ENRD Main Stories Archives

Story of the month: LEADER Event 2013: Building bridges for the future

Nearly 500 rural development practitioners from all over Europe gathered in Brussels for the third ENRD LEADER Event 2013. This year’s edition was held on the 17-18 April and was about building bridges for the future…between different stakeholders, for better rural development programming.

Design, develop, and deliver

“The event is part of a wider consultation process which the ENRD has initiated with the wider LEADER community. Together we have shared ideas on the better design, development and delivery of LEADER to ensure successful future programming at national, regional and local level,” explains Marina Brakalova, from the ENRD Contact Point.

For the first time, the LEADER Event brought representatives from Local Action Groups (LAGs), Paying Agencies, Managing Authorities, National Rural Networks, and European organisations together, and with the support of the ENRD, the participants shared experience, lessons learnt and tried to find new ways of enhancing the LEADER programming landscape at national, regional and local level.

Real-time exchange

Day one kicked-off with a lively introductory panel. “Local development has never before had such a role in EU policy-making as now – so we must be ready to use this opportunity at both the LAG and Managing Authority levels,” said Petri Rinne, President of ELARD, during the opening plenary session.

Open exchange and a participatory approach were central to the event’s methodology. This allowed the participants to express their expectations, network with other rural development practitioners, understand LEADER implementation lessons learnt through practical examples and discuss potential new transnational cooperation projects . At the end of the first day everyone got to enjoy LEADER in action at the international fair, where local products and craftwork were showcased alongside live traditional music.

A bridge for better rural development

Day two saw participants consider three aspects of LEADER. The first stream focused on how a programme design can capture the added value of LEADER; the second targeted the development of effective Local Development Strategies and LAGs; and the third was about delivering the LEADER approach more effectively.

From the current to the new programming period and from LEADER to Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) , the participants helped to build a bridge to ensure a better rural development.

“A bridge is something that connects the past to the future so we should use our past experiences to build that future,” said Krzysztof Kwatera, LAG Stowarzyszenie Dolina Raby, Poland.

The event newsletter provides insight into the participants’ perspectives. All agreed that more information is needed to ensure continuity in the next programming period.

“The LEADER Event 2013 demonstrates that the bridge for better programming is being built… we need to see this on-going communication between the key actors at all levels,” concluded Rob Peters, Head of Unit, DG Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission.

For more information:

About the LEADER Event2013 outcomes, click here.

To view the LEADER Event videos, click here.

To view the LEADER pictures, click here.