Better Local Development Strategies

The Local Development Strategy (LDS) is an essential component of the LEADER approach, plotting a development path that reflects a unique combination of local assets, resources and aspirations. Local Action Groups (LAGs) have the responsibility of designing and implementing a LDS. However, in practice, designing a high quality LDS can prove to be demanding. The 2010 special report of the European Court of Auditors (ECA) on the implementation of LEADER highlighted a number of weaknesses in relation to LDSs and emphasised the need for improvement.
These findings were one of the prompts leading to the establishment of a special Focus Group on Better Local Development Strategies, which was officially launched at the 6th LEADER Sub-Committee (LSC) meeting on 17 May 2011.
The following objectives for Focus Group 4 (FG4) were agreed by the LEADER Sub-Committee:

to advise the Member States with regards to the current and the next programming period; and
to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the LEADER approach.

The two main operational objectives of the Focus Group are:

to identify the critical requirements in the design of Local Development Strategies; and
to collect tools and good practices used at Local Action Group (LAG) level which ensure the efficient implementation of Local Development Strategies.