
✓ Simpler and quicker procedures to apply for and receive funding could significantly enhance the reach and impact of CLLD by reducing time spent on administration and attracting more potential project promoters, including of different profiles.
✓ Delegating additional responsibilities to the FLAGs, such as the formal project approval and payment of local projects (e.g. in Greece) is one solution for speeding up approval and payment processes.
✓ Simplified cost options for small-scale projects and broader accessibility of advance payments could also offer potential to make grant delivery more efficient and accessible to a broader range of local stakeholders.
✓ Simplifying and streamlining the procedures to approve new FLAGs between programming periods would also help maintain the positive dynamic created among stakeholders in coastal communities and trust in the EU institutions.
✓ Maintaining funding in the future for bottom-up initiatives such as CLLD (and increasing it in certain areas) could strengthen the visibility and democratic legitimacy of the EU and increase the impact of EU policy on people’s lives.
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