Social Innovation in Rural Development Policy: Strengthening Participation, Representation and Accountability

Gary Bosworth, Ruth McAreavey, Matt Kennedy · 2025 · European Countryside

Summary. European rural development policies increasingly use community-led approaches like LEADER to build on local strengths, but these programs face criticism for being overly technical and constrained by national priorities. This paper examines two methods for improving participation and accountability in place-based rural innovation: Northern Ireland's Community-led Local Development program and the Social Value Engine tool. Both approaches aim to strengthen community inclusion, accountability, and representation in rural development processes.

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@article{bosworth-2025-social-innovation-rural-development-policy,
  title   = {Social Innovation in Rural Development Policy: Strengthening Participation, Representation and Accountability},
  author  = {Gary Bosworth and Ruth McAreavey and Matt Kennedy},
  journal = {European Countryside},
  year    = {2025},
  doi     = {10.2478/euco-2025-0021},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.2478/euco-2025-0021}
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Social Innovation in Rural Development Policy: Strengthening Participation, Representation and Accountability
AU  - Gary Bosworth
AU  - Ruth McAreavey
AU  - Matt Kennedy
JO  - European Countryside
PY  - 2025
DO  - 10.2478/euco-2025-0021
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2478/euco-2025-0021
ER  - 

Details

DOI

10.2478/euco-2025-0021

Countries

United Kingdom

Regions

Europe

Categories

policy, regional-innovation-systems, innovation-networks

Added

2026-04-28