The Evaluation of Local Policy Making in Europe Learning from the LEADER Community Initiative

Two recent evaluation studies undertaken for the European Commission, related to the LEADER Community Initiative implemented throughout the 1990s, have provided the basis for the issues discussed in this article. This programme was set up to encourage pilot experiences in the promotion of rural development in the problem areas of Europe, by introducing a set of distinctive features emphasizing the method by which local development is implemented, rather than individual actions. The article argues that development policies with a territorial approach, locally defined objectives, strategies and actions, and involving the participation of several levels of government, have a different set of underlying assumptions and cannot be evaluated with the same tools and concepts that are commonly used in conventional evaluations. Four main methodological problems are discussed: how to define and assess the distinctive features of LEADER individually and as a whole; how to relate such features to development factors; how to ensure the comparison and aggregation of individual programmes at national and European level; and how to assess and produce relevant evaluation information for different governmental stakeholders. The conclusions stress the need to go beyond the accountability logic of conventional evaluations and argue in favour of providing more substantial feedback on the effectiveness of local policy making for the promotion of development, the types of contexts in which the distinctive features introduced by LEADER work best and the comparison of experiences and processes evaluated.