LEADER Guidance for applicants and Local Action Groups is now available on the Scottish Rural Network website. A new page has been created in the LEADER section called 'How to apply' which has links to the guidance.

Claims and Cooperation application functionality on LARCs was released on Monday 30 January.

Forty-two Local Action Group staff have attended two-day claims training workshops, held over six weeks, between 22 November and 1 February.

On 19 January a debate was held at the Scottish Parliament about the Future of Funding for Rural Development. LEADER was highlighted a number of times during the debate. You can watch the debate on the Scottish Parliament TV archive.

You can contact the LEADER team by emailing Leader.Queries@gov.scot or calling 0131 244 9924.

At Fife LEADER we’re very pleased to announce that we have recruited a new administration officer who will take up their new post shortly. Also look out for a new Development Officer post with us – we’ll be advertising soon so please spread the word to anyone you think might be interested. 

We continue to prepare our Expressions of Interests and work up applications to take to our next LAG meeting on 8 February. We’re currently working with the RPID office in Perth to resolve some difficulties around Business Reference Numbers for farm diversification projects.

After a successful Local Action Group assessment meeting on Tuesday 24 January, when eight further project applications were approved, Scottish Borders LEADER have now committed to funding totalling £705,000.

So far we have awarded grants to 15 projects: ten community, three rural business and two farm diversification projects.

With a full pipeline of really interesting projects to come, we are looking forward to helping rural organisations throughout the Scottish Borders to deliver their exciting ideas and make a real difference to our continued economic development.

The Orkney Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) has awarded funding to investigate the development of an innovative piece of fishing gear.

A three-year post will be created by the Green Fishery Development Strategist project. The post-holder will look into the production of equipment for the sector which will help increase selectivity on the sea bed, helping sustain the fisheries industry.

22 & 23 February | SECC | Glasgow

The Scottish Rural Network Support Unit is coordinating a Scottish LEADER Programme stand at this year's Gathering. The event is the largest third sector event in the UK and is a great chance to spread the word about LEADER.

If you would like to volunteer to help staff stand, we'd love to hear from you. Please contact James Rose by emailing james@ruralnetwork.scot.

In our January Rural Jobs Round Up, you can find out about a Project Support Assistant post with Outer Hebrides LEADER, and posts with projects funded by Ayrshire LEADER. If you have a job you'd like highlighted in our Rural Jobs Round Up please email info@ruralnetwork.scot.

We've collected all our LEADER videos together in one collection on Vimeo. As well as our 12-minute LEADER film there are shorter videos on some of the projects that feature - with more available soon. And there are also subtitled versions of the films available. Please feel free to share these videos on social media and by embedding in your websites. You should also be able to download the videos from Vimeo but if you have any issues please email info@ruralnetwork.scot.

The European Network for Rural Development (ENRD) has produced a publication about migrant and refugee integration projects across Europe.

This edition of their Projects Brochure explores how people in rural areas have used European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) support to respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by the recent influx of migrants and refugees into the European Union.

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