The Community Initiative LEADER H was one of EU-structure policy instruments that aimed at the promotion of innovative development projects on the basis of local partnerships. In Europe, more than 1.000 Local Action Groups (LAG) and Collective Bodies (CB) with most different organisational and thematic concepts participated in the Initiative. In Germany, 14 federal states with own programmes and more than 180 LEADER groups (LAG, CB) implemented this "novel type" of structures policy. The Initiative aimed at the initialisation of social, cultural as well as ecological development progresses at local level by the promotion of impulse-providing, innovative measures. The area-based, participative and multi-sectoral approach which was for the first time tested in the LEADER I-Programme, was generalised in LEADER H and at the same time more emphasis was laid on the innovative character of the projects. The function of LEADER as a "laboratory" for the evolution and testing of novel integrative and sustainable development approaches was particularly stressed. On the one hand the LEADER programmes contained a rather flexible section that deals with the selection of eligible projects; on the other hand an inflexible part with comparatively complex regulations obviously existed, too. In the long run the interaction between the application and understanding of the LEADER-method within the administration and their effectiveness on the level of the beneficiaries was finally decisive. In this regard the officers in charge of commitment and funding should be equipped both with distinct "LEADER-qualifications" and the readiness to integrate themselves into the decision making processes on LAG-level in order to make relevant and appropriate decisions. LEADER co-ordinators, who facilitated the programme management between the different divisions involved proved to be helpful. The capacity building ability of local actors (competencies, empowerment) was particularly strengthened in those LEADER-areas which disposed of both a well working and competent regional management and an appropriate support within the most important regional interest groups. The new established organisation and communication structures of the LAG mostly facilitated the participation of interest groups and (partly) the regional population. In case that LAG succeeded in the establishment of long-term partnerships, productive and sustainable forms of networking oftentimes evolved. They continued their cooperation also after the end of the funding phase and can be regarded as "promotion engines" that drive an innovative and endogenous development as well as the growth of regional competencies. The network management of such partnerships was a typical extra benefit of the LAG activities. It resulted in competition advantages for the regions which were affected. Furthermore, unexpectedly high quantifiable effects were generated which emphasize the success of LEADER from the German point of view. They frequently arose in combination with other structure-measures or labour market policy. Future rural development policies could be developed and widened on the basis of the LEADER II experiences - which actually appears within the revised version of the German Joint Task for the improvement of agrarian structures and coast protection (GAK).
