Image by margouillatphotos from Getty Images

Image by margouillatphotos from Getty Images

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Territorial development is central to strengthening the EU’s rural areas, reducing economic disparities and tackling demographic decline. Using integrated approaches like LEADER/CLLD, Integrated Territorial Investments (ITIs) and Smart Villages, actors across Europe are working to ensure that rural areas can thrive. 

Such instruments can mobilise integrated, multi-sector and multi-fund interventions. They foster place-based innovation, community empowerment and resilience, and build local capacity. As a result, communities can move beyond isolated projects and develop longer-term, integrated approaches.

The publication spotlights six inspiring initiatives that demonstrate how territorial development instruments and approaches can deliver more integrated, place-based and community-led interventions for improving quality of life in rural areas. 

Discover the six featured good practices focused on: 

  • Supporting integrated territorial development in Lower Saxony (Germany);
  • Coordinated governance and funding for rural recovery and resilience (Pinhal Interior, Portugal);
  • Boosting job opportunities and social inclusion through a social enterprise (Lithuania);
  • Promoting social inclusion and mental well-being via a community-led forestry project (Czechia);
  • Building local capacity for Smart Villages through LEADER (Romania);
  • Turning community priorities into local action with the Smart Village approach (Pękowice, Poland).

Find a wealth of Rural Pact knowledge and resources on the topic of territorial instruments. Browse through our good practice database to discover more inspiring examples.