The Local Development Strategy for the Majjistral Action Group Foundation Territory September 2016 Rural Development Programme for Malta 2014-2020 Part financed by the European Union Co-financing Rate: 75% European Union; 25% Government of Malta The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas RDP 2014-2020: Leader Programme September 2016 Table of contents Table of contents .................................................................................................................................................... 1 List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................................... 4 List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................................... 5 A snapshot of the Majjistral territory ..................................................................................................................... 1 List of abbreviations................................................................................................................................................ 1 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 2 2. Area and population covered by the Strategy ............................................................................................ 3 3. Needs of the Territory ................................................................................................................................. 7 3.1 Social, Economic and Environmental Analysis ..................................................................................... 7 3.1.1 Demographic Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 7 3.1.2 Social Profile ................................................................................................................................. 10 3.1.3 Economic Profile ........................................................................................................................... 20 3.1.4 Environmental Profile ................................................................................................................... 28 3.2 SWOT Analysis ................................................................................................................................... 34 4. Description and objectives of the Strategy ............................................................................................... 43 4.1 Setting the scene ............................................................................................................................... 43 4.1.1 Malta’s partnership agreement and the rural development programme ..................................... 43 4.1.2 The previous local development strategy ..................................................................................... 44 4.2 Setting the strategy ............................................................................................................................ 45 4.2.1 Intervention logic .......................................................................................................................... 45 4.2.2 Setting the vision .......................................................................................................................... 46 4.2.3 Defining the needs ........................................................................................................................ 47 4.3 Consistency, complementarity and synergy ...................................................................................... 49 4.3.1 Correspondence to the themes of the rural development programme ....................................... 49 4.3.2 Complementarity with other funds and the EAFRD ..................................................................... 50 4.3.3 Consistency and coherence .......................................................................................................... 52 4.4 Horizontal objectives ......................................................................................................................... 53 4.4.1 Equal opportunities ...................................................................................................................... 53 4.4.2 Environmental sustainability ......................................................................................................... 53 4.4.3 Innovation ..................................................................................................................................... 54 4.4.4 Co-operation ................................................................................................................................. 54 5. Definition and development of the Action Plan ....................................................................................... 54 5.1 Restoration of assets and sites of artistic and cultural value ............................................................. 56 5.2 Strengthening a healthy cultural identity .......................................................................................... 63 5.3 Promotion of the Cultural Heritage ................................................................................................... 72 5.4 Development of green infrastructure ................................................................................................ 79 5.6 Training and education ...................................................................................................................... 87 5.7 Innovation, co-operation and development of the knowledge base ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 5.8 Inter-territorial and trans-national co-operation ............................................................................... 94 5.9 Running costs and animation ............................................................................................................ 97 6. Transposing needs and Objectives into Projects ..................................................................................... 101 6.1 Priority objective 1: Development of the cultural landscape and social heritage of the territory .. 102 6.2 Priority objective 2: Development of the environmental landscape of the rural areas .................. 103 6.3 Priority objective 3: Transfer of skills and development of the knowledge base Error! Bookmark not defined. 7. Financial Plan .......................................................................................................................................... 104 7.1 Overall Financial Plan ....................................................................................................................... 104 7.2 Methodology ................................................................................................................................... 104 7.3 Allocation by action by year ............................................................................................................ 105 8. Communication and publicity plan ......................................................................................................... 109 9. Implementation Plan .............................................................................................................................. 112 9.1 Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 112 9.2 Indicative time plan ......................................................................................................................... 113 9.3 Implementation flow ....................................................................................................................... 115 2 Majjistral Local Development Strategy RDP 2014-2020: Leader Programme September 2016 10. Monitoring and evaluation ..................................................................................................................... 120 10.1 Objectives ........................................................................................................................................ 120 10.2 Indicators ......................................................................................................................................... 121 10.2.1 Common Indicators for LEADER .................................................................................................. 121 10.2.2 Indicators in line with the local RDP ........................................................................................... 122 10.2.3 Specific indicators for the Territory ............................................................................................. 124 10.3 Data sources and collection ............................................................................................................. 126 10.4 Collation, evaluation and reporting of data ..................................................................................... 127 10.5 Responsibilities and Roles................................................................................................................ 128 10.6 Time frames ....................................................................................................................................