1_EU LEADER approach in
2007 – 2013
Jela Tvrdonova, 2015
Content
What is Leader approach?
How did Leader evolved?
How is Leader implemented?
Local action groups and local development
strategies
Cooperation in Leader
Guidelines for Leader
What is the future of territorial development?
What is CLLD?
Is there any future for Leader?
What is the Leader approach?
governance tool
endogenous development tool
innovation tool
territorial tool
integration tool
What is the Leader approach?
Territorial
policy tool
RDP/OP
ESI Funds/
Other public
and private
funding
LDS/CLLDS
Leader/CLLD
Method
7 principles
Added
value
Leader as a rural development method
 A mode of governance characterized by the combined application
of the 7 LEADER features for the elaboration and implementation of
local development strategies
 Bottom-up approach with decision power for LAGs
 Local public – private partnership
 Multi-sectorial design and implementation of strategies
 Area –based local development strategies
 Implementation of innovative approaches
 Networking of local partnerships
 Implementation of cooperation projects
Evolution of the Leader approach
Community Initiatives:
 Leader I (1991-93) – experiment: result of criticism to the individual
project approach in the Structural Policy
 Leader II (1994-99) - laboratory: limited to disadvantaged rural areas,
innovation, pilot actions, introduction of transnational cooperation
 Leader+ (2000-06) - maturity phase: eligibility of the whole rural
territory; reinforced role of networks and transnational cooperation
 (Leader+ type measure for new Member States 2004-2006)
„Mainstreamed Leader“ 2007-13:
Leader axis – not any longer specific programmes;
methodological approach to mainstream RD programming
CLLD in 2014- 2020
Possibility to prepare and implement strategies based on funding of
several EU ESI Funds
Experience with Leader
 Decentralised management, financing and
local partnerships need more resources at
early stages (capacity building, negotiation
time, organisation development)
 Accelerated programme delivery in later
phases due to enhanced local capital, local
ownership.
Concept of Leader Axis
Various policy options within rural
policy instruments
Wider thematic and geographical
scope of application
Application to the 3 axis
Geographical application
(application on a wider scale
(all rural regions in certain MS )
Leader Axis measures (Art 63)
a) Implementing local development
strategies to achieve the objectives of
one or more of the 3 axis
b) Cooperation
c) Running the local action group,
acquisition of skills and animating the
territory
RDP measures implemented via Leader
axis – technical options
Selection of measures – menu of
RD regulation
measures will have to be chosen out
of the European ‘menu’ of measures.
Sub option A : measure implemented
exclusively with the Leader method
Sub option B :measure implemented in
addition to the top down method
Implementation of own measures
(e.g. territorial measures)
Various RDP allocations for leader
Leader axis budget:
At least 5 % of total EARDF contribution in the
old MS
At least 2,5% in the new MS.
Romania and Bulgaria (2,5% applying to 20102013)
Leader 2007 – 2013 – reality
Programmed expenditure for Leader in the
EU:
 Public: € 8.9 billion
– of which EAFRD: € 5.5 billion
– total public: € 13.9 billion
 Private: € 5.0 billion
Maximum co-financing rate:
 55% in developed regions
 80% in convergence regions
Leader 2007 – 2013 – reality
Breakdown of the EAFRD contribution
according to the measures for Leader:
Implementation of local development strategies
(Measure 41): 77, 5%
 Competitiveness (sub-measure 411) : 9,5%
 Environment and Land Management (sub-measure
412): 3,0 %
 Quality of Life and Economic Diversification (submeasure 413) : 65,0%
Inter territorial and transnational cooperation (Measure
421) : 5,0%
LAG running costs, skills acquisition and animation
(Measure 431) 16,5%
Leader axis implementation steps
 Acquisition of skills for new LAGs or existing
LAGs
 Selection of local development strategies
 Contracting LAGs
 Implementation of local development
strategy
 Monitoring and evaluation
Local action groups (LAGs)
 Legally constituted
structure in
administrative and
financial matters
 Decision making body
(any matters including
project selection): public
interest represented with
maximum 49% of voters
 Local action groups should:
 Carry out capacity building actions
for local actors (acquisition of skills)
 Draw up project selection criteria,
assess and select operations for
financing under the local
development strategy
 Monitor and evaluate the
implementation of the local
development strategy and the
operations supported,
Selection of local development strategies
 Opened selection procedure ensuring competition between
LAGs
 RDP contains procedure and timetable for selecting the local
action groups, including:
selection criteria (eligibility and quality) and their
justification
planned maximum number of LAGs
planned percentage of rural territories covered by local
development strategies
Selection of local action groups minimum criteria
Partnership related criteria
 Clear responsibility for
strategy implementation
 Representative of partners
from the various locally
based socio-economic
sectors
 At decision-making level
representation of the
economic and social actors
and civil society (at least
50 % of the local partnership)
 Ability to define and
implement a development
strategy;
 Ability to administer public
funds
Strategy related criteria
 Integrated local
development
strategy
Territory related criteria
 Coherent area
and critical mass
to support a viable
development
strategy
Local development strategies
Requirements:
 Definition of the area and population covered by the
strategy;
 Elaboration and description of local development strategy
 Description of the process of community involvement in the
development of the strategy;
 Description of the management and monitoring
arrangements of the strategy,
 Demonstration of the capacity bulding/acquisition of skills
activities of the local action group to implement the strategy and
 Description of specific arrangements for evaluation;
 Reporting and communication
19
LDS design and intervention logic
LDS as a management tool to address the LAG territory’s needs and
improve the situation and covers:
 Analysis of the development needs and potential of the area,
including SWOT and needs assessment
 Description of the strategy and its objectives, a description of the
integrated and innovative character of the strategy, including
clear and measurable targets for outputs, results and impacts.
