LEADER and Community-Led Local Development Approach. Polish Experiences

The publication presents an overview of the implementation of the LEADER approach and Community-Led Local Development in Poland. The authors discusses the theoretical background of the transformation of ruraI areas development policy, and presents the essence and the key characteristics of the LEADER approach, its origin, and different models of its implementation in European countries. They also concentrate on the participation principle, perceived as a one of the most important principles of territorial development and evaluate the previous activity of selected locaI action groups formed in Poland in the context of implementing the innovation principle. In this publication readers can also find discussion related to the implementation of Community-Led Local Development approach in Poland, based on the experiences of the LEADER approach. The authors hope that the publication will attract the interests of foreign readers (also non-academic readers) who are interested in the experiences of implementing the LEADER approach in Poland, and thus in the determinants of implementing Community-Led LocaI Development, not only in rural areas.

Introduction 7 Chapter 1. The LEADER approach in Europe – Łukasz Sykała 9 1.1. Theoretical basis for rural development policy 9 1.2. Key features of the LEADER approach – its origins and implementation in Europe 14 Chapter 2. The participatory dimension of the LEADER approach – Karol Janas, Anna Kołomycew 37 2.1. The importance and meaning of participation 37 2.2. Participation as the foundation of collaboration within the LEADER approach 44 Chapter 3. Social innovations in the LEADER approach – Katarzyna Zajda 49 3.1. Social innovation: theory and practice 49 3.2. Social innovations in previous activity of local action groups. An example of groups from Lubelskie Province 54 3.2.1. Methodology of original research (subject matter of the research, research method and techniques, characteristics of the object of research) 54 3.2.2. Results of original research 59 Chapter 4. Community-Led Local Development as a new instrument based on the LEADER approach – Anna Kołomycew 71 4.1. Principles of Community-Led Local Development 71 4.2. Functioning of cross-sector partnerships in cities – experiences and conclusions for Community-Led Local Development 73 4.2.1. Cross-sectoral partnerships in cities 73 4.2.2. Examples of urban partnerships in Poland 79 4.3. Functioning of multisector partnerships in rural and urban areas – similarities and differences 82 Conclusion 87 References 93 Tables 104 Figure 106 Annex 109