ODRAZ - Sustainable Community Development / EESC OPINION European Economic and Social Committee ________________________________ Advantages of the Community-led Local Development (CLLD) approach for integrated local and rural development ________________________________ Lidija Pavić-Rogošić ODRAZ - Sustainable Community Development / EESC March 2018

Request from Estonian Ministry of Rural Affairs to EESC for exploratory opinion under the title “What kind of advantages the Community-led Local Development multi-funded approach creates for integrated local and rural development” with the aim to get to know more about the benefits of CLLD for Member States the bottlenecks and their resolutions

EESC and LEADER/CLLD EESC believes in LEADER and CLLD strongly supports the bottom-up decision-making process by preparing opinions and through cooperation with European networks CLLD contributes to territorial cohesion and sustainable development Opinion adopted by EESC on 7 December 2017

Difference between LEADER and CLLD CLLD brings more integrated approach and diversified financing model the use of CLLD could include several funds and has been extended to the urban and peri-urban dimension

Three interconnected elements CLLD is based on three interconnected elements: multisectoral local action groups (LAGs) integrated local development strategies and defined territories

Integrated strategies Integrated local development: influences a wide spectrum of activities and has an impact on local economies and job creation, especially outside primary production in agriculture beneficial effect on social inclusion involvement and participation of different stakeholders Top-down Local strategy Local needs/ opportunities

Other principles remain the same The CLLD encourages integrated local development based on its principles: bottom-up approach, local development strategies, public-private partnerships, innovation, networking and collaboration Citizens can directly participate in improving the quality of life within their community by addressing the different types of community needs (in particular social, cultural, environmental and economic)

Main advantages of the CLLD multi-funds CLLD creates opportunities for different types of territories (rural, urban and coastal) and communities to work together on challenges (green economy, social inclusion, poverty reduction, migration issues, regional clusters, rural-urban-coastal linkages, smart solutions and IT technologies) helps building cohesion between rural, peri-urban and urban areas, thus overcoming the periphery effect

Main advantages of the CLLD multi-funds good mechanism for supporting "Smart Villages" concept through: involvement, capacity building, cooperation and networking support for innovations investments enhance good governance

CLLD in EU – state of play According to the European Commission, the most of Member States have adopted an approach that includes more funds in the programming period 2014-2020

LAGs that use ERDF and ESF Territorial focus of local development strategies Urban development Rural development Urban-rural connections Peri-urban areas Coastal areas

Conditions for success of CLLD The introduction of the multi-fund approach requires: political will understanding of the benefits of CLLD at national level good collaboration between ministries

EESC recommendations 1 Establishing a clear vision for an obligatory CLLD multi- funds implementation in the EU, assuring more funds Strong cooperation between DGs and with other organisations Urging the EC to explore and analyse in depth opportunities to create a reserve fund for CLLD at EU level

EESC recommendations 2 defining a harmonised framework of all ESI Funds and setting up simple rules for CLLD Fund implementation at EU level enabling a close dialogue between all CLLD actors at European, national, regional and local level in preparations for the next programming period

EESC recommendations 3 One CLLD operational programme and management body for the implementation of the CLLD at the national level EC to ensure that all Member States have a national CLLD Fund with contributions from all four ESI Funds (EAFRD, EMFF, ERDF and ESF) Requiring Member States to allocate at least 15% of each ESI Fund budget to the CLLD Fund and to have sufficient national resources

EESC recommendations 4 harnessing the potential of IT solutions for simplification and automating data collection at national and local level, using best practices (as in Estonia, for example) CLLD in peri-urban and urban areas are the challenges for future EU local development collecting data on successful pilots organizing information and motivation campaigns training local urban actors and public administration

Proposed model for CLLD implementation 2021-2027

Example from Sweden – Model with intermediate body EU ERDF 6% 16,5 mio € EMFF 16,6 mio € ESF 16,3 mio € EARDF 5% 200 mio € Board of agriculture CLLD-unit with 10-15 co-workers takes the task of MA PA at different unit

State of play in Sweden 46 out of 48 areas have approved project applications 230 EAFRD 23 ERDF 17 EMFF 4 ESF

Conclusions - Sweden Intermediate body The method through storytelling - connectivity at emotional level; how we feel and what we know; to make the audience share the same feeling Collecting statistical data

Why are we talking about CLLD now? The EU is on the threshold of negotiations on policy post-2020 The EC and the Member States are discussing the future financial framework for ESIF How can the European Union strengthen its ties with the Member States and regain the trust of its citizens? CLLD - enables integrated local development and the involvement of citizens and their organisations at grassroots level EESC CLLD as a successful European local development tool

Message from EESC We will be happy to be co-founders of the new „working CLLD platform“ – EESC, ECoR, EP and EC – several connected DGs - at the EU institutional level, with the participation of expert networks – ELARD, RED