A best practice is an example of an innovative methodology, technique, service or organisation that, through experience and research, has proven to be successful and to be capable of overcoming the status quo. It also strengthens the effectiveness, impact and sustainability of a development process. Best practices generally fit into a precise "framework" in relation to their goals and objectives. According to the activities that have been carried out until now, best practices have been categorised on the basis of innovative actions within the fields of:

Local sustainability (ex: initiatives related to Local Agenda 21);

Improving services for Public Administration citizens, which are often tied to the computerisation of services;

Research on appropriate training approaches and methodologies

Strengthening of entrepreneurial competition.

Best practices are carefully analysed and recognised mainly to transfer tested and successful methodologies to other sectors and stakeholders involved.

The Network's activities on Best Practices

As part of their mandate, the Leader Network animation units have to identify and further develop transferable best practices. A detailed effort to "recognize, analyse, and disseminate best practices" is part of the first action of the National Programme, namely to "Set up a Network" (action 3.I.1).

The specific objective of action 3.I.1 is to " exploit and disseminate experience and best practices " in order to bring about a tangible strengthening of project management skills and an improvement of the quality of activities implemented through local development plans.

This action's operational objectives are:

to improve the information available on best practices related to rural development issues;

to improve the tools available for the identification and analysis of best practices;

to facilitate the dissemination of best practices and the access to these new approaches and experiences within rural areas.

The following activities are carried out in order to achieve the above objectives:

the collection of all necessary information for the definition of best practices;

the organisation, classification and tagging of national best practices;

use all information collected and classified in order to improve project proposal and management skills of all those involved in the implementation of the Leader+ Programme;

dissemination of national best practices amongst stakeholders involved in other rural development interventions.