EU Rural Development: Strategies for Economic Diversification and Quality of Life, Slides of Human Development

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Axis 3: Diversification of the rural

economy and Quality of Life in rural

areas

Axis 4: The Leader approach

The strategic guidelines for axis 3

The EU priorities:

• The creation of employment opportunities
  • through the diversification of the rural economy

(all sectors)

• with the improvement of the quality of life

(attractive places to live and work)

Key actions: supporting traditional and new activities, the participation of women in the labour market, micro-enterprises, training, diffusion of ICT, renewable resources, tourism, local infrastructure

The national strategy plans

Challenges for sustainable rural areas:

• The employment situation in different economic sectors, relevance of farmers with other gainful activities, availability of job opportunities. Assessment of the development potential.
• Capabilities (level of education, skills) of the rural population in relation to actual and potential labour demand. Entrepreneurship and risk taking. Assessment of training, animation and information needs.
• (^) Local capacity (private and public) for developing a sustainable strategy using local strengths and opportunities. Assessment of local governance needs

National priorities for axis 3 and 4 Identifying target indicators to measure progress

Rural Development Programme

The Member State has to indicate:

• The resources it plans to spend on axis 3 (minimum of 10%)

and on axis 4 (phasing in for the new Member States) of the Community contribution

• Which measures it wishes to implement and how they fit with

the strategy (EU + national priorities)

• An indicative breakdown of funding per measure

The toolbox for axis 4 (Leader)

• 7 distinctive features + support for LAGs

Area based local strategies

Public-private partnerships (local action groups)

Bottom up approach

Multi-sectoral and integrated

Innovative

Cooperation

Networking

Implementing the diversification of the rural economy:

Diversification into non-agricultural activities

• The beneficiary is a farm-household member

Micro-enterprises, entrepreneurship

• Less than 10 staff, turnover < 2 million €
• Addressed to the wider rural population

Tourism activities

• Small scale infrastructure, recreation infrastructure, development and marketing services
• Addressed to the wider rural population

Implementing the improvement of the quality of life (continued)

Training, skills acquisition and implementation

• Studies of the area, information about local strategies,

training animators for preparation and implementation of strategies, promotional events, implementation of local development public-private partnerships other than Leader

The rural population at large is beneficiary for the diversification and quality of life axis

Demarcation (distinguishing between investments made with EAFDR and the Structural Funds)

• The Member State indicates in its programme what

operations are supported by each fund

• In general small scale infrastructure, small-capacity

accommodation, ad hoc training courses linked to projects, may be supported by the EAFRD, while larger investments are better placed with the Structural Funds.

Conclusions

The diversification of rural economies and the improvement of

the quality of rural life, more so when realised through Leader, are key factors for:

• providing a more positive context for farmers
• facilitating the economic and social sustainability of rural

areas

• reducing the abandonment of rural areas through job

creation and innovation in all sectors

• creating an attractive environment for society at large