The Project

The ENERDECA (Enhancing European Rural Development Capabilities) project is a LEADER transnational cooperation programme, jointly implemented by nineteen (19) Local Action Groups (bodies implementing LEADER projects) with the Development Agency of Kavala S.A. being the lead partner.

In particular, the Project aims to establish a common framework of cooperation between businesses and institutions in all the Partners’ areas with a view to fostering common development understanding and to adopting common, new methods and practices for promoting and interpreting resources in the Partners’ areas. At the same time, the Project works towards the promotion of a distinctive transnational Creative Tourism product. With the term “Creative Tourism”, we mean an alternative form of tourism that seeks to engage tourists in creative activities related to the area’s cultural capital.

The project focuses on the development and promotion of a distinguishable Creative Tourism product, which will assist local communities in highlighting the cultural and environmental assets of the LEADER areas and exchanging experiences and know-how.

The Project is directly concerned with stimulating business activity through the development of creative industries in the Partners’ areas, but also to network this activity in a cultural tourism trail that will provide authentic tourism experiences, highlight and protect the cultural and environmental capital, favour tourist links between countries and CLLD/LEADER areas, thus creating a distinct tourism offer at transnational level.

The LEADER program is based on a method of planning and implementing local integrated development strategies, with the participation of partners at local level, in order to effectively address the economic, social, environmental and demographic challenges faced by rural areas. It is one of the most popular funding programs in the European countryside with broad acceptance by local communities. It refers to interventions in all economic sectors, projects of public nature but also cooperation projects such as ENERDECA II.

Partners of the project

Greece

Kavala Development Agency (Lead partner)
Aitoliki Development Agency
Cyclades Development Agency
Dimosineteristiki Evros
Drama Development Agency
Elikonas – Parnassos Development Agency
Evia Development Agency
Fdiotida Development Agency
Kastoria Development Agency
Olympia Development Agency
Pella Development Agency
Rodopi Development Agency
Rural Research & Development Company of North Evros
South Epirus – Amvrakikos Development Agency
Florina Development Agency

Cyprus

Larnaca & Famagusta Districts Development Agency Ltd

Lithuania

Kelmė local action group

Portugal

DLBC Rural Alto Oeste – CLLD/LEADER OESTE RUDE – Associação de Desenvolvimento Rural

Creative Tourism

“Creative Tourism” is an alternative form of tourism that aims to involve tourists in creative activities linked to the cultural capital of the area. The term “Creative Tourism” is widely used to describe this type of tourism that introduces tourists to the experience of local culture through their active participation in artistic and creative activities.

Promoting creative tourism in CLLD/LEADER areas

Creative Tourism is defined as tourism that offers visitors the opportunity to develop their creative potential through the active participation in learning experiences, being typical for the tourist destination in which they take place.

This tourism type focuses on offering workshops and creative experiences, and in general, on the local production, arts and crafts, etc.

These workshops usually take place in small groups in residences and work places. They enable visitors to discover their creativity as they come closer to locals, providing a genuine feel of local culture.

Examples of such workshops are the following:

Cooking workshops based on local products and recipes.
Workshops for learning folk / modern arts and crafts (e.g. jewellery, woodcarving, ceramics).
Workshops for learning traditional arts.
Music, dance, painting workshops, etc.)

Creative tourism that invites visitors to participative action, contributes to the robustness and sustainability of local economies since, through it, opportunities for the development and revitalization of businesses operating at a local level emerge.

Additionally, through the implementation of creative workshops aimed at training tourists-visitors, extroversion and preservation of cultural heritage is achieved.

Objectives of the Project

Based on the above, the main objectives of the Project are:

Recording and recognizing the core value and the external (“marketable”) value of resources in the Partners’ areas and their hierarchy as far as their contribution or potential contribution to the development process is concerned.
Developing common methods and practices for highlighting and managing the natural and cultural resources in the Partners’ areas with a view to actively contributing to the mobilization of the local endogenous development process.
The application of modern methods and techniques in the promotion of natural and cultural resources for the purposes of (a) enhancing the tourist experience and (b) enhancing the identity of the Partners’ areas for the benefit of local communities.
Empowering the local social capital in the Partners’ areas through training in new business activities, enhancing self-identity and networking at socio-economic level.
The involvement of local businesses in the process of shaping the identity of the Partners’ areas and their active involvement in the decision-making process.
The introduction of new products and services in the Partners’ areas and, consequently, the stimulation of endogenous entrepreneurship.
Contributing to the creation of a worthy-of-living countryside that respects and meets the needs of modern rural residents.
Creating a distinctive and attractive Creative Tourism product at transnational level, which will help to shape a European, authentic rural experience and present the work of CLLD/LEADER internationally.
Fostering the exchange of know-how between the transnational Partners and the transferability of good development methods and practices in Europe.

