Evaluation of LEADER
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Evaluating LEADER helps us understand how Local Development Strategies (LDS) achieve their own objectives and contribute to those of the CAP Strategic Plan. Assessing LEADER’s added value goes a step further, revealing how the implementation of the LEADER method generates added value, expressed through improved social capital and governance, and enhanced results of the LDS.
This page offers an overview of the key resources available on the EU CAP Network’s website. For more resources – including publications, news and reports – check the ‘Related resources’ section at the bottom of this page, which is regularly updated.
Evaluation Learning Portal
To better understand how to evaluate LEADER and its added value, the dedicated Evaluation Learning Portal is the natural next step. It walks you through the conceptual framework of LEADER evaluation at both the CAP Strategic Plan and the local levels, and explains how the added value of LEADER can be assessed in practice, including the evaluation framework built around social capital, governance, and enhanced results.
LEADER added value evaluation guidelines
To support Member States in planning, managing and conducting the evaluation of LEADER at the CAP Strategic Plan and local levels, the EU CAP Network has developed the 'Assessing the added value of LEADER' guidelines. This non-binding guidance operationalises the concept of LEADER added value and proposes an evaluation framework structured around its three components: improved social capital, improved governance, and enhanced results and impacts.
Each component is broken down into key elements, evaluation questions, factors of success and corresponding indicators with data sources, all designed to be adaptable to Member State contexts.
The guidelines are available in English and in all other EU official languages.
The annexes turn this framework into a working toolkit. Annex 1 is a stand-alone document providing a detailed fiche for each indicator: its definition, aim, unit of measurement, data sources, suggested time and frequency of data collection, and the methodology for calculation. Many fiches build on the variables for monitoring and evaluation (DME) defined in Annex VII of Regulation (EU) 2022/1475, while others draw on primary data collected through surveys, focus groups and interviews.
Annexes 2 to 8 gather practical resources: templates and examples for LAG monitoring databases, a discussion of factors influencing the measurement of LEADER added value, illustrations of how the seven LEADER principles translate into added value, an expanded evaluation framework with additional indicators, practical application examples, a glossary, and a compilation of sources and references.
How LEADER builds social capital
Of the three components of LEADER added value, social capital is often the most challenging to grasp in concrete terms. The briefing From local networks to lasting impact: how LEADER builds social capital, helps fill this gap. Drawing on academic research, practical experience, and the voices of LAG managers and stakeholders from across Europe, it offers an accessible overview of what social capital means in the LEADER context and why it sits at the heart of how LEADER generates lasting impact in rural areas.
The briefing combines a conceptual part — explaining the structural, normative and cognitive dimensions of social capital, and the virtuous cycle through which LEADER strengthens local networks, trust and cooperation — with a practical part setting out eight areas in which LAGs can actively produce social capital, from clear communication and project support to inclusive governance, innovation and monitoring. For each area, concrete actions are tailored to five types of target groups — from potential beneficiaries to EU institutions — making it a useful reference for LAG managers and staff as well as Managing Authorities.
Calculating the Network Diversity Index (NTd) step by step
Among the indicators proposed in Annex 1 of the guidelines, the Network Diversity Index (NTd) stands out as a key measure of structural social capital — capturing how diverse and well-balanced the categories of actors are within a network such as a LAG. A higher NTd score signals greater connectivity, broader access to resources, and stronger resilience, all of which underpin the social capital dimension of LEADER added value.
While the indicator fiche in Annex 1 of the guidelines introduces the NTd, a dedicated evaluation Learning Portal provides the operational detail needed to actually compute this. It explains the concept and its structural-social-capital logic, sets out advantages and limitations, and walks through the calculation in seven steps — from defining categories of actors and collecting data to interpreting the final score (which ranges from 0 for no diversity to 1 for maximum diversity). A ready-to-use Excel calculator is provided alongside, so evaluators and LAG support units can apply the method directly without rebuilding it from scratch.
Examples of past evaluations
For inspiration and benchmarking, the EU CAP Network publications database hosts a growing collection of LEADER evaluations carried out by Member States. These offer concrete examples of how evaluation questions, methods, and indicators have been applied in different national and regional contexts.
Explore more resources
In addition to the resources above, the EU CAP Network offers a wider collection of factsheets, news, event reports, expert insights and other publications illustrating how the evaluation of LEADER and its added value is being put into practice across the EU.
