1. The LEADER approach and the Community-Led Local Development
Mgr. Vivien Kohútová
Local Action Group Chopok juh
Community-Led Local Development (CLLD)
Since it was launched in 1991 by the European Commission as a Community Initiative, the LEADER local development approach has been providing rural communities in the EU with a method for involving local partners in shaping the future development of their area. The LEADER approach has attracted a high level of interest within the EU and far beyond, not only in rural but also in urban and coastal areas.
The early generations of LEADER received funding from the EU structural funds as a separate Community Initiative. It reached a "maturity" phase in and has, since 2007, been co-funded under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).
While LEADER receives full support from EU institutions and all related stakeholders, it was acknowledged that LEADER has not fulfilled its full potential to comprehensively integrate local needs and solutions into Local Development Strategies (LDS). Therefore in order to allow local territories better take multi-sectoral needs into account, it is proposed that in future LEADER under the EAFRD will provide the possibility of implementing multi-fund LDS supported by other EU funds.
In this multi-fund context, the LEADER approach will be referred to as "Community-Led Local Development" (CLLD). For 2014 to 2020 CLLD (LEADER) will remain a mandatory part of the Rural Development Programmes funded by the EAFRD and a possible option under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). In order to ensure coherence of integrated LDS and actions, common rules are to be applied for these funds under the "Common Strategic Framework".

2. Vertical specificities
The LEADER (Liaisons Entre Actions de Développement de l’Economie Rurale - Links Between Development Actions Regarding the Rural Economy) is an approach to promote the integrated, endogenous, sustainable development of rural areas.
LEADER
approach
3. LAG:
Local public-private partnership
4.Facilitating innovation
5. Integrated and multisectoral actions
6. Cooperation
7. Networking
8. Financial and administrative devolution
1. Area-based local development approach
2. Bottom-up elaboration and implementation of strategies
Local specificities
Introduced as a ‘Community Initiative’ in Since 2007, it has been integrated (‘mainstreamed’) within overall EU rural development policy.
It promotes the performance of development strategies constructed to one or more priority topics (valorisation of the natural patrimony, strengthening of the economic environmental, improvement of the organizational abilities ).
It contributes to generate dynamics of development in rural territories, constructed on the history and the competitive factors specific of every area.
Original integrated strategies of sustainable development that have a pilot character (e.g. birth of new products and services, new methods aimed to interconnect the human resources)
Translocal specificities
Vertical specificities

3. The Leader approach and the Community-Led Local Development in the 2014-2020
The LEADER approach will continue to be a compulsory element in each rural development programme.
The Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) is an option; it is financed by the CSF funds, it can mobilise local communities and organisations to contribute to achieving the Europe 2020 Strategy goals.
The main aims of the Commission proposal with the use of CLLD are:
to encourage local communities to develop integrated bottom-up approaches where there is a need to respond to territorial and local challenges;
to build community capacity and stimulate innovation from within communities and territories;
to promote community ownership by increasing their participation;
to assist multi-level governance by providing a route for local communities in shaping the implementation of EU objectives.
LEADER approach will continue to be a compulsory element in each rural development programme.
It provides a single source of guidance for all five futurá,e Funds into the Common Strategic Framework under the denomination Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) only on an optional basis;
CLLD can mobilise and involve local communities and organisations to contribute to achieving the Europe 2020 Strategy goals.
The main aims of the Commission proposal are to simplify and expand the use of CLLD as a development tool:
to encourage local communities to develop integrated bottom-up approaches in circumstances where there is a need to respond to territorial and local challenges calling for structural change;
to build community capacity and stimulate innovation by encouraging the development and discovery of untapped potential from within communities and territories;
to promote community ownership by increasing participation within communities and build the sense of involvement and ownership that can increase the effectiveness of EU policies;
to assist multi-level governance by providing a route for local communities to fully take part in shaping the implementation of EU objectives in all areas.

4. The key components of Community-led Local Development
the local action groups: representatives of local public and private socio-economic interests (entrepreneurs, associations, local authorities) where neither the public sector nor any single interest group should have more than 49 % of the decision-making power;
the local development strategies need to be coherent with the relevant programmes of the CSF Funds through which they are supported;
the area and population coverage of a local strategy should be coherent, targeted and offer sufficient critical mass for its implementation. It is up to the LAGs to define the areas and population that their strategies will cover, but they must be consistent with criteria that the Commission will lay down through a delegated act.
Member States will define the approach to CLLD across the CSF Funds and should include references to it in the Partnership Contracts.

5. Challenges and concerns of the multi – funded strategy
A multi-funded strategy allows local development strategies to have a broader scope and to be better adapted to the territory:
it implies involving a wider variety of partners that can better define and deal with common cross-cutting challenges;
it helps to avoid overlaps between strategies as it receives support from different funds.
It may increase the total budget available for local development, given that a LAG will have access to several sources of financing.
The choice of a LAG for mono-funded or multi-funded local development strategies should consider the following:
Multi-funded strategies are more complex to design and implement and require experience and capacity. Solid preparation and capacity building actions are a must.
Multi-funded strategies require broader LAG partnerships. This brings more possibilities but also more complexity and requires better management.
In former periods investments were made to create delivery structures. It is essential to safeguard the results of this investment, including the existing local dynamic, structures and strategies.

6. Conclusion
Most stakeholders embrace a refreshed application of the “LEADER method” and welcome lessons from the past;
As community-led local development is area-based and can be financed by the different CSF Funds, it is an ideal methodology for building linkages between urban, rural and fisheries areas;
in cities and urban agglomerations, the potential for applying participative approaches to a range of urban challenges is huge and the Commission suggested a specifically earmarked priority for sustainable urban development in the structural funds.
The challenge of CLLD to revitalise local democracy by new ways of involving citizens, opens news perspectives and invent new local economies and societies.
The rural LAGs will be able to co-operate not only with partners implementing a LDS in a rural area, as in the current period, but also with partners from non-rural areas within the EU developing cooperation around major themes that are better deal with on a bigger scale.
CLLD may also be implemented in cross-border cooperation programmes, provided that the local development group is composed of representatives of at least two countries, of which one is a Member State.

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Prof. Alberto MANELLI
Director General