The acronym ‘LEADER' derives from the French words "Liaison Entre Actions de Développement de l'Économique Rurale" which means, ‘Links between the rural economy and development actions'. The idea was to enlist the energy and resources of people and bodies that could contribute to the rural development process by forming partnerships at a sub-regional level between the public, private and civil sectors. In 1990, when a group of officials at the European Commission came up with the proposal for LEADER, this concept of connecting with people was quite new.
The LEADER approach is associated with local empowerment through local strategy development and resource allocation. The main tool for the application of the LEADER approach to area development and involving local representatives in decision-making is the Local Action Group (LAG).
In the experimental phase in 1991-93, LEADER involved 217 regions, focusing on disadvantaged rural areas. This was also true for 1994-1999. In 2000-2006, based on the encouraging results, the method quickly expanded to cover all types of rural areas. In its fourth programming period (2007-2013), the approach was mainstreamed as an integral part of the EU's rural development policy, currently covering 2800 rural territories across the Member States, covering 61 % of the rural population in the EU and bringing together public, private and civil-society stakeholders in a particular area.
With EU’s support, pilot projects involving Local Action Groups have been implemented in 12 Georgian municipalities, including Lagodekhi, Borjomi, Kazbegi, Tetritskaro, Akhalkalaki, Dedoplistskaro, Keda, Khulo, Tsalka, Akhmeta, Tskaltubo and Mestia. To date, the EU-supported LAGs have funded over 500 rural development initiatives in the fields of agriculture, tourism, social and rural infrastructure development, and environment, providing new employment and income-generating opportunities to more than 1,000 rural households and improving livelihoods of over 10,000 rural residents. Yet, local development groups go far beyond numbers – they bring together the vision, energy and commitment of rural people.
EU-supported Local Action Groups (LAGs) in Georgia follow with democratic principles of governance and development and envisage active public involvement and participation in decision-making. LAGs bring together private, public and civil society sectors at the local level. They identify rural development priorities and draft local development strategies based on the municipality’s needs and capabilities analysis, and then provided EU-funded grants to support local development initiatives.
The Georgian Association of Local Action Groups (GALAG) is supported by the EU within the European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD). It comprises eight Georgian LAGs from Borjomi, Lagodekhi, Kazbegi, Dedoplistskaro, Tetritskaro, Akhalkalaki, Keda and Khulo municipalities. Much of the support provided to GALAG will come from European LEADER Association for Rural Development (ELARD).
GALAG is a conduit for information exchange and learning across the country and acts as an advocate for community-led local development with key state and non-state actors and facilitates the development of integrated, participatory and sustainable rural development in Georgia.