scholarly journals Local action groups and the LEADER co-financing of rural development projects in Slovenia

2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (No. 8) ◽  
pp. 364-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Volk ◽  
Š. Bojnec

The influence of a formal and informal system of the Local Action Group (LAG) board’s performance on the perception of its members is analysed in association with the suitability of the rural development projects for the LEADER funds co-financing. The unique in-depth survey data was obtained from the surveys with the 103 LAG board’s members using the written questionnaire designed for the inquiry and from the existing data analysis on projects which were co-financed by the LEADER funds in Slovenia in the years 2008 and 2009. The informal system of performance of the LAG board members was found to influence significantly its members’ perception on the suitability of projects to be co-financed by the LEADER axis. The opposite was established for the formal system, which had an insignificant influence on the board members’ perception on the suitability of projects.  

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 91-108
Author(s):  
Joanna Abramowicz

The aim of the study is to analyse Local Action Groups as organizations capable of creating space for environmental education. The first part describes the different approaches to adult education and forms of learning. In this context, Local Action Groups are analysed as learning communities and organizations. The specificity of the operation of Local Action Groups is based on a combination of formal and three-sector partnerships and partnerships with residents. On the one hand, these partnerships are used to manage public funds for rural development, but the sense of establishing them is deeper. LAG members and management themselves come from the local community and should broadly represent its interests, but also to activate, engage and create space for the development of ideas, ideas and projects. The work methodology is based on research carried out as part of the expertise commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, especially on information obtained from individual in-depth interviews (IDI), on the basis of which detailed case studies of selected LAGs were described. The existing data were also analysed - RDP documentation, reports, and quantitative data obtained from the CAWI survey. The conclusions of the analysis show that Local Action Groups have the potential to create learning environments and transfer the assumptions of the Leader approach, especially bottom-up approaches and to promote participation in decisions on local development directions, but they do not fully use it.


2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Pechrová ◽  
K. Boukalová

Abstract Local Action Groups (LAGs) are implementing LEADER principles in rural development. The aim of the paper is to create a typology of LAGs in the Czech Republic according to the factors linked to the individual features of LAG and to its organizational background. Four different groups of LAGs emerged: ‘stabilized’, ‘experienced’, ‘absorbing’, and ‘well-informed’. In the second step, it is assessed how particular groups fullfil selected features of the LEADER: knowledge transfer and bottomup approach. We conclude that ‘stabilized’ and ‘experienced’ LAGs, which are functioning for longer time and LAGs’ manager has longer experiences with LAG operation, have better knowledge transfer than those ‘absorbing’ or ‘well-informed’. This suggests that the rural development is realized by the so-called ‘project class’. On the other hand, the most active people cooperating with LAG management are in ‘experienced’ and ‘absorbing’ groups.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-21
Author(s):  
Ingrida Baková ◽  
Pavol Schwarcz

Abstract The paper focuses on quality of life of inhabitants in Slovak countryside as well as conditions for development of municipalities on possibilities of drawing European funds and the performance of Local Action Groups. Its main objective is to evaluate the effect of the Slovak Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 measures on increasing the quality of life in a selected region and to compare results in municipalities that were part of a public-private partnership and those they did not participate. The paper mainly deals with quality of life indicators defined in the field of employment and quality of employment.


Author(s):  
Cristina Bianca Pocol ◽  
Zsuzsanna Kassai

The LEADER programme introduced a completely new approach to rural development philosophy, methodology and practice in the EU Member States. One of the most important features of this approach is facilitating innovation, which can provide new responses to the persistent problems in rural areas. Innovation must be understood in a wider sense in this initiative. The paper focuses on the assessment of innovation knowledge and initiatives among LEADER Local Action Groups (LAGs) in Romania. The research was undertaken in June 2016. A number of 67 LAGs were interviewed by means of a face-to-face questionnaire. The research area covered seven development regions of Romania. The collected data was analysed using SPSS programme. The results of the study show that there is a need for more innovative projects developed by LAGs in the ongoing programme period 2014-2020, which differs from those funded by the National Rural Development Programme of the 2007-2013 period. Communities’ problems are to be addressed by the implementation of innovative measures and by using local resources.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 9123
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Gargano

