Exploring Local Action for Rural Development at LEADER Congress 2024

The LEADER Congress, organized by ELARD, took place over 2 days in Poitiers, France. LEADER is a development program which has for 30 years been employing a method of engaging local actors in writing policies and strategies for rural development. Engagement happens primarily through around 2800 Local Action Groups (LAGs) which bridge public, private, and civil-society stakeholders.

The purposing of gathering is to showcase projects, share experiences and best practices, and look for future opportunities for co-creation. This year’s occasion examined cooperation, with workshops and discussions asking questions about how to better include various interest groups – youth, people of various gender and sexuality expressions – and topics of concern in the work of ELARD.

GEN Europe and ELARD are collaborating in the COM4LGD (Communities for Local Green Deals) project. Representing this project at the LEADER Congress were members of ISCTE, ECOLISE and ELARD presenting democratic participation in local action projects, environmental advocacy and how to implement it on the local level, and good practices in the field.

ELARD (European LEADER Association for Rural Development) is a non-profit association which focuses it’s work on local development in rural areas. GEN Europe hopes to find ways to become better connected with their efforts and collaborate with LAGs which are the main organizers in engaging the public and interfacing between their needs and the world of policy at the European level. They have a dual role in both bringing the voices and needs at the grassroots level up to the policy offices in Brussels (European Commission) and to work with citizens to see how policies can be realized on the ground.