Right now, an intensive advocacy effort is underway at the European level to secure the future of Leader. As part of this, our European leader organization ELARD has launched a petition to demonstrate the importance and power of our rural areas.
The petition will close a bit into May, so don't wait until later, do it now! Based on the population, we in Sweden need to contribute 14,600 signatures to do our part, and considering that we are well over 600 active in Leader, we can make this happen!
We have spoken with Marion Eckardt, operations manager for LLUH, about why our signatures are needed!
”Today we received an email from ELARD stating that together we have collected 17,000 signatures in our member countries. Is there any country that stands out in this statistic, and why do you think?”
– The Germans are the ones who have gotten off to the best start, in terms of numbers, but Lithuania is the best in percentage terms. We all have a way to go if we want to reach a million signatures!
”You who are the operations manager in Local Led Development Halland – can you give tips to our other operations managers and Leader areas on how we can work in the short time that is left? How have you done in Halland?”
– Write and call staff, LAG board, project owners, and other partners. I believe a lot in personal contact! And now we have also made a film that we will soon start spreading.
”Why should one prioritize reading and signing this particular proposal amidst all the other important things?”
– If one is a rural actor or rural resident, this should be one of the most important things right now. The budget is set for seven years ahead; if rural areas are not secured any funds and resources for that time, it will be difficult to contribute all the important things that our rural areas can provide.
– Such as preparedness, security, democracy, competitiveness, and environmental protection. It matters whether the EU prioritizes rural areas in its budget or not!