General Information

GENERAL INFO
(Description, legal basis, scope, structure, functions, organization)

“LEADER” is the method for the involvement of local partners in the direction of the future development of rural areas, the mobilization and achievements of territorial development in local rural communities in accordance with these criteria: focused on specific regional areas; led by local action groups composed of representatives of local socio-economic, public and private interests; carried out through integrated and multi-sectoral, area-based local development strategies; tailored to take into account local needs and potentials and incorporating innovative features in context, networking and, where appropriate, local collaboration.
The “LEADER” approach is implemented by the “Local Action Group” (LAG) of a LEADER area.

The “LEADER” area is a rural area that defines the boundaries within which a special community-led local development strategy is designed and implemented.

DESCRIPTION
“Local Action Group” GVV is a non-profit organization based on partnership, consisting of representatives of local socio-economic, public and private interests, in which at the decision-making level no public authority or interest group represents more than 49% of voting rights.

LEGAL BASIS
Law 36/2022 on “Organization and operation of the GVV”, Instruction No. 13, dated 25.07.2022 (click here) as well as Order No. 350 (click here), dated 25.07.2022 (click here)

FIELD OF ACTION OF GVV
The field of action of the GVV is to support the economic, social and cultural growth of the communities of the “LEADER” area through increasing the value of local resources and assets, through the design and implementation of the local development strategy led by the community.

For this purpose, GVV develops and promotes different types of activities, such as:

• participation in regional initiatives,
• national and international for financing sustainable initiatives/projects;
• participation in national and international networks, associations or institutions whose activity pursues similar objectives;
• promotion of communication initiatives, network cooperation and cooperation projects, which aim to promote
• profitable relations between local actors with territories and other institutions;
• providing information, technical support and training to potential local project promoters;
• administration and asset management.

STRUCTURE OF GVV
1. GVVs are created and function as non-profit organizations with membership according to the provisions of the legislation in force for non-profit organizations.
2. In accordance with the principle of gender equality and the requirements of this law, a GVV is registered only if its organizational structure includes at least the following internal bodies:

• the General Assembly;
• The executive board;
• Personnel, which will include at least:

i) the executive director, who is chosen from among the members of the executive board by the board itself, on the proposal of the president;
ii) the accounting expert.

The General Assembly of the GVV is the highest decision-making body in which all the members of the GVV are called to a meeting at least once a year and is responsible for electing the board and the president from among the members of the GVV . These elections must follow the principle of partnership, territorial equality, gender equality and age.

The functions of the General Assembly are defined in the statute of the GVV in accordance with the provisions of the law Law 36/2022 on “Organization and functioning of the GVV” (click here).

The GVV Board is the highest executive body, where all the partners of the “LEADER” area are represented, proposed by each partner typology, according to the partnership principle.

Functions and responsibilities of the GVV board. The Board of the GVV is responsible for the daily decision-making of the GVV and for its legal and financial functioning, for the authorization of operating costs, which in any case cannot exceed 25% of the expenditures of public funds carried out within of the community-led local development strategy.

The President of the GVV chairs the board meetings. All board members must sign a confidentiality statement for information disclosed in their positions during the decision-making process.

The board may establish subcommittees to prepare and evaluate materials to be presented for board decision-making, such as: project collaboration, evaluation and monitoring subcommittees.

GVV personnel may include project advisors/coordinators, community advisors/coordinators, business advisors/coordinators, office assistants, etc., if deemed necessary.

The GVV Board must ensure:
a) a structure with the participation of members of different ages, the participation of women, etc. The board should include:

• at least 2 women;
• at least 2 people under the age of 35;

b) all board members must be residents in the territory of the GVV

FUNCTIONS OF GVV
The GVV must be registered according to law 36/2022 (click here) draft and approve the local development strategy led by the community for the respective “LEADER” area, according to the model defined by the minister’s instruction (click here).
During the implementation of the community-led local development strategy, the GVV should be able to perform the following functions:

a) create the capacities of local actors, which includes potential beneficiaries, to develop and implement measures/activities that include strengthening their project design and management capacities;

b) design a non-discriminatory and transparent selection procedure, which avoids conflicts of interest and ensures that at least 50% of votes in selection decisions are from partners who are not public authorities and allows selection by written procedure;

c) design and approve non-discriminatory objective criteria for the selection of measures/activities that ensure coherence with the community-led local development strategy, prioritizing those measures/activities based on the contribution they make to achieving the objectives of that strategy ( click here);

ç) to prepare and publish requests for proposals or a continuous procedure for submitting projects;

d) receive and evaluate the request for support;

dh) to select projects and determine the amount of support and, when applicable, submit proposals to the body responsible for the final verification of rights, before approval;

e) monitor and implement community-led local development strategies and projects, as well as carry out specific evaluation activities related to that strategy;

ë) enliven the community-led local development strategy to enable exchanges between actors to provide information and promote the strategy and support potential beneficiaries, aiming at the development of projects and the preparation of requests.

During the implementation of the community-led local development strategy, the GVV must have sufficient and competent human resources, especially to fulfill the following functions:

a) local revitalization;
b) administrative and financial management;
c) systems of implementation and realization of strategy objectives.

ORGANIZATION OF GVV
During the realization of its public mission, the activities of GVV, which are financed by public funds, are carried out in accordance with the principles of an effective, transparent and accountable public procurement and with the principles of sustainable financial management, according to the provisions of the legislation in force for public procurement (click here), financial management and control.

In accordance with the legislation in force on financial management and control, the General Assembly of GVV adopts an internal regulation, which defines the operating procedures of GVV, in order to guarantee transparency and accountability in the decision-making process and in technical management and administrative activities.

The internal regulation should regulate at least the following issues:

a) implementation of the principle of partnership;
b) implementation of the bottom-up principle;
c) implementation of the principle of networking and cooperation;
ç) organization of the operational structure (staff);
d) human resources management;
dh) procurement of goods and services;
e) design and implementation of the community-led local development strategy;
e) conflict of interest