LEADER leads at 3rd National Networks meeting in Denmark

The third National Networks (NN) meeting took place in Denmark from 20-21 March covering an agenda focused on building the capacity of NNs. A particular emphasis for this meeting was on NN’s capacity to support LEADER.

26 Member States were present at the biannual NN meeting which provided useful exchanges on a broad range of experiences, including presentations from the Danish and Austrian networks about how they support LEADER in their countries. Participants shared information during the two-day event about national LEADER news (like the recent launch of Slovenian’s new LAGs) while group work considered NN support opportunities for LEADER in agriculture, youth involvement and transnational cooperation. A special session was dedicated to NN involvement in evaluating LEADER’s added value and field trips organised by the Danish NN on the second day promoted LEADER funded projects. The latest edition of the LEADER newsletter was promoted for its informative stories featuring similar topics concerning agriculture, youth involvement and transnational cooperation.

NN representatives at the meeting in Jyderup also heard about the state of play for the forthcoming EIP Innovation Awards including possibilities for publicising the public vote. CAP funding and AKIS were among the topics that NN delegates exchanged on informally while networking time at the meeting centred on confirming NN capacity building needs.

NN clusters

Meeting discussions also considered outcomes of the NNs’ thematic clusters that celebrated one year of their creation. A session explored the following clusters: communication and involvement of Pillar 1 stakeholders; rural youth and generational renewal; LTVRA, Rural Pact and Rural Observatory; regional antennas; green architecture and eco-schemes; CAP evaluation and monitoring. These subject areas were covered along with the updates from the recent regional cluster meetings.

Last month’s cluster regional meetings included boosting and networking NN knowhow in the Atlantic cluster about a ModernAKIS HORIZON project, which built awareness among cluster members about the systems thinking approaches inherent to AKIS. The latest Nordic cluster meeting learned that Sweden’s NN is planning new specialist thematic groups on AKIS and sustainable food systems. The latter is set to look at how to attract young farmers through generational renewal support options. This can draw on related thematic resources from the EU CAP Network during its rural youth action.

Poland’s NN is also busy preparing AKIS-related capacity building actions while other countries in the Central and Eastern European cluster have been sharing insights on their current work promoting organics and soil biodiversity. A Portuguese presentation to the NN’s thematic cluster on communication increased collective understanding around the EU about the scope of social media to boost the potential of web-based AKIS toolkits.

The Mediterranean cluster meeting also underlined NN priorities for supporting young farmers as a priority target group since the Italian NN showcased video campaigning approaches to help enhance the attractiveness of agri-food careers for a new generation of future farmers. Spanish NN colleagues participating in February’s thematic cluster meeting on regional antennas also presented their related work.

A highlights report is now being prepared to provide a full review of the third NN meeting and the full set of event materials is available online for sharing. The next full bi-annual NN meeting is being planned for Lithuania in the Autumn of 2024.