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 the networks’ results […]
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 the project on a firm theoretical but also practical […]
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 available at this LINK. The […]
New project launched: REBOUND – ‘Fostering Resilience in Rural Communities’
The implementation of this project, under the Erasmus+ programme, kicked off on 1 February 2022. The two-year project is led by the Technological University of the Shannon (formerly Limerick Institute of Technology, Ireland) working with five partner organisations, including LDnet. REBOUND seeks to respond to macro- and micro-level imperatives and impetuses towards the promotion of […]
LEADER 30 years celebration & conference
ELARD organised this conference from 30.11 to 3.12.2021 in Halmstad (Sweden) to celebrate 30 years of LEADER and also to look forward: “We will take a look on successful LEADER-implementation during 30 years, but also investigate how we can work for local democracy and participatory approaches all over rural Europe in order to build a […]
‘Regions in Recovery’ e-Festival: three sessions curated by LDnet on ‘Recovery through Community-led Approaches’
The first LDnet session on 3 June 2021 addressed new local development opportunities and challenges. The session started with examples of how local communities in different types of areas (rural, coastal and urban) have been able to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the COVID crisis and what lessons can be drawn for public […]
‘Recovery through community-led approaches’ – The recording and main points of the concluding webinar of 29 April 2021
The concluding webinar in the LDnet series on ‘Recovery through community-led approaches’ was held on the 29th April 2021. Participants in the previous webinars were invited to join this final session to discuss cross-cutting themes and draw lessons. Questions included: how can community-based solutions be spread more effectively? How can communities work at transnational level […]
LDnet webinars 2021 – ‘Recovery through community-led approaches’
“Recovery through community-led approaches” – 8, 15, 22 & 29 April 2021 What can communities do to spur the recovery from Covid-19? How can local action complement governmental and EU actions? Is engaging local actors the way forward to a more sustainable future? Following positive feedback from participants in LDnet’s 2020 series of webinars, LDnet […]
ELARD general assembly: Cohesion Policy in Rural Areas and the role of CLLD
The ELARD General Assembly was held online on 3 February 2021 and included an introductory presentation by Iwona Lizstwan, EC DG AGRI. Stefan Kah was an invited speaker. His presentation “Cohesion Policy in Rural Areas and the role of CLLD” illustrated the main messages of a 2020 study on Cohesion Policy in “non-urban”, i.e. rural […]
LDnet webinars 2020: Rebuilding Local Economies after Lockdown
Between 18 June and 9 July 2020, LDnet organised – in association with RSA Europe, AEIDL and ELARD – a series of four webinars on “Rebuilding local economies after lockdown”, on the following topics: Reinventing local shopping and hospitality New solidarity services Stay at home vacations – staycations Worsening inequalities / social inclusion The Covid-19 pandemic has […]
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 the webinar series ‘Rebuilding local economies […]
EU lagging regions: State of play and future challenges
The EU’s lagging regions face significant challenges to transform their economic under-performance. Current ongoing transitions, such as digitalisation and towards a sustainable society, and the COVID-19 pandemic are accentuating these challenges. This is both creating new and exacerbating existing internal divergence within the EU. This study Marta Pilati and Alison Hunter (EPC) for the REGI […]