Workshop A

Topic: Community-Led Local Development as a Tool of EU Pre-accession Policy

Moderator: Ing. Radim Sre, Ph.D.
Presenter
Petri Rinne

Organizations name /Country

President of ELARD

Country
FIN

Name of the topic

Community-Led Local Development
Thematic and geographic dissemination

Ing. Roman Haken

European Economic and

Social Committee

CZ

Nenad Nikoli

National LAG Development

Coordinator

Serbia

Observing from the outside: Critical points

for future tools of Leader in the Western
Balkans
LEADER initiatives in Serbia

Krzysztof Kwatera

President/Manager of LAG
Dolina Raby
Representative of Polish LAGs
in the Working Group of
Polish National Rural Network
Member of Temporary
Management Board of Polish
Network of LAGs

PL

Experiences with Leader approach in Poland

Conclusions of the workshop:

Moderator: Ing. Radim Sre, Ph.D. (Czech republic)

FIRST PRESENTER Petri Rinne (Finsko)

Topic: Community-led local development - thematic and geographic dissemination
Introduction of ELARD which is also the lobbying organization to lobby for the Leader and
rural development as a counterweight to many lobbying organizations those promote the
interests of farmers.
Petri Rinne returned to the report of Auditors Court and noted that their comments have to
get into national programs.
There was also reminded that the Leader is recommended for use in all upcoming EU funds
and Leader should also appear in the operational programs of individual countries.

Now there is a huge necessity to support and clarify the Leader on the competent bodies
(ministries) not to forget on Leader - both by the EU and individual states!
In addition, Petri Rinne continued with presentation from Mozambique.
Mozambique - local development strategies and their main themes:
Agricultural co-operation
The structures of the local market
Community forests
Cashew nuts
Finances for micro projects are set up for 25 - 31 thousand per project, and it is double
overhang of applications.
Lessons from the African mission:
Leader can be applied anywhere
Leader in Africa is more about allowing access to activities and in Europe rather to
mobilize people
Politicians need specific development tools to reduce the possibility of corruption
Inclusion of all groups of people within local development strategies
Small amount of money dont attract corrupted people
It is necessary to build capacities
Important for development are examples of good practice
Constant monitoring of projects
Preparation of indicators that are easily measured and outputs, targets should be
included in the strategy
If something goes wrong, LAG must quickly embark to repair
All Leader principles must be implemented at once
Administration must help people and not to complicate their work!
Leader helped in the Czech Republic, Ireland, Finland to increase the participation of people
and helped to protect the environment.
Conclusions:
To encourage micro projects
Politicians need detailed goals and tools to achieve them
In the Balkan States, to start with less money - in poor LAGS could be greater
possibility of corruption
It is necessary to provide support for the Balkan LAGs and to representatives from
other ministries and ministries such as Czech
To establish all Leader principles at once
Leader in the Balkans should be for to mobilize people and provide access to local
development
Administration may not be a nuisance

There is a good model for standardization of processes, e.g. also in CZ

Petri Rinne

SECOND PRESENTER Ing. Roman Haken (esk Republika)

Topic:
Observations from the outside: The crucial points for the development of a future leader in
the Western Balkans
Attitude of the Economic and Social Committee EC:
- Support from below
- Better coordination in rural areas vertically and horizontally
- Create a network and local dialogue, local strategies
- The result - the positive impacts on rural employment
What we gained from local meetings in the Western Balkans:
We must have know-how and examples of good practice for
applicants/candidates/interested from abroad
The political and administrative support
Assistance of other ministries and LAGs to support the Leader in the Balkans, and go
there and explain, to lobby
Networking at national level
Croatia as an EU member 01.07.2013
It must be political will of local authorities in the Western Balkans
There is a need to develop existing LAGs and increase the number of LAGs
There must be a clear strategy for development of leader in each country, document
has to be widely accepted by the bodies and representatives of ministries
To beware of the danger:

public sector does not accept a leader,

low support from other countries,
the reluctance to give resources to rural areas (EU and national) - you need to
pick up the benefits of transparent processes that have the LAGs, little corruption
- case of the creating the policy LAGs or elite LAGs - it surely is not democratic, not
for people, ie across the board according to local needs cohesion,
- local threats - all is prepared in the LAG, but there is not funding available - LAGs
wait and lose confidence and the willingness of people, disappointing the local
actors
Conclusions:
To work simultaneously on implementation of the Leader principles vertically and
horizontally
To support for networking at national and international level
The need to encourage the political will
The need to develop new LAGS and support existing, but the initiative of local people
- aware of the political and elite LAGs
Watch out for long periods without financial support - disappointment of local actors,
inactivity ....
What is important is to support small projects
Trust is a key factor
Potential of LEADER method on the platform of V4
The crisis of Europe is not only an economic crisis but a crisis of confidence and
legitimacy, the huge potential of the LEADER method for involving civil society in
decision-making processes
Roman Haken

Third presenter Nenad Nikoli (Srbsko)

Leader in Serbia is based on experience from the EU, Leader is also regarded as a
powerful development tool
The first villages founded LAGs of Serbia in 2007 and The local network of LAGs began
to penetrate. The LAGs began to apply Leader method in 2008 and in that year were
created the first cross-border projects. In 2009 arose another LAGs and local
partnerships.
LAGs prepared Poject LIS in year 2010, the result of the project should be:

Awareness of Leader, capacity building, setting financial procedures, support for

Leader LAGs and 10 are involved
But there is no money for Leader
Creating new LAGs, it is necessary to support the Leader at ministries
In 2011, there were trained 94 people for Leader, worked 21 local action groups and
there was discussed a further 27 potential initiatives
Local Leader level is active, but regional and national level dont rate with the Leader
Identified topics during the project:
The territorial context of partnership is threaten with excessive powers of
municipalities, local people think that LAGs which have been founded by the cities
are not being fully suitable according to the principles of Leader
There remains the question of how and from whom will be the Leader supported by
Conclusion:
The risk are the LAGs based by municipalities, we miss the local partnerships, Leader in the
Balkans is in the process of capacity building, creation of LAGs. Representatives of Leader are
trying to develop a dialogue with the ministries and regional governments.
Leader in the Balkans needs promotion from other EU countries (ministries and LAGs from
other countries).

Nenad Nikoli

The fourth presenter Krzysztof Kwatera (Poland)

Leader with good experiences in Poland, which could be transferred to the Balkans:
Small projects really activates most organizations, the best means of promoting,
supporting a maximum 80% of eligible expenses
In the first programming period, it is very important not to have a lot of money, big
money attract corrupting environment
It is advisable to have larger LAGs, their activity is then more efficient
It is suitable to allocate 4.5% of the money of the Rural Development Program for
the first period, to the next program should be at least 10% of PRV

Krzysztof Kwatera