European LEADER Observatory
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Rural development policy in Wallonia
Belgium
I. The action
In Wallonia, LEADER complements existing and well-established policies. The
Walloon Region has in fact been managing a rural development policy for 20 years.
The main “tool” of this policy is the Municipal Rural Development Programme
(MRDP).
II. Key elements
Linking up with an existing regional policy has made it possible to make up for lost
time incurred at the launch of the initiative in Wallonia (the regional programme was
approved in 1997 and the 16 groups started their activities at the end of 1998) and to
have a well organised involvement of local partners, since they are accustomed to a
bottom-up and participatory approach. Implementation by the Walloon Rural
Foundation, a support body for rural development operations, has enabled the
Community Initiative to be integrated rapidly and in a quality manner within the
existing policy.
III. Context
A. Rural Wallonia
More than a third of the population of the Walloon Region lives in rural areas that
cover a little over 80% of the Walloon area. The region has 262 municipalities,
including 130 that are considered rural. The average size of a rural municipality is 64
km². Wallonia is the largest green space in the whole of Benelux.
European LEADER Observatory
The Walloon rural area has several assets:
 a highly qualified population (15% of Walloons have higher education
diplomas, particularly in the commercial and agronomic sectors);
 a key position in Western Europe, at the meeting point of three cultures;
 a tight-knit fabric of small and medium-sized enterprises;
 proximity to large urban centres and the most important consumer market in
the European Union;
 huge “nature areas” scattered with villages and small towns with a rich
cultural heritage.
B. The regional rural development policy
Rural development policy is the responsibility of the Walloon Region, and is
managed by the Directorate-General for Agriculture.
This policy is bottom-up, integrated and participatory. It is defined by a 1991 decree
which stipulates that:
 rural development consists of a coordinated set of development, planning and
restructuring actions undertaken or carried out in rural areas by a municipality,
with the aim of regenerating and restoring the municipality in respect of its own
characteristics, so as to improve the living conditions of its inhabitants from an
economic, social and cultural viewpoint.
 any municipality running this type of operation must ensure that the public is kept
informed, consulted and involved.
The four main elements of this policy are:
 the municipality is the area of action for this policy, as problems can be tackled
in their human, economic and social element. The local authorities are the project
managers of the rural development operation.
 the involvement of the population, which is consulted to determine its needs.
Beyond taking part, the population is asked to take its own future in hand. The
notion of responsible citizenship is essential.
 the development of local resources. Rural development aims to take into
account all the local resources (human, natural, economic, etc.) and the full
potential of rural areas.
 global and integrated development. The maximum number of synergies are
sought, thus increasing the multiplier effect of the actions, which are no longer
juxtaposed but coordinated.
LEADER seminars – June 1999 – Gesves (Wallonie – B) & Valencia (E)
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European LEADER Observatory
The rural development operation is summarised in a document called Municipal
Rural Development Programme (MRDP). This definitive document integrates and
harmonises the development aims put forward by the municipal council based on the
results of consultation with the community. Following approval of the document, the
Region grants the municipalities subsidies for projects aiming to:
 improve and create services and facilities to be used by the community;
 renovate, create and promote housing;
 plan and create public spaces, village halls and other welcome, information
and meeting points;
 protect, improve and enhance the surroundings and living environment,
including the built and natural heritage;
 plan and create roads and means of transport and communication of benefit
to the local area.
IV. Starting point
A. The establishment of LEADER I
The area eligible for the LEADER I Community initiative corresponded to the 5b
area. As this is fairly extensive (301 752 ha. and 127 662 inhabitants), actions were
concentrated over fairly homogeneous regions: the Bastogne Plateau and the
hydrographic and tourist basins of the Lesse, Ourthe and Amblève, as well as the
Fammenes area.
The beneficiary organisation was called the “Leader-Wallonia Local Action Group”.
It took the legal form of a de facto association created by an association agreement
between five partners, i.e.
 the Walloon Rural Development Office
 the Walloon Rural Foundation
 the Rural Economy Centre
 the Intermunicipal agency for economic facilities for the Province of
Luxembourg
 the Economic Bureau of the Namur Province
The partners were in charge of the projects that they had submitted and the final
beneficiaries were local authorities, de facto associations, non profit-making
associations and trade organisations.
LEADER seminars – June 1999 – Gesves (Wallonie – B) & Valencia (E)
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European LEADER Observatory
The programme’s main objective was to help develop the disadvantaged area of
Wallonia, particularly by starting up a dynamic that generates initiatives. In order to
do this, the actions proposed aimed to:
 implement professional support in the areas of two particularly disadvantaged
municipalities in terms of development;
 intensify the role of economic development agents in rural areas;
 develop internal tourist points and a tourist information centre;
 further the development of tourist products;
 enhance the tourist and environmental heritage.
The types of actions concerned:
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technical support for rural development;
rural tourism linked to heritage;
local services for small businesses;
help in diversifying agricultural and forestry products.
B. The establishment of LEADER II
The Walloon Region’s decision was to bring the socio-economic partners together in
an Objective 1 area (Hainaut) and then in an Objective 5b area
(Namur-Luxembourg), as well as in Eastern Liège. The two regional LEADER II
programmes have respectively been adapted to the characteristics of these two
areas.
V. Implementation
The Walloon Region has appointed the Walloon Rural Foundation to be the
LEADER Interface in Wallonia. The role of this Interface consists of:
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a coordinating role for the LAGs;
the task of helping and assisting key local players;
an information mission;
a mission to provide assistance on transnational cooperation.
The Walloon Rural Foundation was appointed because of its knowledge “of the
area”, as it is assisting 65 rural Walloon municipalities in their rural development
operation, with 17 of these municipalities in Objective 1 and 18 in Objective 5b.
Coordination between fieldwork (accompanying rural development operations) and
its role as Interface has enabled the WRF to oversee the optimal integration of
regional policy and LEADER II.
LEADER seminars – June 1999 – Gesves (Wallonie – B) & Valencia (E)
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European LEADER Observatory
Since September 1997, the Interface has provided information to, and generally
raised awareness among, local operators about the LEADER II programme through
several dozen meetings.
From October 1997 to January 1998, applicant local partners drew up their rural
innovation programmes, for which, they benefited from the methodological support of
the Interface. Two selection committees (28 April 1998 and 13 October 1998)
accepted 16 rural innovation programmes (6 in Objective 1 and 10 in Objective 5b).
Once they had made their selection, the LAGs implemented their programmes by
way of the following:
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signing a partnership agreement (LAG);
signing an agreement between the LAG and the Walloon Region;
engaging technical support;
selecting projects;
drafting project factsheets;
introducing project factsheets to functionally competent authorities.
The LAGs’ work took the form of around 100 working meetings, in which the
Interface was regularly involved. The latter organised coordination meetings between
LAGs, during which numerous topics were discussed (date of eligibility of expenses,
financing of technical support, budgetary balances, project grant rates, financial flows
and LAG responsibilities, form of project factsheets, factsheet processing
procedures, technical and financial monitoring tools, local public expenditure
methods, etc.).
Contact
Catherine Leroy
Fondation Rurale de Wallonie
Rempart de la Vierge, 11
B-5000 Namur
Tel: +32 81 26 18 82
Fax: +32 81 22 45 77
Email: FRW-CDW@pophost.eunet.be
LEADER seminars – June 1999 – Gesves (Wallonie – B) & Valencia (E)
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