Multi-system governance within the EU policy for rural development: a proposal for LAGs self-evaluation in the LEADER program

This paper explores the role of “multi-level governance” concept in the current EU rural development policies and in the proposals for the programming period 2014-2020. The main objective is to propose a methodology for the self-evaluation of local governance with reference to the implementation of Local Action Programs (LEADER approach). The proposed methodology is based on the definition of 7 “good governance key dimensions” and a consequential set of sub-dimensions and indicators. The first part presents some notions and evidences on the EU multi-system governance. The second part is dedicated to the self evaluation process, as a tool to enhance the rural development assessment at local level: here a tentative test for defining and validate the method is briefly described. The application has been implemented in the Flanders (Belgium) through a focus group with experts involved in the LEADER. Some preliminary results are reported.