What is the EU LEADER approach?
LEADER is a local rural development method, which has been actively used in European countries since the 1990’s. LEADER is a French acronym (Liaison Entre Actions de Développement de l’Économique Rurale) meaning “Links between actions for the development of the rural economy”. The main principle of LEADER is to facilitate rural development by establishing partnerships between the public, private, and civil society sectors and empowering their efforts. The method involves strengthening rural areas by delivering local strategies and resource allocation. The main instruments of the LEADER approach are Local Action Groups (LAG), which enable local people to make decisions concerning local socio-economic, cultural, and environmental issues. LEADER involves establishing links to share knowledge and experience and uniting local communities around a common goal.
Seven key characteristics of the LEADER approach
- Developing a local development strategy based on a specific area in a participatory way;
- Implementation of the mentioned strategy from the bottom up;
- Strengthening local partnerships and local development groups;
- Promotion of innovations: along with technical innovations, encouraging those social innovations that are of great importance to the villages;
- Integrated and multi-sectoral actions;
- Establishing connections and sharing experience with other groups involved in rural development;
- Cooperation with local development groups of different regions to implement joint projects/initiatives.
What is a Local Action Group (LAG)?
A Local Action Group (LAG) comprises public and private organizations from rural villages, which identify and implement rural development strategies. In addition, LAGs can include farmers, entrepreneurs, community organizations, local residents, service providers, media organizations, women’s unions, young people, people with disabilities, etc.