This lab aims to explore how local initiatives or local action groups working in the context of CLLD can act as a motor and platform for social innovation at grass roots level. There are many connections between local development methods and social innovation, especially the pulling together of a stakeholder group involving the main public, private and third sector actors at … [Read more...]
LDnet 2020: State of Play in Local Development and much more …
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...]
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...]
Highlights from the LEADER/CLLD 2019 Conference: 25-26.11.2019 Amarante, Portugal
ELARD and the Portuguese LEADER network Minha Terra have organised the last gathering under the Portuguese Presidency of Maria João Botelho in the beautiful town of Amarante in Northern Portugal, hosted by the LAG Dolmen. The workshop on Nov. 25th served as an exchange platform to discuss the state of play in the member countries and to lay out priorities for the upcoming … [Read more...]
LDnet: a community of experts building bridges between research and practice
Local development is multi-faceted with practitioners split between the urban and rural domains, while researchers come from different academic disciplines. A community of experts dealing with local development could help harvest lessons learnt and overcome silo mentality. LDnet and the European Commission are very keen on building bridges between research and practice and … [Read more...]
The LEADER Approach and Social Innovation in Rural Areas – a Liaison?
R. Lukesch, H. Gassler, B. Ecker, L. Fidlschuster, M. Fischer, S. Mair, S. Philipp, N. Said[1] Abstract –The research project SILEA aimed at exploring the significance, extent and possible effects of Social Innovation in the framework of the LEADER Measure of the Austrian Rural Development Program 2014-20. The study leaned onto a complex mix of methods combining a … [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...]
Resilient Villages: “Vibrant rural communities are not afraid to take risks”
In his current research, LDnet board member, Alistair Adam-Hernández examines why some rural communities are able to adapt to change better than others. During the European Rural Sociology Conference 2019, “Rural Futures in a Complex World” in Trondheim (NO), an international group of social scientists discussed how this concept could enable rural communities to harness … [Read more...]
Debating CLLD as experimental governance and task-specific space for policy action
The Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) instrument is one of the most interesting “territorial delivery mechanisms” of the current EU 2014-2020 programming period. Built on the former LEADER project, it attempts to overcome the sectorial (rural or maritime) approach of the previous instrument through a more integrated local-development policy agenda for ad-hoc sub-regional … [Read more...]
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 Funds: EAFRD, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), the … [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...]
Urban CLLD – The case of FatorC in Cascais, Portugal
CLLD Community Led Local Development (CLLD) is a territorial bottom-up approach, through which Local Development Strategies (LDS) are implemented. Local communities are encouraged to participate in the decisions about the implementation of community funds, by identifying the needs and challenges faced with in its area, proposing solutions and defining projects. The … [Read more...]