The keynote speakers are divided between the academics that have been working on LEADER, such as Pascal Chevalier, practitioners that have kick-started it, such as Yves Champetier, the administration that has been framing it, such as Karolina Jasinska-Mühleck from DG Agri and Pedro Brosei, representative of FARNET, that is linking it all together in the form of a support service.
Natalija Bogdanov from the University of Belgrade, member of the Standing Working Group on Rural Development in SEE regarding LEADER, will present its perspectives in Serbia with an overview on the unfolding in the neighbouring Balkan countries.
This double faceted approach aims at fostering multistakeholder initiatives that will have a stronger cooperation with the academia. By observing and analyzing LEADER initiatives, in all its forms and nuances from its early stages, academics have provided significant insight that has not really been discussed nor appropriated in the overall LEADER community.
Aside its importance linked to the SEE countries in positioning for the present program implementation and the next programming period negotiation and planning, this conference’s aim is the quadruple helix outlook it proposes to the overall CLLD in Europe. To shed new light on the discussion regarding the position and impact of LEADER within its current framework, but also its possibility to tackle the challenges of the new rural agenda and the European Green Deal.