D&G LEADER welcomes Finnish visitors

The Dumfries & Galloway LEADER team recently hosted visitors from Finland for discussions on a potential project involving the two areas.

Three representatives from the South Savo region of Finland visited the region to discuss the potential for Dumfries & Galloway LEADER to participate in a transnational cooperation project.

The project would focus on getting young people involved in rural development and local decision making and how this can bring added value to the new LEADER 2014-2020 programme.

The LEADER Local Action Group in Dumfries & Galloway are keen to have more young people participate in the programme and see this project as an ideal opportunity for young people to learn about rural development from a number of European partners. There are currently partners in Estonia and Latvia also interested in participating.

Nicola Hill LEADER Programme Manager for Dumfries & Galloway said:

"We are very excited about the potential for this project to bring a new dimension to the LEADER programme in our region.

"This project presents a chance for us to learn from our fellow LEADER areas in Europe and give young people in Dumfries & Galloway an opportunity to influence how we take our programme forward in the future."

Meetings were held with a number of key organisations across the region which supports young people including Langholm Initiative 'Building a Future for Eskdale' project, the Xcel Project also in Langholm and The Holywood Trust in Dumfries. The group also met with representatives from Dumfries & Galloway Council Community Learning & Development team.

Dumfries & Galloway LEADER Local Action Group and the Finnish visitors were joined by representatives from LEADER teams in Highland and Ayrshire who were keen to learn more about the proposed project and how LEADER is administered in other European member states.

Discussion between the groups will continue over the coming months and the LEADER Local Action Group hope to have a project ready to launch by the autumn.

Cooperation offers

If you have an idea for a cooperation project, with others in a different part of Scotland, the UK or Europe, then add information to our Cooperation offers section.