 Action plan demonstrating how objectives are translated into
measures and actions;
 Financial plan of the strategy, including the planned allocation of
various funds used to implement it .
The heart of the LDS is its intervention logic, which is also the ground
for its evaluation
The base for the intervention logic
design
Territory
description
SWOT
analysis
Needs
assessment
20
Elements of LDS intervention logic
Context situation analysed with SWOT
LDS contribution
to programme
objectives and
changes in LAG
territory
Needs of the LAG
territory to be
addressed with
the LDS
Links to
objectives of
EFF, EFRD
and ESF,
financed
programmes
if relevant
Links to RDP
Objectives,
RD priorities
and FA
(mainly 6B)
and others
if relevant
Overall LDS
Objective(s)
Expected impacts
LDS specific
objectives
Expected results
LDS operational
objectives
Expected outputs
Inputs
LDS measures
21
Decision making process in the
implementation of local strategy
 Bottom up principle to respect : Individual
projects/operations selected by local action groups
(assessment of project relevance towards the local
strategy)
 Procedure for the selection of operations by the
local action groups, and description of the financial
circuits applicable for LAGs is described in the
programme.
 Eligibility checks (legal control) made by the
Managing Authority in the majority of MS
Bottom up and financial circuits
Payments by LAG
Payments by Paying
agency
 LAG pays to final beneficiary
(e.g. commune or local
enterprise by LAG
 PA pays to final beneficiary
(e.g. commune or local
enterprise by LAG
 LAG asks the reimbursement of
EU contribution to the Paying
Agency
 Paying Agency ensures that all
eligibility rules and conditions
have been respected,
 LAG´s financial management
respects conditions approved
by Paying Agency
 Paying Agency ensures that all
eligibility rules and conditions
have been respected,
Best bottom up model of administrative,
management and financial circuits
 Possible use of global grant at LAG level
with financial autonomy
 Selection and payment of operations by
LAG according to the bottom up principle
 Good practices : concentration of public
funds, advances to LAGs
Cooperation
Inter-territorial cooperation
Transnational cooperation
Within EU
With rural territories in
third countries
Eligibility rules and conditions
for cooperation
 Eligible costs: project development and
implementation of a joint action including
coordination costs for all areas
 Role of Lead LAG
 At least one partner selected under the
Leader Axis
Cooperation projects
Can be integrated in local development
strategy
 Advantages: coherent with the bottom up approach; quicker
procedure since local action groups select the projects;
cooperation is coherent with the strategy
If not integrated in local strategy,
authorization by the managing
authorities
 Advantages: better control on the respect of requirements (e.g.
presence of a common action)
Coordination mechanism at EU level for
international coordination projects
Cooperation
Procedure (LAG or MA selection)
Timetable and
Objective criteria to select interterritorial and trans-national
cooperation projects.
Guidelines on Leader Axis
 Assist Member States in
the preparation and
administrative
implementation of Leader
axis using past and current
experience with the
Leader + Community
Initiative and Leader+
type measure
 LAG internal structure and
management not
covered
 Non binding instrument
 Complementary to the
Leader Axis fiche
 Cooperation guide not
presented
 Introduction
 Defining a strategy for rural
areas using the Leader
approach
 Designing the content of
Leader Axis in the
programme including
planning resources
 The selection of the local
action groups
 How will the administrative,
management and
financial circuits be
organised?
