Implementation and impacts of the LEADER-approach - reflections on the intervention logic of a participatory approach for rural development

One approach to support a smart rural development is LEADER, which is funded by the European agricultural fund. Organisational structures with own budgets for project funding are established in LEADER-regions to enable participation of local actors. There is a specific intervention logic, which bases on the following principles of the LEADER-approach: local partnerships with private and public actors, bottom up-orientation, territorial approach with a local development strategy, multi-sectoral conception, cooperation with other regions, innovation, networking/networks and a LAG-management for coordination.