Abstract
LEADER is a rural development method based on a participative approach, which was tailored in 1991 as a complement to the traditional common agricultural policy (CAP) measures. One of its most important objectives is to reduce the differences between rural and urban areas by building on local knowledge and potential. The aim of the present paper is to identify what are the most important characteristics of the LAGs that can counterbalance the existing economic disparities in the rural regions. The research was conducted in the northwest development region of Romania (2014–2020 programming period), using the principal component analysis and the hierarchical cluster analysis. Two types of data were collected: indicators of performance, such as the number of projects contracted and jobs created, were used to assess the success of the method, while the territorial and LAG characteristics were used to explain these results. The findings confirm the presence of an unequal distribution of LEADER support in favor of the most urbanized and developed areas. However, the results also show that the experience and economic and administrative capacity of LAGs could help counterbalance the influence of the territorial features previously mentioned, and therefore to reduce the gap between them and the more developed groups.
Highlights
Rural areas cover 90% of the European Union’s (EU) territory and host more than half of its population
Contrary to the principles and objectives of the program, the results show similar tendencies regarding the territorial distribution of LEADER support, as in the case of the more traditional rural development measures developed under the rural development plans
The dependence on previously established business infrastructure reduces the capacity of the more rural areas, which were the primary target of the program from its very beginnings, to benefit from LEADER support and remain competitive, worsening the territorial imbalance
Summary
Rural areas cover 90% of the European Union’s (EU) territory and host more than half of its population Those areas have been facing some important socioeconomic and demographic challenges, such as high unemployment, population decline, migration, low levels of income, and high dependency ratios on the agricultural sector [1,2,3]. CLLD is designed to build on the communities’ strengths by offering them long-term funding and the power to decide how to use it, employing a participative bottom-up approach This transforms the local population from passive beneficiaries into genuine drivers of local development [8]. These multi-actor partnerships, called local action groups (LAGs), are responsible for implementing the LDSs, and the method, at the local level [9,10]
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