Protecting the Future of LEADER: A Call to Action for Rural Communities

For more than 30 years, the LEADER programme has been a cornerstone of rural development across Europe. It has empowered communities to shape their own futures — supporting local enterprise, investing in community facilities, promoting environmental action, and encouraging innovation at grassroots level.Here in rural Dublin, we’ve seen the incredible impact LEADER has had — enabling small towns, villages, and community groups to deliver meaningful, locally driven projects that improve lives and strengthen community ties.But today, the future of LEADER is under serious pressure.Across Europe, local development companies and rural organisations are facing growing challenges in maintaining the programme. Increasing administrative burdens, inflexible structures, and uncertainty around long-term policy support are making it harder than ever to deliver the type of community-led local development that LEADER was designed to support.These challenges not only threaten the effectiveness of the programme — they threaten the voice and agency of rural communities themselves.That’s why we at Dublin Rural LEADER are joining our national and European partners in calling for strong, continued support for LEADER at EU level. A Europe-wide petition has been launched to urge policymakers to protect and prioritise LEADER/CLLD (Community-Led Local Development) in the next phase of rural policy.We’re asking our communities, partners, and supporters to stand with us.👉 You can sign the petition here: https://elard.eu/petition_en/Let’s send a clear message: rural communities matter, and their development should continue to be led by the people who know them best.