What’s a LEADER approach?
There are seven principles adopted by ELARD:
1. The area based approach
An area-based approach takes a small, homogenous, socially cohesive territory, often characterised by
common traditions, a local identity, a sense of belonging or common needs and expectations, as the
target area for policy implementation. Having such an area as a reference facilitates the recognition of
local strengths and weaknesses, threats and opportunities, endogenous potential and the identification
of major bottlenecks for sustainable development.
Area-based essentially means local. This approach is likely to work better than other approaches
because it allows actions to be tailored more precisely to suit real needs and local competitive
advantage. The area chosen must have sufficient coherence and critical mass in terms of human,
financial and economic resources to support a viable local development strategy. It does not have to
correspond to predefined administrative boundaries.
The definition of a ‘local area' is neither universal nor static. On the contrary, it evolves and changes
with broader economic and social change, the role of farming, land management and environmental
concerns, and general perceptions about rural areas.
In order to achieve economic and social development the Local Action Groups area must be small
enough to be cohesive and large enough to ensure that development can be generated from within the
area. The generation of development from within the area depends on the capacity of its inhabitants.
2. The Bottom Up approach
The bottom-up approach means that local actors participate in decision-making about the strategy and
in the selection of the priorities to be pursued in their local area. Experience has shown that the
bottom-up approach should not be considered as alternative or opposed to topdown approaches from
national and/or regional authorities, but rather as combining and interacting with them, in order to
achieve better overall results.
Of the seven features of LEADER the most distinctive one is the bottom-up approach. Rural policies
following this approach should be designed and implemented in the way best adapted to the needs of
the communities they serve. One way to ensure this is to invite local stakeholders to take the lead and
participate. This holds true in both the EU of 15 and of 27 Member States, but is equally important in
countries aspiring to EU membership where there are structural problems in agriculture and many
opportunities to improve the quality of rural life.
The involvement of local actors includes the population at large, economic and social interest groups
and representative public and private institutions. Capacity building is an essential component of the
bottom-up approach, involving:
awareness raising, training, participation and mobilisation of the local population to identify the
strengths and weakness of the area (analysis);
participation of different interest groups in drawing up a local development strategy;
establishment of clear criteria for selection at local level of appropriate actions
(projects) to deliver the strategy.
Participation should not be limited to the initial phase but should extend throughout
the implementation process, contributing to the strategy, the accomplishment of the
selected projects and in stocktaking and learning for the future. There are also important issues of
transparency which need to be addressed in the mobilisation and consultation procedures in order to
reach consensus through dialogue and negotiation among participating actors.
Many would recognise the Bottom-up approach of LEADER as its anchor tenet. By involving local
communities in rural development planning and implementation LEADER has breathed new life into
communities facing unprecedented challenges.
3. The Local Action group
Setting up a local partnership, known as a ‘local action group' (LAG), is an original and important
feature of the LEADER approach. The LAG has the task of identifying and implementing a local
development strategy, making decisions about the allocation of its financial resources and managing
them. LAGs are likely to be effective in stimulating sustainable development because they:
• Aggregate and combine available human and financial resources from the public sector, the
private sector, the civic and voluntary sectors;
• Associate local players around collective projects and multi-sectoral actions, in order to achieve
synergies, joint ownership, and the critical mass needed to improve the area's economic
competitiveness;
• Strengthen the dialogue and cooperation between different rural actors, who often have little
experience in working together, by reducing potential conflict and facilitating negotiated
solutions through consultation and discussion;
• Facilitate, through the interaction between different partners, the processes of adaptation and
change in the agricultural sector (for example, quality products, food chains), the integration of
environmental concerns, the diversification of the rural economy and quality of life.
A LAG should associate public and private partners, and be well-balanced and representative of the
existing local interest groups, drawn from the different socioeconomic sectors in the area. At the
decision-making level, the private partners and associations must make up at least 50 % of the local
partnership.
LAGs may be set up ad hoc to access LEADER support, or may be based on previously existing
partnerships. Endowed with a team of practitioners and decision-making powers, the LAG represents a
model of organisation that can influence the delivery of policies in a positive way. Experience shows
that several types of LAG have been developed from these common characteristics, as a result of
different forms of regional and national political and institutional organisation, and also with differing
degrees of autonomy regarding project approval and financial management. The role and
responsibilities of LAGs have also evolved over time in some Member States, as familiarity with the
LEADER approach has grown.
LAGs decide the direction and content of the local rural development strategy, and
make decisions on the different projects to be financed. Actual payments are often
made by a paying authority dealing with public funding rather than the LAG itself, on
the basis of project selection made by the LAG.
The rural actors that are most active in local initiatives are:
• professional organisations and unions (representing farmers, non-farming professionals and
micro-enterprises),
• trade associations, citizens,
• residents and their local organisations,
• local political representatives,
• environmental associations,
• cultural and community service providers, including the media,
• women's associations,
• young people.
Often overlooked once the group is established, the ongoing development of the Local Action Group
itself is crucial to the success of LEADER. The composition of the group, which should include
representatives of all sectors of the region in which it operates, with a good geographic spread, rotation
of board and sub committee members and of course gender balance is only sustained through ongoing
Capacity Building work.
