Membership and Structure of the Forum

All institutions and organisations involved in the management of area-based partnerships may become members of the Forum.

Forum partnerships seek to:

• improve policy co-ordination and adaptation to local conditions,
• lead to better utilisation and targeting of programmes,
• integrate civil society’s concerns into strategic planning exercises through more widespread participatory democracy,
• stimulate corporate involvement in local projects, and 
• promote greater satisfaction with public policy.

Forum partnerships are primarily focusing on employment and social issues and economic development.

Members of area-based partnership depend on the main policy goals pursued and of the national and local institutional context.  Members include: public authorities at national, regional and local levels, public services (e.g. employment, social, training, health, education), business support and regional development agencies, civil society organisations, research institutes.

For more information on memberships, please contact Ms. Andrea Hofer for South-East European countries and Ms. Anette Scoppetta for OECD countries, Central and East European countries.

Forum Board

A Forum Board comprises selected delegates and national partnership co-ordinators interested in providing further advice on the implementation of tasks.  For example, Belgium (Co-ordinating Office of the Sub-regional Employment Committees, Ministry of the Flemish Community) and Ireland (Pobal - former Area Development Management), which have developed significant expertise on partnership networking, are members of this Board.  The Chairman of the Board, Mr. Robert Strauss, will report to the LEED Directing Committee once a year on the progress work by the Forum in carrying out the tasks.