In Calabria the thirteen LAGs towards a single stable consortium
Local Action Groups are active in the area where, although they have few resources, they carry out projects and implement them mostly in agriculture, tourism, environmental protection and youth policies
3' min read
3' min read
With the disappearance of the mountain communities, the weakened and reduced functions of the provinces, the local action groups, the LAGs, represent the institutional form closest to the territories, whose potential, limits, quarrels and conflicts they are familiar with. And perhaps precisely because of this, they often succeed in planning development strategies commensurate with local needs.
Environment, traditions, culture, and innovation with a view to sustainability: mountains, logistics, inclusion, beekeeping, animal husbandry, water resource management, crop protection, and youth employment are the focus of many of the projects financed. For the 2014-2022 programming period, 77 million were allocated to the Calabrian LAGs. And for the current one, which closes in 2027, the Region has already allocated forty-eight. Funds that all remain in the territories to feed their development.
Created within the European Union under the Leader approach, to support disadvantaged areas, they then became part of regional programmes, but with a minimal budget: about 3% of the Rural Development Programme (Psr). The recipients are the 13 local action groups into which Calabria is divided, from the Riviera dei Cedri to the Grecanica area. A set of variegated realities, capable of activating fruitful forms of partnership between the public, private and civil society, but moving at different speeds, also due to the peculiarities of the individual areas.
In order to achieve a more harmonious development, at the last plenary meeting held in Locri, the LAGs discussed the possibility of forming consortia. That is, 'to turn into a legal entity capable of structuring activities and actions in a more homogeneous way,' as Guido Mignolli, an architect expert in economic planning of territories and director of the Terre Locridee Gal, explains. "The initiative is being studied. We believe that local action groups are the best form of governance and planning for the territories,' Mignolli continues. 'A single legal entity would make us stronger in programming, especially community programming. In fact, in the draft under discussion of the statute of the stable consortium of Calabrian LAGs, participation, with its own representatives, in the activities of commissions, technical committees and working groups in regional, national and European bodies is expressly indicated.
The prospect also convinces Antonio Fruci, an official of the regional department for agriculture and rural development: 'A single coordination would simplify the management of administrative processes and eliminate recurrent overlaps.
