2. Area square kms Population Sweden449 9649 500 000 Estonia45 2261 300 000 Spain504 78246 030 000 Hungary93 0309 960 000 figures from Wikipedia

3. The county of Värmland And the Leader Närheten area

4. LEADER NGO´s Public Private Net-working Local roots Bottom-up perspective Innovative Transferability Leader method

5. Närheten 5-year anniversary!

6. Leader Närheten Non governmental and non profitable organization Purpose to develop rural area in the Karlstad region Area includes the municipalities of Grums, Kil, Forshaga, Hammarö and the rural parts of Karlstad About 70 000 people live within the Leader area. Half of them live on the country-side. Half in smaller towns, with at least 3 000 inhabitants.

7. Budget The total budget for all Swedish Leader areas is about 2,4 billion SEK (2,4 million Euro). This is around 7% of the budget for the total rural development program, which is 36 billion SEK. Leader Närheten has a total budget of 29,3 million SEK (2,9 million Euro) to help developing good ideas during the program period. 8,5 million SEK in the Leader Närheten budget are contributions from the participating municipalities.

8. Local Action Group The board of the NGO and responsible for executing the Leader program All sectors are represented in the board Even gender selection of members Even geographical spread to insure local roots

9. Strategy Like all Leader areas, the Leader Närheten has a formal strategy that identifies the needs of the area and how to prioritize among project applications. Main Themes: Development of trade and industry An attractive environment

10. Strategy more in detail Development of trade and industry Enhance competitiveness in farming and forestry Promote entrepreneurship Complementary activities to farmers Tourism

11. Strategy more in detail More development of trade and industry Support to a group of entrepreneurs in cooperation is permitted Support to trans sectorial cooperations permitted Direct support to a single businessman or a single company is outside the scope of the Leader program (Leader support must not distort competition)

12. Strategy in detail Attractive environment ● Enhance quality of life using wild nature and cultural setting ● Create physical and social meeting points ● Promote settlements in rural areas, especially located close to towns and cities, as they are attractive ● Improve infrastructure and different kind of public service

13. The Närheten Message Leader Närheten dispose of funds to realize good ideas. Local forces in cooperation may obtain financial support. Together we will contribute to rural development.

14. Cooperation

15. Number of projects 2008- Number of completed projects Main projects40 Smaller projects in accis 112 Smaller projects in accis 24 Smaller projects in accis 321 Smaller projects for young people24 Smaller projects to realize good ideas51 Totalt152

16. Figures from years past… Completed projects 2008 - 2011 Number of projects Financing from Leader Närheten Complementary factual co-financing Value of non paid work Corresponding nr of whole time employment (1800 hours per person) 978 931 106 SEK1 461 267 SEK6 237 520 SEK19,8

17. Participation NumbersNumbers in % Members in project groups399 Of these female17744 % Of these young people8722 % Projectmembers1274 Of these female53642 % Of these young people19816 %

22. Sustainability Projects that are continued six month after ending projecttime52 st54 %

23. Hannäs Equastrian Center

24. Enhance access and attractiveness to ”Norra Hyn”

25. Träningsverkstaden

26. Study trip to Vadsbro milk production plant

27. Leader Närheten office Håkan Svenneling – Manager Head of office, handles applications, spokesperson Karin Bohlin – Economy and assistans Responsible for economy and administration Emma Ericson – Project leader small projects Handles small projects, public relations Jens Karlsson – Project leader Sportfishing Responsible for a project focused on sport fishing tourism in three Leader areas in Värmland

28. Leader Närheten staff Emma, Karin, Håkan Karin, Håkan, Emma och Jens

29. Postal address: Box 49, SE-664 21 Grums, Sweden Visitor´s address: Sveaplan 3, Grums Tel: +46 555 45 99 98 E-mail: info@narheten.se www.narheten.se Contact information