On June 14, the Law on Local Action Groups (LAGs) will enter into force in the Republic of Moldova. The law was adopted by the Parliament in the second reading on April 9. This is the first law regulating the LAG activity in the country. The law gives LAGs the possibility to receive legal status and access funding from different sources.
The LAGs are non-profit, apolitical associations, with the status of legal person, created for the purpose of elaborating and implementing local development strategies. They are based on a territorial partnership established at local level between representatives of public, civic, and business sector at micro regional level. Their focus is local development in which none of the sectors mentioned may have more than 49% of the voting rights at decision-making level.
LAGs are an opportunity for local CSOs to engage in micro regional development and to build cooperation with businesses and public institutions. Provided by the law, public authorities and institutions may also become members of the non-profit LAGs. Otherwise, public authorities and institutions (except for educational institutions) may not set up non-profit organizations and may not become members of public associations.
Starting in 2020, LAGs were also included among potential beneficiaries (up to 5%) of the annual budget of the National Fund for Agriculture and Rural Development, which is an extra funding source, normally accessible only to agricultural producers or groups of such producers.
LAGs are key stakeholders in the LEADER method, which has been used for 30 years in the EU to support rural development projects at the local level to revitalise rural areas. Moldova is the only non-EU country that since 2016 implements the LEADER Program.. Currently there are 32 established LAGs in the country, covering 35% of the territory.
The elaboration of the law was initiated in 2020 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment. The law was strongly supported by the National Leader Network, the promoter of LEADER approach and the representative of the interests of the LAGs in Moldova.
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