Project implementation strategy

The implementation strategy of the Project is primarily based on the execution of the following tasks:

Listing – recognizing the significance of the Partners’ areas’ resources and ranking them: It concerns, initially, the detailed listing of natural, cultural and other assets (intangible and tangible) in the Partners’ areas. It is noted that development resources may be active or inactive. It is crucial that inactive resources are also listed as they can turn active if the area’s development and production model is diversified or enriched.
Developing common methods and practices for identifying and managing the natural and cultural resources in the Partners’ areas: After listing the natural and cultural resources, it is important to identify and manage them in order to use them in the development process, i.e. -in this case- for Creative Tourism activities.
Applying modern methods and techniques to the promotion and management of the natural and cultural capital: The Project Partners, after listing their development needs, mobilising local businesses and receiving training along with them will -eventually- design and implement a number of local pilot projects in their local CLLD/LEADER areas.
Creating a distinctive and attractive transnational Creative Tourism product: The significant local resources of the Partners’ areas constitute (by themselves) significant tourism accelerators. If they are interconnected at transregional and transnational level, as will be the case with the current Project, they will then compose a truly state-of-the-art tourism product inspired by the principles of environmental and natural heritage interpretation and creativity. It is the belief of the Partnership that interpretation and creativity at transnational level is the basis for a tourism product based on interculturality, experience exchange and authenticity. Equally important is the involvement of businesses in creating this trail, thereby fostering synergies between the local and the extra-local level and sharing of know-how between businesses in different countries and contexts.

Project actions

Identifying & prioritizing critical resources in partner areas based on common standards.
Organization of resource interpretation and creative tourism seminars in each area.
Planning a creative tourism route in each partner’s area.
Small-scale interventions (e.g. signposting).
Organization of an international conference on creative tourism.
Design of the project website and the transnational creative ENERDECA route.
Production of information material for promoting – advertising the project.

Expected Results

The general expected results from the implementation of the Project are summarized as follows:

The Partners’ ability to identify and prioritize development needs is strengthened.
Inactive endogenous development resources which have the potential to be used in the local production systems are mobilized.
Tourism offer is strengthened via the provision of new services and products and tourism demand is targeted to specific resources.
The identity of the Partners’ CLLD/LEADER areas is re-invented or rejuvenated for the benefit of both residents and tourists.
The number of visitors to CLLD/LEADER areas increases.
Know-how exchange is strengthened and networking between businesses locally and internationally is favoured, thus setting the stage for a sustainable and memorable tourism product.
The involvement of local businesses in development planning is redefined / strengthened and, therefore, the core constituent of the LEADER approach, namely the “bottom-up” approach is achieved.
The positive results of the LEADER approach at local and extra-local level are promoted through the use of stat-of-the-art products and services that appeal to visitors.

The expected results from the implementation of Partner 1 (Lead Partner) “Kavala Development Agency S.A.” are summarized as follows:

The potential of differentiating the tourism product of the CLLD/LEADER area from the classic “sun-sea” paradigm (especially on the Island of Thassos) is strengthened and a number of critical resources (especially in the field of cultural heritage) are identified, fact which can add value locally.
The tourism product of the mountain communities of the CLLD/LEADER area (e.g. Pangaio) that lag behind in development is enriched.
Direct cooperation with local businesses, especially those in the areas of hospitality and catering, is achieved. Especially in the field of hospitality, it is possible to introduce additional services that add value locally and attract specific categories of visitors.
Complementarity with other LEADER Cooperation Projects but also with other Territorial Cooperation projects (e.g. INTERREG Greece – Bulgaria, Black Sea Basin Program) is achieved.
The Agency’s emphasis on creative and cultural industries is reinforced, with the triggering point being the designation of the archaeological site of Philippi as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
An opportunity is given to use the accumulated knowledge and cultural infrastructure of the area’s Cultural Associations that have received funding from the CLLD/LEADER Multi-Fund Local Programme (public interest projects).

Beneficiaries

Beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries of the Project are:

The local population of each Partner’s CLLD/LEADER area, in the sense that their local intangible capital is strengthened further through creativity and their image is promoted nationally and internationally.
The associate tourism businesses, which favour from acquiring know-how, from introducing new products and services into their operation, from networking with other businesses nationally and internationally and from attracting -eventually- more tourists.
The associate business in other sectors (e.g. services, crafts, cultural industries, etc.), which benefit from acquiring know-how, from introducing their products and services into the tourism product and from networking with others businesses at national and international level.
Executives of local bodies (e.g. Local Government, Chambers of Commerce, etc.), whose capabilities are enhanced through the transfer of knowledge to them on modern tourism products and through their networking at national and international level.
LAG staff members whose skills and capacity in rural development are strengthened further.

The project implementation duration has been set at 42 months, starting from December 2021 and ending in June 2025. The project falls under the category of cross-border cooperation, including Measure 19.3 of Greece’s Rural Development Program for the period 2014 – 2020, also known as CLLD/LEADER.