Transcript TITRE EN MAJUSCULES

EU LEADER APPROACH IN 2007 – 2013
Jela Tvrdonova, 2014
CONTENT
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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 LEADER APPROACH?
governance tool
endogenous development tool
innovation tool
territorial tool
integration tool
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
DEFINITION OF LEADER METHOD
 Area
–based local development strategies
 Bottom-up approach with decision power for
LAGs
 Local public – private partnership
 Multi-sectorial design and implementation of
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
EXPERIENCE WITH LEADER
 Decentralised management and financing and
local partnerships need more investments in
the early phase (resources for capacity
building, negotiation time, organisation
development)
 Accelerated programme delivery in later
phases due to enhanced local capital, local
ownership.
CONCEPT OF LEADER AXIS
The various policy options
 Wider thematic and geographical scope of
application
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 Application
to the 3 axis
 Geographical application (application on a wider scale
for certain MS only)
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
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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)
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VARIOUS RDP ALLOCATIONS FOR LEADER (ART.17)
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Leader axis budget :
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At least 5 % of total EARDF contribution
in the old MS
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At least 2,5% in the new MS.

Romania and Bulgaria (2,5% applying
to 2010-2013)
EARDF CONTRIBUTION (ART.70) INCREASED
PARTICIPATION + 5%
 80
% of public expenditure in regions
covered by the convergence objective
 55
% of public expenditure in other
regions
LEADER 2007 – 2013 – REALITY
Programmed expenditure for Leader in the EU:
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Public: € 8.9 billion
– of which EAFRD: € 5.5 billion
– total public: € 13.9 billion
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Private: € 5.0 billion
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Maximum co-financing rate of 55% (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 (sub-measure 413) : 65,0%
Interterritorial and transnational cooperation (Measure 421) : 5,0%
LAG running costs, skills acquisition and animation (Measure 431) 16,5%
LEADER AXIS IMPLEMENTATION STEPS
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Acquisition of skills for new LAGs or existing
LAGs
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Selection of local developemnt strategy
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Contractualization with LAGs
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Implementation of local development strategy
LOCAL ACTION GROUPS (LAGS)
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Legally constituted structure or lead partner in administrative
and financial matters
Composition: no interest group should represent more than
49% of voting rights
Project selection – at least 50% of the votes from non-public
sector partners
Local action groups should at least:
 Carry out capacity building actions for local actors
 Draw up project selection criteria, assess and select
operations for financing under the local development
strategy (… role of the managing authority in the approval of
the projects remains an administrative and political choice in
each MS, )
 Monitor the implementation of the local development
strategy and the operations supported, evaluation activities
Local action groups can fulfil additional functions
SELECTION OF LOCAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
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Opened selection procedure ensuring competition between LAGs No
later than 2 years after approval of programmes
Additional calls if opened to new areas
Content of the programme
 procedure and timetable for selecting the local action groups,
 including objective selection criteria
 planned maximum number of LAGs
 planned percentage of rural territories covered by local
development strategies
 justification for selection of areas,
Detailed selection criteria approved later after consultation of the
Monitoring Committee
SELECTION OF LOCAL ACTION GROUPS MINIMUM CRITERIA
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Partnership related criteria
 Be responsible 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)
 (e.g. Chambers of trade, agriculture, or SMEs, NGOs,
rural women association)
 Ability to define and implement a development strategy;
 Ability to administer public funds
SELECTION OF LOCAL ACTION GROUPS – MINIMUM CRITERIA
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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;
 Analysis of the development needs and potential of the area,
including SWOT
 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 or results.
 Description of the process of community involvement in the
development of the strategy;
 Action plan demonstrating how objectives are translated into
actions;
 Description of the management and monitoring arrangements
of the strategy, demonstrating the capacity of the local action
group to implement the strategy, and a description of specific
arrangements for evaluation;
 Financial plan of the strategy, including the planned allocation of
various funds used to implement it .
DECISION MAKING PROCESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION
OF LOCAL STRATEGY
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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 local action groups shall be
described in the programme.
Eligibility checks (legal control) made by the
Managing Authority in the majority of MS
BOTTOM UP AND FINANCIAL CIRCUITS
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Payment to the final beneficiary (e.g. commune or
local enterprise)
 by the Paying Agency, or
 by the LAG
After payment the LAG can ask the
reimbursement of EU contribution to the Paying
Agency
LAG Financial management should respect
conditions approved with Paying Agency
Paying Agency having paid the EU contribution to
the LAG should ensure that all eligibility rules
and conditions have been respected,
BEST BOTTOM UP MODEL OF ADMINISTRATIVE,
MANAGEMENT AND FINANCIAL CIRCUITS
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Possible use of global grant at LAG level with
financial autonomy
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Selection and payment of operations according
to the bottom up principle
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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
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COOPERATION PROJECTS
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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
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 to be presented later
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GUIDELINES ON LEADER AXIS
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?
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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 will contain strategic guidelines for sub regional/local development
including community led local development CLLD
 Rules between the Funds for local development will be harmonised
COMMUNITY-LED LOCAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE CSF
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CLLD (based on the experience of LEADER under rural development) can
complement and enhance the delivery of public policies for all CSF Funds.
It 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.
CLLD 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…
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CSF: REQUIREMENTS FOR CLLD IN THE PARNERSHIP
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.).
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CSF KEY ACTIONS AS REGARDS CLLD IN THE
DIFFERENT FUNDS
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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
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ERDF: CSF Thematic Objective No. 9 - Promoting social inclusion and combating
poverty:
fostering community-led local development strategies through support for the
capacity-building of the local action groups and the preparation, the 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
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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;
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CSF KEY ACTIONS AS REGARDS CLLD FOR THE EAFRD
CSF Thematic Objective No. 9: Promoting social inclusion and combating
poverty, which reflects RD Priority 6:
 fostering local development in rural areas by promoting community-led 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 !
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MANAGEMENT AT THE LEVEL OF MEMBER
STATES/REGIONS
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Local development strategies are selected for EU
funding under the responsibility of the relevant
managing authorities
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Strategies can be financed from one or several EU
Funds in parallel
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“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
EXAMPLE OF A „MULTI-FUND“ CLLD STRATEGY
Project 1
ERDF
Running costs,
animation,
networking
Possibly
though „lead
Fund“
Project 2
ESF
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
IMPLEMENTATION OF CLLD IN MS
Possible actions:
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
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
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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]