Claim

Local stakeholders laboratories - LSL

Access to LSL Area

CLAIM devotes specific attention to the integration of research actors and stakeholders, as a central component of the Project strategy and as an integral part of the development of the framework to support policy design. The Project interacts between local, national and EU stakeholders and policy makers throughout the Project life cycle.

In each case study area a network of local stakeholders is set up: Local Stakeholder Laboratory – LSL.

The LSL is composed of local stakeholders who support the organisation and development of case studies and guarantee a reciprocal feedback between policy-making and Project development.

The LSL is designed at the case study level. The members of the LSL represent:

• Regional or national administrations
• Rural development agencies
• Farm organisations
• Chambers of commerce
• Local NGOs
• Consumers and citizens associations
• Women’s organisations
• Youth organisations

The local network meets at least 2 times during the Project, to perform the activities planned in Task 4.2 of the Project.

Through this strategic and integrated laboratories:

• the distance from research results and efficient policy suggestion is shortened;
• researchers are constantly driven and supported by stakeholders;
• the language obstacles of people with different backgrounds are removed;
• the resources are prioritized around major challenges highlighted by the stakeholders;
• the evidence based policy support framework is standardized and rationalized around agreed and useful common points;
• partnership between researchers and other public institutions is promoted;
• more efficient dissemination and exploitation channels are built up both for the Project scientific results and for its policy recommendations.

The LSL aims to:

• supply advice on case study development, including policy issues;
• give support for information collection;
• provide expertise for activity d of the case studies, involving assessment of causal mechanisms in landscape effects based on participatory techniques.

These groups of local stakeholders in case study areas supports the Project activities at the case study level by way of a participatory process. The CLAIM Consortium uses this structure since it is able to enhance and collect the suggestions of different and intersectoral policy makers and to allow a more direct involvement in the participatory research activities envisaged in the Project.