Territorial development in future
policy
Europe 2020 strategy => unlocking the EU's growth potential
 Part of potential for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth lies in
the endogenous growth potential at sub regional level
 Sub-regional development policies acting at grass roots level can in
particular contribute to the social inclusion targets of Europe 2020
 The EU tools in support of the Europe 2020 strategy include levers for
growth and jobs such as the EU budget
 EU financial support is delivered through the EU funds in shared
management (EAFRD, ERDF/CF, ESF, EFF)
 a Common Strategic Framework (CSF) is proposed to strengthen the
coordination and integration of EU policies for the delivery of the
Europe 2020 strategy
 CSF contains the strategic guidelines for sub regional/local
development including community led local development CLLD
 Common agriculture policy – one of horizontal objectives
 Rules between the Funds for local development will be harmonised
31
Community-led local development
(CLLD)
CLLD
 Is based on the experience of LEADER under rural
development
 Complements and enhances the delivery of public policies
for all CSF Funds and local level
 Aims at increasing effectiveness and efficiency of territorial
development strategies by delegating decision-making
and implementation to a local partnership of public,
private and civil society actors.
 should be implemented in the context of a strategic
approach, to ensure that the ‘bottom-up’ definition of local
needs takes account of priorities set at a higher level.
 Member States will have to define the national approach
to community-led local development across the CSF
Funds…
32
CSF: Requirements for CLLD in the
Partnership agreements (PA)
... and should therefore include references to
community-led local development in the PA:
 detail the main challenges that MS intend to
tackle, setting out the main objectives and
priorities and indicate the types of territories where
this approach should be implemented;
 which specific role will be attributed to the local
action groups in its delivery;
 indicate how the CSF Funds will be used together ;
 explain the role envisaged for the different Funds in
different types of territories (rural, urban etc.).
33
CSF key actions as regards CLLD in
the different Funds



ESF: CSF Thematic Objective No. 9 - Promoting social inclusion and combating
poverty:

support the preparation, the running and the animation of local strategies;

support the activities designed and implemented under the local strategy in areas falling
within the scope of ESF in the fields of employment, education, social inclusion and
institutional capacity building
ERDF: CSF Thematic Objective No. 9 - Promoting social inclusion and combating
poverty:

fostering community-led local development strategies through support for the capacitybuilding of the local action groups and the preparation,

running and animation of local strategies, and through support for the activities designed
and implemented under the local strategy in areas falling within the scope of the ERDF in
the fields of social inclusion and physical and economic regeneration
EMFF specific objectives for CLLD the EMFF Reg., link to Thematic Objectives of
diversification, promoting employment in fisheries communities and therefore
indirectly also to No. 9;
Implementation of CLLD in MS
Improving strategic choices at Member State level regarding local
development inside of Partnership agreement:
 Member States would have to choose/define the part of their
territory which would be eligible for LDS (“one area = one
strategy”)
 Link local development potential with their overall growth
strategy
 Identify a "lead" Fund (EAFRD, ERDF, ESF or EFF) for each LAG/LDS
 Broaden the funding base
 Reinforce rural-urban links
 Various possibilities to implement CLLD
 Rural
 Rural and urban
 Rural - urban
CSF key actions for CLLD wthin EAFRD
35
CSF Thematic Objective No. 9: Promoting social inclusion and
combating poverty, which reflects RD Priority 6:
 fostering local development in rural areas by promoting communityled local development (LEADER local development strategies) and
through investments in all types of small-scale infrastructure in rural
areas and investments in setting up, improving or expanding local
basic services for the rural population, particularly in remote rural
areas, together with other actions to improve the quality of life in and
attractiveness of rural settlements (‘village renewal’) .
 support may also be used to promote social inclusion, particularly
through community-led local development (‘LEADER’)
 Independently from this CSF focus, all other RD priorities
can be addressed with LEADER !
