Territorial Development in the LEADER projects

Community-driven development

The Territory

Corresponds to the region, province, district or to a cluster of communes.
The territory has a very strong cultural and social identity and as such serves as a powerful brand name.

Corresponds to a community, cluster of communities or to a “unite socio-territoriale”, within a region that is characterized by its agro-ecology and economy (e.g. pastoral areas, mountainous areas)
Care is given to the administrative and social delimitation of the territory, and to the hierarchy of access rights to the territory.

Organization

The most common form was the Local Action Groups which currently are limited liability companies composed of representatives of private and public sector at district level.

Usually three tier organization :

• at district level, a committee composed of Government and civil society representatives for steering purposes
• at community level, a voluntary village development committee, composed of elected members with a balance between women and men
• a range of economic and social committees both formal and informal for the management of productive activities, natural resources and social services

Planning tools

• Regional development plan which sets a unifying vision for the development of the region  e.g. in Tuscany, the region is clearly oriented towards tourism and using its main agricultural products (wine and olive) to maintain the landscape, a key ingredient for the touristic attraction
• District development plans that set the priority investments for development and for bridging rural/ urban gaps
• Competitive selection of projects from the private and public sector. Criteria are based on the priorities of the district development plans.

• District development plans especially when the project has an agro-ecological or regional orientation (e.g. for mountainous districts in Albania)
• Community needs and resources assessment that can be carried out at level of one community, a cluster of communities, or a “unite socio-territoriale”.
• Selection of investments is either based on highest priorities identified through a consultative manner at community level, or through a competitive process.

Facilitator/ Mobilizer

The Local Action Group is the coalition of public and private sector stakeholders.

The project or the agency through NGOs or government social/ agricultural extension services.

Financial instruments

Mainly grants that are eligible to private and public sector entities and that range from €60 000 to €500 000. Public/ private entity participation is 30-50% of total investments.

Mix of grants and loans:

• Grants for services of a public good nature, or for productive activities when financial services do not exist.
• Loans/joint venture/ equity financing for productive activities and grants to support training or backstopping on such activities.

Example: Mountain Areas Development Agency MADA in Albania which offers a range of grant and loan services; the Siliana Regional Commission for Agricultural Development (CRDA) of Tataouine, Tunisia, which also facilitates access to grants and loans.

Poverty targeting

None. Attention is given to bridging service gaps in rural areas (such as the nursery) or generating employment and value added.

Poverty targeting strategy that relies on criteria related to geography, community services and resources, and household poverty levels.

Gender mainstreaming

Gender neutral.

Different strategies for women social and economic empowerment that rely on quota for representation in voluntary and economic organizations, for participation of women in economic activities, for grant or loan resources allocated to women, etc.

Result measurement

What is measured is aggregate data on economic development of the region and rural/ urban migration.

Logframe identifies quantitative and qualitative results to be measured at level of household, community and district. M&E systems to be further developed.

Empowerment

What was striking is people’s passion for their territory.

• Increased self-confidence at all levels of district and communities.
  
• Increased trust between communities and local government.
  
• Recognition of customary rights on territory and introduction of devolution for management of resources.
  
• Platform for women and men to voice their needs (the parliamentary lobby groups and stakeholder forums in MADA, Albania).

Sustainability

LAG capacity to generate or mobilize resources seemed limited and hence the observation that the process is heavily reliant on EU support and hence not sustainable.

Sustainability linked to organization development at community and district levels, and to the increase in public and private investments to the territory.

Scaling up

• Clearer decentralization policies especially for resources.
  
• Wider range of financing instruments and capitalization of LAGs.
  
• Strengthen economic planning tools.
  
• Better measurement of results.

• Mainstreaming community driven development as part of the budgeting and service delivery process of local government.
  
• Opening up the forms of organization to enable management of common property resources; and participation of the private sector.
  
• Promoting lobby platforms and replicating current example of parliamentary lobby groups of MADA in Albania.
  
• Widening the concept of territory to link production/ marketing and consumption zones (ex: the strategic investment plans piloted in CEN programmes)
  
• Diversification of financing instruments (Economic Opportunities Programme in Yemen and Farmer Market Access Project in Armenia).
  
• Identifying value chains that are pro-poor, generate employment and added value.