Localities across the OECD area are confronted with the challenge of reducing high and persistent unemployment and defining new sources of economic growth, all in the context of shrinking public resources. Local and national governments are in search of policies and instruments that work to rebuild economies and jobs from the bottom up. What mechanisms can be put in place locally to accelerate change, especially in tackling complex cross-cutting issues? And how can national policies be adapted to achieve maximum local impact and ensure that policy implementation mechanisms are operating efficiently at a local level?

The 9th Annual Meeting will offer an opportunity to reflect on innovative ways to support local job creation, business growth and effective policy delivery.

The following themes will be addressed:

Plenary sessions, thematic workshops and the Local Initiatives Forum will provide opportunities to learn from international experience, present projects and network with peers from other counties.

Participants will have the opportunity to learn directly from a range of project visits and discuss their work with staff and service users. Visits will cover sets of services in County Kilkenny.

Working language: English.

  Draft agenda

  Workshops outline

  Local Initiatives Forum: to present your project, please return this project sheet to Elisa Campestrin by 22nd February 2013

The 9th Annual Meeting of the OECD LEED Forum on Partnerships and Local Governance will bring together some 200 representatives of local partnerships, government officials, local leaders, youth organisations, social entrepreneurs, business representatives, trade unions and academics to review how local development actors are adapting to this new reality and the innovations emerging on the ground to respond to these new challenges.

  To register, please fill in this online form by 28th February 2013.

For further information about the event, please contact Ekaterina Travkina and Elisa Campestrin at the OECD Secretariat.