Scotland: National Rural Network
Connecting Rural Scotland - Promoting Rural Growth

LEADER is part of the Scotland Rural Development Programme, aimed at promoting economic and community development within rural areas. It replaces the Leader+ programme that ran from 2000 to 2006, and encourages new and experimental approaches to rural development. LEADER is a bottom-up method of delivering support for rural development through implementing a local rural development strategy. Support is aimed primarily at small-scale, community driven projects that are pilot and innovative in nature.

You can find out more about LEADER, including details of your Local Action Group on the Scottish Government SRDP website.

You can search our Projects Database for information on LEADER projects, and don't forget to take a look at our Case Studies section where you can find case studies of projects happening across the country.

LEADER websites for your area

• Argyll and the Islands
• Ayrshire
• Cairngorms
• Dumfries & Galloway
• East Renfrewshire
• Fife
• Forth Valley and Lomond
• Highland
• Kelvin Valley
• Moray
• Orkney
• Outer Hebrides
• Renfrewshire
• Rural Aberdeenshire
• Rural Tayside
• Scottish Borders
• Shetland
• South Lanarkshire
• Tyne-Esk
• West Lothian