• The European Commission presents “SAT4TER,” a “Self-Assessment of Territorial and Local Development Strategies” tool.
• “SAT4TER” has been designed to be used by local management authorities in rural areas
• The objective is for these authorities to propose integrated and participatory strategies, as required by the European Cohesion Policy.

From the local to the global. This philosophy gives rise to the LEADER approach , which empowers territories to design their own horizontal rural development strategies.

For this reason, the European Commission virtually launched "SAT4TER" on April 23rd , a "Self-Assessment of Territorial and Local Development Strategies" tool aimed at local and management authorities for the development of participatory strategies in their respective rural areas. Not surprisingly, the implementation and management of Community-Led Local Development Strategies (CLLD) is a specific and mandatory objective of the EAFRD (European Fund for Agricultural Development), according to its regulations .

The free and anonymous tool facilitates self-assessment of local development strategies so that they can identify strengths and opportunities in their designs, with a view to improving them and making them more participatory.

Pillars of local development

The SAT4TER tool addresses the key elements of the integrated approach the European Union (EU) requires for rural development strategies. According to the Territorial and Local Development Strategies Manual These elements must be:

• A strategic vision for the sustainable development of rural areas.
• Integration across spatial territorial scales, from neighborhoods to broader functional territories, focusing on rural areas across the EU.
• Multi-level , multi-stakeholder governance that coordinates different actors according to their respective roles, skills, and scales of intervention, thus ensuring the active participation of citizens.
• Integration between sectors , encouraging local governments to work in all possible areas.
• Integration of multiple sources of financing .

How does “SAT4TER” work?

The new self-assessment tool covers all stages of the strategy (design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation). It is also structured around the six basic components of a LDPE, according to the "Manual of Territorial and Local Development Strategies" cited above:

1. Strategic dimension
2. Territorial approach
3. Governance
4. Intersectoral integration
5. Financing and finance
6. Supervision

For each area, SAT4TER provides references, examples of improvements, and a space for taking notes. Once the strategy has been evaluated, two graphs are created based on each score. The self-assessment can be saved and repeated if necessary. The results can be easily downloaded in Excel or PDF format.

The detailed operation of the tool can be found here .