LEADER (”Liaison Entre Actions de Développement de l’Economie Rurale”, meaning ’Links between the rural economy and development actions’) is a local development method which allows local actors to develop an area by using its endogenous development potential.
The LEADER approach has been an important component of EU Rural Development Policy for over 20 years. Since 2007 it has been funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). In the period 2007-2013 it was successfully applied in fisheries areas as Axis 4 of the European Fisheries Fund and since 2014 this approach, called “Community-Led Local Development” (CLLD) can be implemented not only in the EAFRD (where it is still called LEADER), but also in the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF). [https://enrd.ec.europa.eu/en/leader]
Local Development MittSkåne Utveckling 2014-2020
Leader MittSkåne, whose local area consists of the council areas of Höör, Hörby and part of Eslöv, has developed a LLU strategy for the period 2014-2020. The starting point for the work is a thorough analysis of the current state of the area, focusing on the needs and possibilities for additional efforts in relation to the plans and objectives that other actors have created for their work in Skåne as a whole and in our area specifically.
The analysis has been concretised into the following areas:
Open landscape in gastronomic MittSkåne: a landscape where the rural areas, villages and central towns work together for development and vitality; where agriculture, with the area’s strong roots in food production as well as forestry and farming, diversifies, refines and contributes to renewed energy production.
Rural development with nature at its core: MittSkåne develops the resources in its unique and varying landscape with the help of business development and new enterprise where nature is the hub for local tourism and health-stimulating activities.
Competitiveness, pride and cooperation: will meet the needs of a more diverse business world and a greater confidence in the local area in order to make use of the potential in the future Öresund region.
The overall strategy objective is to create vitality, job opportunities and belief in the future in a sustainable way with new thinking, in order to add to the rest of Skåne and contribute to cooperation across borders, which is summarised in the strategy vision:
MittSkåne will be Skåne’s leading local area for gastronomy combined with activities in nature by 2020!
The previous programme period has been characterized by an effective and close working relationship within the LAG and by successful projects. It is Leader MittSkåne’s intention to maintain and further develop an efficient working method, as well as focus groups that support the LAG in achieving its goals by communicating direction, evaluating project ideas and revising action plans. The LAG will seize the synergy effects made possible when more funds can be connected to powerful measures and where target-orientation, good choices of methods and fund limitations together with compulsory transparency in the project creation, project equality aspects and environmental and sustainable values create opportunities to reach the objective of creating at least 57 new job opportunities during the program period.
