Local Economic Development

Photo by Jose Antonio Gallego Vázquez on Unsplash

Introduction

Because of globalisation and decentralisation, economic development has shifted from large-scale national plans to territorial bound local plans known as Local Economic Development (LED). LED allows localities to plan and implement their economic development through a representative and participative forum that can build on existing economic advantages of its locality. The local government plays an important role in facilitating the development of the economy and creating ecosystems for entrepreneurship through priority setting in policy making, convening all stakeholders and alignment with the higher tiers of government.

Local Economic Development (LED) requires an integrated approach where the public and private sector are aligned on priorities and where local governments have a certain level of decentralisation.

This course discusses the challenges of development, LED as a concept in itself, LED as an integrated approach, the role of national and local government, the role of the private sector and other economic stakeholders and the materialisation of a LED strategy. After having set these fundamental and contextual elements, the course assess multiple LED strategies such as entrepreneurship development, value chain development, matching educational curricula with needs of the labour market, assisting vulnerable groups to work and public-private partnerships. The course includes study visits that are aimed at lessons learned on the role of different stakeholders with the LED process. Furthermore, the course embeds exchange moments between the international participants to stimulate peer-learning.

Key Information

This course is aimed at professionals involved in local economic development processes. Participants come from national, regional and local government, NGOs and donor and development organisations.

The course fee is € 3,895*. This includes all training related costs as well as drinks and warm lunches during the training days. Group discounts are available if you participate with three or more colleagues.

After this course, you will receive a professional certificate of completion from The Hague Academy for Local Governance.

*Professionals working in local government or for local NGOs on the DAC list of ODA-recipient countries (OECD) may qualify for a reduced course fee. Contact us for details.

Learning objectives

This course helps participants:

• Identify the typical economic development challenges that countries face
• Understand the LED framework, including its characteristics and phases
• Define the role that local governments, the private sector and other important stakeholders can play in the promotion of LED
• Understand the stages of LED promotion processes at the local level
• Learn from examples of matching educational curricula with labour market needs, assisting vulnerable groups with finding work
• Identify the potential public, private and development partner sources of LED finance
• Comprehend how entrepreneurial ecosystems can be supported
• Explain how LED links to conflict prevention and peacebuilding
• Identify the requirements for a sustainable and inclusive approach to value chain development that contributes to inclusive LED
• Analyse how smart and creative city concepts promote LED

Experience

The course includes visits to a municipality where civil servants will explain the LED-strategy and implementation. Participants will also visit a ‘triple helix’ institute where public, private sector work with research and development institutes, a vocational training school and the private sector. Furthermore, participants will work on different case studies from the work-practice of participants to apply the LED process to a locality and facilitate peer-to-peer exchanges. The training includes daily presentation by participants to further reflect and share lessons learned from their specific context.