ITF – AGROFOOD 2010 “THE ROLE OF LEADER PROGRAMME IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN SLOVENIA Prepared by: Tomaž Cunder, B. Sci. Geogr. Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, Departement of Agricultural Economics, Hacquetova 17, Ljubljana Skopje, 09. –

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE WITH RURAL DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY BASED PROGRAMMES Program for “Integrated Rural Development and Village Renewal” (CRPOV) ( ) opreparation phase (analysing development needs, elaborating the development programme, establishing partnerships, organising training workshops); opromotion of rural areas; ovillage renewal; otourist and farm infrastructure; odeveloping and establishing trade marks for local products. Development Programmes for Rural Areas ( ) oestablishing partnerships and the selection of managers oanimation of local population opreparation of development strategies

MAIN OBJECTIVES OF LEADER APPROACH olocal capacity building, onew employment opportunities, odiversification of activities in rural areas, ostimulation of endogenous development, o improving the management in rural areas, oextension of innovation.

LAG S IN SLOVENIA FOR THE PERIOD Prednostne naloge po gospodarskih sektorjih (%)

LEGAL FORM OF THE LAGs oContract of establishment of LAG (16) oAssociation (8) oConsortium contract (4) oCo-operative (3) oMemorandum of Association (1) oPublic Institute (1)

STRUCTURE OF PARTNERSHIP still predominant role of municipalities in the public sector, agricultural enterprises and farms represents 40% of partners from economic sector, private sector combines individuals, different associations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

STRUCTURE OF PARTNERSHIP

FINANCIAL RESOURCES FOR LEADER AXES IN SLOVENIA Running Local Action Number of inhabitants of the LAG area Surface of the area (km 2 ) Implementation of projects 40 % - assessment of local development strategy 30 % - number of inhabitants of the LAG area 30 % - surface of the area (km 2 )

FINANCIAL RESOURCES 2009 Total comitment: € Running Local Action Groups: € Min: 4.046€ Max: € Average: € Implementation of projects: € Min: € Max: € Average: €

D EVELOPMENT DEFICIENCY INDEX OF S LOVENIAN REGIONS

A D EVELOPMENT D EFICIENCY I NDEX AND ITS INDICATORS Development Deficiency Index (DDI) is a composite index and is used as a basis for allocating direct and indirect regional incentives. The index is composed of eleven indicators classified in three groups: Indicators of development (GDP/capita, Taxable earnings per capita, Value added of commercial companies per employee and Employment population ratio) Indicators of deficiency (Registered unemployment rate, Ageing index, Share of the population with the connection to the public sewerage system) Indicators of developmental opportunities (Number of years in formal education, Share of NATURA 2000 areas in the total area, Density of settlement and Labour migration index)

Main characteristics of LAGs by DDI range Indicators LAGs in DDI 1 LAGs in DDI 2 LAGs in DDI 3 LAGs in DDI 4 SLOVENIA total GDP/capita (euros) Taxable earnings/capita (%) 121,598,093,775,5100,0 Labour productivity (%) 114,593,5101,771,2100,0 Employment rate (%)63,060,661,055,460,4 Reg. unemployment rate (%)7,28,99,315,79,4 Ageing index (%)110,1118,1114,9121,2115,1 Connection to PSS (%)66,946,342,431,249,9 Years of formal education11,310,510,210,010,6 NATURA 2000 areas (%)21,632,838,143,535,5 Population density196,991,777,891,299,1 Labour migration Index (%)121,795,883,990,3100,0

LOCAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY Characteristics of the area (geographic, economic, demographic, sociologic, description of previous actions) SWOT annalysis (development potential of the area) Development vision (chosen theme and goals, priorities, target groups, expected resoults) Operating strategy (bottom-up approach, time schedule, innovative actions, transferebility of the actions and activities, sustainability of ther strategy) Harmonisation with other development programmes

STRATEGIC GOALS OF LOCAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES

PRORITY TASKS OF THE LDS

ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION PLANS Activity Number of projects Share (%) Value of projects (€) Share of co- financing (%) Agriculture4616, ,5 Tourism9433, ,4 Small business and handcraft 3311, ,5 Architecture and rural planning 176, ,6 Infrastructure176, ,0 Culture4415, ,5 Additional farm activities113, ,2 Information technologies113, ,5 Energetics51, ,6 Forestry41, ,3 Total282100, ,7

ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION PLANS

CONCLUSIONS Local Action Groups in Slovenia are very heterogeneous in the matter of size, structure of partnership and administrative structure All LAGs take into consideration “bottom-up” approach Local development strategies in most cases consider all the aspects of sustainable development. Lack of interterriotrial and transnational cooperation Slovenia will exceed the objectives set in the Rural Development Programme

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