SUSTAINAIBILITY Insights from the case study
Suggested actions
Self-assessment questions
In order to guarantee the sustainability of the actions implemented, it was necessary to foster a sense of belonging to the area in all the actors involved. This allowed to have a direct effect on local actors' mobilisation, thanks to the bottom-up approach.
Involve local actors actively during the development process, adopting a bottom-up approach in the development of the strategy.
Does the Local Action Group create partnerships with private, public and institutional actors at local level?
“Maiella Verde” was careful not to turn only into a technical advisory body for other projects, despite the expertise acquired over the years. At an early stage, it was essential to understand whether there were already other local development agencies bringing initiatives and funding to the target area, in order to avoid creating internal competition that could damage the work in the long term.
Maintain a strong attachment to the target area.
Avoid entering into competition with any other local development agencies, and instead create opportunities for collaboration and networking with other similar initiatives at local, national and international level.
Is the Local Action Group engaged in collaborating and networking with other agencies and initiatives at local, national and international level?
Does the Local Action Group have a monitoring and evaluation system?
The LAG has maintained a strong attachment to the area, accumulating experience in rural development. In terms of sustainability, it has also been important to create opportunities for collaboration with other local initiatives, such as the local committee following the National Strategy for Inner Areas and the Destination Management Company agency. These liaisons in the area allowed additional funding to be obtained and successful projects to be developed.
Set up a monitoring and evaluation system to verify the results achieved thanks to the strategies implemented.
Another key factor was the periodic evaluation of the results achieved by the strategies implemented, a compulsory aspect in the LEADER / CLLD approach. The LAG executed a self-evaluation activity based on three points: collection and assessment of quantity and quality data from implemented operations; interviews of actors directly involved; preparation of case studies.
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