4. The Innovative Approach
LEADER can play a valuable role in stimulating new and innovative approaches to the development of
rural areas. Such innovation is encouraged by allowing LAGs wide margins of freedom and flexibility in
making decisions about the actions they want to support. Innovation needs to be understood in a wide
sense. It may mean the introduction of a new product, a new process, a new organisation or a new
market. This common definition of innovation is valid for rural as well as urban areas.
However, rural areas, because of their low density and relatively poor level of human and physical
resources, have weaker linkages with research and development centres and may find it difficult to
produce radical innovations, although this is of course possible.
Innovation in rural areas may imply the transfer and adaptation of innovations developed elsewhere,
the modernisation of traditional forms of know-how, or finding new solutions to persistent rural
problems which other policy interventions have not been able to solve in a satisfactory and sustainable
way.
This can provide new responses to the specific problems of rural areas. Introducing the LEADER
approach, with its seven features, may be an innovation in policy-making in its own right, which may
generate innovative actions by the original policy-delivery method that has been adopted. For example,
the bottom-up approach described above may stimulate the emergence of new project ideas which may
then be supported by the LAG because it is not bound by a fixed menu of measures. The adoption of
information and communication technologies in rural areas may become an important channel for
wider access to innovations by the rural population.
Local Action Groups stretched themselves to tackle more difficult problems and look
far beyond their own boundaries to find solutions. Innovation is crucial in addressing
rural decline and Local Action Groups have risen to the challenge to be innovative in
their approach as well as in their projects.
5. Integrated & Multi sectoral approach
LEADER is not a sectoral development programme; the local development strategy must have a multisectoral
rationale, integrating several sectors of activity. The actions and projects contained in local
strategies should be linked and coordinated as a coherent whole. Integration may concern actions
conducted in a single sector, all programme actions or specific groups of actions or, most importantly,
links between the different economic, social, cultural, environmental players and sectors involved.
Sometimes explained as the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Its delivery in the LEADER
programme is again dependent to a large extent on the Animation and Capacity Building work of the
Local Action Groups. Integration between sectors and actors is a fundamental element of the LEADER
programme.
6. Networking
Networking is one of the main features of the LEADER approach; furthermore, it is a very complex one
in terms of objectives, tools, implementation methods, actors involved and ways of meeting the needs of
members.
Networking includes the exchange of achievements, experiences and know-how between LEADER
groups, rural areas, administrations and organisations involved in rural development within the EU,
whether or not they are direct LEADER beneficiaries.It is also aboutmeans of transferring good
practice, of disseminating innovation and of building on the lessons learned from local rural
development.
There are different types of networks:
- Networking activities have primarily been focused on LEADER only, but from 2007 onwards they will
address a much broader range of rural development issues. They will have expert support and
undertake practical activities such as preparing publications on different aspects of rural development,
organising seminars, analysing rural development actions to identify good practice, identifying
development trends in rural areas, running websites and helping LEADER groups search for potential
partners and launch cooperation projects. The European network also acts as a meeting point for
national networks and administrations in each Member State in order to share experience at European
level. Participation in networking activities is mandatory for all LELADER groups receiving EU
Institutional networks
- These are funded by the European Commission, which defines their role. The EU supports networking
structures at both European and national level which bring together LEADER groups, administrations,
and all other interested partners active in rural development.
- Since 2007, the types of institutional network include also the European network for rural
development (run by the Commission) and a national rural network, to be set up in each Member State.
financial support, but other groups are welcome to feed in their knowledge and
experience into the network.
- Networks or associations of LEADER groups have also been set up or have emerged
more informally at local, regional or national level in some Member States and at
European level the European LEADER Association for Rural Development.
- Networking forges links between people, projects and rural areas and so can help overcome the
isolation faced by some rural regions. It can help stimulate cooperation projects by putting LEADER
groups in touch with each other.
National, regional and local networks
7. Cooperation
Cooperation goes further than networking. It involves a local action group undertaking a joint project
with another LEADER group, or with a group taking a similar approach, in another region, Member
State, or even third country.
Cooperation can help LEADER groups to boost their local activities. It can allow them to resolve certain
problems or add value to local resources. For example, it can be a way of achieving the critical mass
necessary for a specific project to be viable, or of encouraging complementary actions. Examples
include joint marketing by Leader groups in different regions whose areas share a specialisation in a
specific product (chestnuts, wool, etc.), or developing joint tourism initiatives based on a shared
cultural heritage (Celtic, Roman, etc.).
Cooperation projects are not just simple exchanges of experiences. They must involve a concrete joint
project, ideally managed under a common structure. There are two different types of cooperation
possible under LEADER:
• interterritorial cooperation: this means cooperation between different rural areas within a
Member State; it may take place between LEADER groups, and it is also open to other local
groups using a similar participatory approach;
• transnational cooperation: this means cooperation between LEADER groups from at least two
Member States, or with groups in third countries following a similar approach.
The potential of the measure in sharing experience across rural Europe and assisting in the
achievement of cohesiveness amongst different and diverse states has yet to be realised fully. Moreover
with the pre-accession states enthusiastic to get involved in the LEADER Program, Animation and
Capacity Building take on a whole new dimension.