Who am I

1
Who am I why am I'm here ?

• My name is Roger Silfver, born in Finland
  emigrated to Sweden 1974
• Background Social worker Family Care 25 years
• 1990 I became active in rural/local development
  in Sweden
• 1997 Chairman of the LAG in LEADER II Sommenbygd
• 2000-2007 Program Manager LEADER Sommenbygd
• Worked as LEADER adviser in Latvia Lithuania
• Working with rural development in Byelorussia
  since 2006
• (local self governance democracy)
• 2007 Working for the Government of Åland as
  LEADER coordinator
• My Commitment
• - to support local grassroots to gain knowledge
  influence over their everyday life.
• - to ensure local, regional national
  politicians that ordinary peoples engagement is
  a complement to existing system, not competitors
  of power.

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Leader area of Sommenbygd

• Situated in South East of Sweden
• Named after the Lake of Sommen
• 360 islands
• Clear water
• Popular for recreation boating
• Consists of parts of two Counties
• Östergötland
• Jönköping
• 50 000 inhabitants
• Sparsely populated
• No big cities in the area
• Large forest areas

3
The Municipalities

• Area 3 802 km/2
• 50 400 Inhabitants
• 7 Municipalities
• 2 Counties
• 40 Parsons

4
Governance of Leader in Sommenbygd

• A non profit association Local Action Group of
  Sommenbygd
• The LAG group consists of 29 members
• 7 Community representatives - The chairmen of
  the municipality boards
• 6 From the private sector - representatives
  from local enterprises and or municipality's
  business adviser.
• 6 From local development groups - grassroots
• 6 youth representatives ( under 25 years)
• 4 - Regional authorities other actors ( not
  decision makers )

5
Today's Governance of Leader in Sommenbygd

• Administration
• 3 employees full time, responsible for all
  project management, preparation, finances,
  marketing, support, evaluation, interregional
  transnational cooperation
• A free office/administration with no ties to
  other actors or authorities !
• LAG makes all project decisions, responsible
  for carrying out the Leader plan
• Sommenbygd board 6 persons from LAG
  responsible for the administration/staff
• LAG projects/initiatives can also be located to
  the Leader office

6
LAG Projects Start - Gas

• Youth checks 15 000 Skr
• Support for new ideas (Private persons) 15 000
  Skr
• Local mobilisation planning 30 000 Skr
• Cooperation support (3-partners) 30 000 Skr/
  partner
• Arrangment support 30 000 Skr
• Large Youth project
• Tourism project
• Project for small village schools

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1. Young People in LAG LEADERQuestion How
to involve youth/Children in the activities of a
LAG2. Processes within the LAG LEADER work
that can be obstacles possibilitiesQuestion
How to avoid the situation that local authorities
(governments) will start to influence the funding
decisions of the LAG
Focus on 2 topics
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Young people in LAG today, our decision makers
of tomorrow !

• Open up the LAG for young people
• One young LAG member from each municipality
• Prepare special strategy for youth and children
  (LAG project)
• Let them work together as a group, adults must
  guide but not lead
• LAG -youth should support processes in the area
  that can lead to projects
• LAG should

9
How to get young people interested to join a LAG ?

• Se them, listen to them and notice them !
• Talk to them not about them !
• Let them work together!
• Make LEADER fun modern and interesting !
• Let them know that they are important !

10
An example from my village BOET in Sweden

• We asked the children of our village to write and
  draw pictures of their future dream of how our
  village will look like 10-15 years from now.
• We got a lot of interesting ideas from their
  dreams
• Children wants the village to be more urban
• We also learned that children are aware of our
  concern of the future for the village, we need
  more children to be born.

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How to get young persons active in a LAG

• Shear power and responsibilities with them !
• Give them influence over youth issues in the area
  !
• Let them travel and meet other LAG youths in and
  outside Estonia !
• Support a LEADER network for young people in
  Rural areas

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What makes young person leave the Village ?

• Work money better future ?
• Studies carrier ?
• The urban lifestyle - fast and anonymous?
• Freedom?
• To create a personality - grow up?
• Bored of living in rural area nothing happens?

13
What makes a young person return to the Village?

• Work/money/family/friends
• Place to live (housing)
• The Village is a part of me and I am a part of
  the Village
• Good memories from growing up in the Village
• The Rural lifestyle, safe and slower
• When planning to have family

14
Is there a risk that organizations/authorities
will try to have influence over LAG and project
decisions

• Leader is open for all and as such vulnerable
• LAG members can only represent one sector
• Release a LAG member from duty if he/she is
  running a project
• No one should be a LAG member for more than 2
  years then1 year quarantine
• LAG Chairman exchanged halfway into the program
• Separate chairman's in LAG/Board
• Mistakes made (Rogers experience)

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How to avoid the risk of one person taking over?

• I dont have to be takeover, it can also be
  because the group
• All the time hands over the responsibility to one
  active person
• Transparency
• Mutual thrust
• Allow all to speak
• Specify what is expected from LAG member ( on
  paper )
• Talk openly about compensations
• Examples of takeovers Rogers experiences

16
Is there a risk that all knowledge will be lost
if/when Project Manager leaves or when a project
is finished ? Can we avoid that ?

• Long term contract with employees
• Consider employees as investment in human
  resources
• Educate staff LAG
• Have fun

• Open discussion

17
What is really local in today's globalized
economy ?

• The simple and most obvious answer is
• THE PEOPLE

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How to get in contact

• Roger Silfver LEADER Coordinator
• E-mail roger.silfver_at_regeringen .ax
• E-mail roger.silfver_at_telia.com (private)
• SKYPE Silfvers
• Mobile phone [phone]