Intervention logic for Pillar II
Smart,
Europe 2020
sustainable
and inclusive growth
CAP
CAP general
Objectives
Possible CAP Impact
Indicators
Viable food
production
Sustainable management
of natural resources and
climate action
Balanced territorial
development
Pillar II
Priorities
2. Enhancing farm viability
and competitiveness of all
types of agriculture in all
regions and promoting
innovative farm technologies
and sustainable
management of forests
3. Promoting food chain 4. Restoring, preserving
organisation, including
and enhancing
processing and
ecosystems related to
marketing of agricultural agriculture and forestry
products, animal welfare
and risk management in
agriculture
5. Promoting resource
efficiency
and supporting the shift
towards a
low carbon and
climate resilient
economy in agriculture,
food and forestry sectors
1. Fostering knowledge transfer and innovation in agriculture, forestry
and rural areas
6. Promoting social
inclusion,
poverty reduction
and economic
development
in rural areas
Leader in Rural development policy –
priority 6B
6. Promoting social inclusion, poverty reduction and economic development in rural areas
Art. 21 Basic services and
village renewal in rural areas
Art. 44 Leader co-operation
activities
Art. 42 Leader local action
group
Art. 36 Co-operation
Art. 16 Advisory services,
farm management and farm
relief services
Art. 15 Knowledge transfer
and information actions
Art. 22 Investments in forest
area development and
improvement of the viability of
forests
Art. 20 Farm and business
development
Art. 18 Investments in
physical assets
Relevant
measures/approach
es
6C Enhancing accessibility to,
use and quality of information
and communication
technologies (ICT) in rural areas
6B Fostering
local
development in
rural areas
6A Facilitating
diversification,
creation and
development of small
enterprises and job
creation
RD Focus
areas
Management at the level of
Member States/regions
 Local development strategies are selected for EU
funding under the responsibility of the relevant
managing authorities
 Strategies can be financed from one or several EU
Funds in parallel
 “Multi-funding” as an option
 For simplification, a „lead Fund“ can be designated in
the case of multi-fund strategies covering for the
management costs
choice of the lead Fund depends
on the activities foreseen and the
area in question
What are the options?
Mono-fund – administrative burden at LAG level
EAFRD
LDS
EFF
LDS
EFRD
ESF
LDS
LDS
Strategic decisions for CLLD:
single mono fund
Solution – only one fund, usually Leader:
 Simple solution for administration, lost opportunity for local
areas
And:
 Exclusion of broader strategies
 Threatening the develop territorially integrated strategies
 Lowering the probability of solving real problems of rural
areas.
 Limiting the synergy among ESI Funds
 Lessing the money
Strategic decision for CLLD:
coordination among funds
Multi-fund, but each separately – coordination of
procedures,
Common management of several funds:
 Capacity building
 Coordination of procedures e.g. parallel
selection of LAGs, one application form,
comparable selection criteria, deadlines, single
committee etc.
 Common Monitoring Committee
What are the options?
Multi-fund – administrative burden at MA level
establishment of „one stop shop“ or cross-fund
cooperation
EAFRD
EFF
EFRD
Medzi stupeň –
sprostredkovateľs
ký orgán
LDS
ESF
Strategic decision for CLLD – multifund from one place
Advantages
 Boarder strategies
 Better definition of common problems which can be resolved
with support of all funds
 Refusing artificial demarcation lines
 Enabling of common utilisation of funds
 More money
Remember
 Individual needs and capacities of given area
 Solid preparation and activity for building capacity
 Building on existing structures –local development needs time
Simplification of managing
multi-fund strategies
Possibility to create common tool for LAGs
operation and animation activities
Common CLLD facility
 Possibility to delegate tasks of MA
 „One stop shop“
 Satisfied the need for coordination
 Common control and audit
Example of „multi-fund“ CLLD strategy
Project 1
ERDF
Project 2
ESF
Running costs,
animation,
networking
Possibly
though „lead
Fund“
ESF
EAFRD
LOCAL DEVELOPMENT
STRATEGY
EMFF
ERDF, CF
Project 3
EAFRD
Project 3
EMFF
Local action group
Local governments
Local entrepreneurs
Local NGOs, civil society
Future of Leader
The Leader approach based on its specific features
will continue to be an important tool of rural
development policy after 2013
 Within the EU priorities for rural development
unlocking local potential will continue to be an
important element
 The implementation mechanisms of Leader will
be improved in order to be able to better meet
the expected added-value of the Leader
approach
Future of Leader
…on the basis of the lessons learned from the
previous Leader Community Initiatives and
the „mainstreamed“ Leader in 07-13:
More guidance to the Member States in the
legal framework:
 offering flexibility for the implementation
without being too prescriptive
 Goal: Make Leader fit to better serve
innovation and local governance
Future of Leader
Strengthening the role of the local
development strategies (LDS) as the
central tool to meet objectives: quality
of design and implementation
(including better monitoring and
evaluation)
Ensuring the presence of all Leader
specificities especially: more freedom
for LAGs to chose those projects,
which best fit their strategies
Future of Leader
Concretely:
Clearer distribution of tasks between
the authorities and the LAGs
(depending on the implementation
model followed)
Greater focus on animation and
capacity building (also for the
preparation of the strategies)
Strengthening the participation of the
private sector in the partnerships
Future of Leader
Concretely:
Streamlining transnational
cooperation
Re-inforced networking tools for
LAGs on EU and national level
Synergies with the local
development networking
instruments of the other EU Funds
Thank you for your
attention
[email protected]