This year's annual general meeting was held on April 23rd.
The board and their contact details you can find here.
Link to View annual report as PDF here.
The auditors story as PDF here.
General information about the business
Leader Bergslagen's purpose is to be a catalyst for locally led development in general and to conduct LEADER activities in particular. LEADER is an EU method where the private, non-profit and public sectors work together. The aim is to contribute to local development in rural areas through collaborations called LAGs.
LAG is an abbreviation for local action group. There are approximately 3000 LAGs around the EU. The association Leader Bergslagen constitutes the LAG and the board is the LAG's board. No sector in the LAG may have more than 49% of the votes.
Leader Bergslagen is one of Sweden's 40 approved LAGs within Leader 2023-2027, which is a project and investment support within the Strategic Plan for the EU's agricultural policy 2023-2027. Leader Bergslagen operates within Leader 2023-2027 according to the local development strategy that the Swedish Board of Agriculture has approved and allocated a budget for. The Swedish Board of Agriculture is the managing and paying authority for Leader. Leader is financed half by the EU and half by Sweden. Leader
Bergslagen has a budget of approximately 41 million SEK including other public support.
Leader activities are carried out in the member municipalities of Norberg, Fagersta, Surahammar, Skinnskatteberg, Nora, Lindesberg, Hällefors, Ljusnarsberg, Ludvika and Smedjebacken. The municipalities co-finance Leader with 33% other public support.
The association is headquartered in Ludvika.
Significant events during the financial year
In 2023, the association had 46 members. On February 3, 2023, the Swedish Board of Agriculture decided to approve the Leader Bergslagen strategy, the LAG and the Leader Bergslagen area. This was the starting point for the work of implementing the strategy. The Leader office has been staffed with two employees during the year. One operations manager and one administrator/administrator.
The Leader Office has worked actively with mobilization and information about Leader to the development strategy's target groups. The Office has coached local associations and companies to promote their capacity to develop and implement projects that both follow the development strategy and meet the Swedish Board of Agriculture's regulations.
The member municipalities have been active in the leader work by providing two officials who have "Leader on their desk". They constitute the leader office's municipal network with people who have extra good leadership knowledge and participate in meetings. The LAG board has consisted of seven regular members and three substitutes. The nomination committee has consisted of four members.
The board has held ten meetings during the year. The executive committee, which consists of one member from each sector, has held five meetings. During the year, the LAG board has assessed incoming project applications and made decisions, determined support amounts and submitted proposals for decisions to the Swedish Board of Agriculture in 20 cases.
Compilation of projects
– 20 formal applications in the Swedish Board of Agriculture's e-service
– Of these, 17 applications have been prioritized as they met the basic conditions and achieved the rejection level of 600 out of 1000 points in selection criteria.
– The Swedish Board of Agriculture has approved 8 cases, the rest are in the queue.