The present research which originates from the author’s PhD dissertation awarded at the School of Politics of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 2019, explores the comparative evolution of rural development policies and Local Action Groups (LAGs) in the United Kingdom (Argyll and the Islands LAG—Scotland and Coast, Wolds, Wetlands and Waterways LAG—England) and in Italy (Delta 2000 LAG—Emilia-Romagna Region and Capo Santa Maria di Leuca LAG—Puglia Region) in a multi-level governance framework. LAGs and in particular their public–private local partnerships have become common practice in the governance of rural areas. This governance operates within the European Union LEADER approach as a tool designed to generate the development of rural areas at local level. In order to establish the implications of the LAG practices, the following main objectives for this research have been established: (1) to explore the utility of EU strategies for rural development; (2) to explain how LAGs structure, institutional arrangements and working are positioned in the layers of MLG framework; (3) to carry out a comparative evaluation of the LAGs working in the different nations and their subnational contexts. Some significant findings from the case studies are summarized in relation to these themes: the key characteristics and the outcomes associated with the LAG working mechanisms and what do we draw about the emergence, operation and performance of local partnerships. The core argument of the research is that the partnership approach has given the rural development actors a governance platform to help increase beneficial interactions and economic activity in each of these LAGs, but it is the bottom-up leadership of key local actors, seizing opportunities provided by the EU funding, which have been the most important factors for the LAG successes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (No. 4) ◽  
pp. 149-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Boukalova ◽  
A. Kolarova ◽  
M. Lostak

Local Action Groups (LAG) as actors in the EU rural development policy reflect the endogenous paradigm. They utilize the cooperation of their members and social networks to achieve the goals defined in their strategies developed upon the EU regulations on rural development. The paper demonstrates how the printed Czech media reflect the activities of LAGs. Such research gives a background to answer the question if the references to LAGs in the Czech Republic highlight the paradigmatic shift from the material factors towards the endogenous or hybrid resources embedded in using the intangible factors for development. The research consists in the quantitative content analysis of 498 articles about Czech local action groups. The analysis indicates that paradigmatic shift is only at the beginning. LAGs activities are still reported to be embedded in using the material factors (exogenous approach) instead of reporting and accounting the endogenous resources composed of both material and non-material factors of rural development.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Navarro ◽  
Marilena Labianca ◽  
Eugenio Cejudo ◽  
Stefano de Rubertis ◽  
Angelo Salento ◽  
...  

AbstractIn the Leader approach, innovation plays a key role in European territories, especially in marginal and peripheral ones, being essentially assumed, from a programmatic point of view, as social innovation. This paper aims to understand the interpretation and the declination of innovation in the practice of Leader initiative at local scale and analyze contextual factors related to its implementation in two southern provinces of Spain and Italy (Granada and Lecce). The study aims to analyze the projects reported as innovative by the leaders of the Local Action Groups, starting from the literature and using a key Community document entitled “Extended report on preserving the innovative character of LEADER”. Lastly, the study reveals common significant problems linked to local awareness of the role of social innovation, as well as the absence or limitations of key institutions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 77 (6) ◽  
pp. 2369-2374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lluís Miret-Pastor ◽  
Agustín Molina-García ◽  
César García-Aranda ◽  
Paloma Herrera-Racionero

Abstract Diversification of fisheries has one of its main lines of development in tourism, especially in countries as touristic as Spain. An important part of the European Fisheries Funds (EFFs) has subsidized, through the Fisheries Local Action Groups, local development projects in fishing zones with a large part of these projects related to tourism, including nautical tourism. In this new context it is possible to quantify and analyse the subsidized projects’ typology and the relationship between recreational and professional fishing. This work analyses 705 projects financed by European funds, mainly the EFF, of which 172 are related to tourism and 48 to nautical tourism. The objective is to categorize and characterize the subsidized projects and, subsequently, to verify the degree of relationship, if any, between the projects of nautical tourism and professional fishing.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document