The 13th OECD Rural Development Conference was held in Cavan, Ireland on 28-30 September 2022 under the theme "Building Sustainable, Resilient and Thriving Rural Places". These are the presentations from the Conference parallel session "Rethinking Rural Development: Effective Solutions for Bottom-Up Rural Economic and Community Development". For more information visit https://www.oecd.org/rural/rural-development-conference/.

1. Developing smart villages under
Community Led Local Development
(CLLD)
Taavi Kurvits
Advisor
Rural development and analysis department
Republic of Estonia Ministry of Rural Affairs
29.09.2022, Cavan

2. Estonia
Location: between Finland & Latvia
Capital: Tallinn
Size: 45 339 km²
Forest land: 2 325 thousand ha (51%)
Agricultural land: 986 thousand ha (22%)
Population: 1 331 796 (only 3 OECD members have less)
30% in rural areas;
30 inhabitants per square kilometre;
9 inhabitants per square kilometre in rural areas;
GDP per capita (PPS): 23 641€ (2021)

3. Main challenges for rural areas
• Population is concentrated in the urban areas. The migration to
the main hubs continues;
• Low population density (30 inhabitants per km², in rural areas 9
inhabitants per km²);
• Need for additional labor to perform extensive daily and seasonal
work;
• Poor availability of connectivity and basic services;
• Lack of attractive jobs and shortage of skills;
• Regional inequality.

4. Agriculture and Fisheries strategy 2030
• The Estonian Agriculture and Fisheries Strategy 2030 (AFS 2030) aims to contribute to
increasing the competitiveness of agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture and food industry
sectors (e.g. cross-sectoral cooperation in bio-economy), good plant and animal health,
improved soil conditions, food safety, sustainable rural and coastal development,
and the maintenance of a clean environment and biodiversity.
• Vision in 2030: Estonian food is appreciated and it is good to live in rural areas!
• Direction 6: Development of rural and coastal areas.
• Aim of the direction is that „rural population is active and vibale.“
• A good rural life means that it is possible to have a well-paid job in the rural areas, there
is an attractive living and business environment and active and cohesive local
communities.
• It must be based on the needs and perspectives of the region.

5. LEADER in Estonia
• LEADER’ which originally came from the French acronym for "Liaison Entre
Actions de Développement de l'Économie Rurale", meaning 'Links between
the rural economy and development actions;
• Preparations started in the framework of Estonian National Development
Plan 2004–2006 (pilot);
• Wider implementation of LEADER approach began in 2006;
• Estonian Rural Development Plan 2007–2013: budget 85 mln EUR;
• Estonian Rural Development Plan 2014–2020: budget 90 mln EUR;
• In 2021 34,5 mln added to LEADER in the transitional period;
• LAG-s are composing new strategies and we expect to start
implementation in autumn 2023. For the first time LEADER is implemented
in ESF+.

7. What is Smart Village?
„With the help of smart villages, it is possible to solve regional bottlenecks and
promote and improve the provision of services in various fields (e.g. transport,
energy, healthcare, education, welfare, lifestyle) at the local level.“ - Agriculture
and Fisheries Strategy 2030
• The concept of Smart Villages refers to sustainable rural areas and
communities that engage with existing strengths and values while developing
new uses.
• For these villages, traditional and new network services will be enhanced with
digital and telecommunications technology and innovation.
• The goal is to increase the well-being of local residents and businesses!

8. Smart villages pilot
• Started from the initative of LAG-s (13 LAG-s);
• Based on two main ideas - support local development and local communites;
experiment possible solutions for future measures;
• Includes support and training activities for villages (6 training modules, 2-day
national study visit and 5-day international study visit);
• Creating a smart village strategy (each village has a designated mentor, feedback
from experts);
• Implementing innovative pilot activities (atleast one activity based on strategy,
support from program up to 5000€).

9. Smart village pilot (2)
• Implemented as a national cooperation project;
• Started in summer of 2021 and ends in 2022;
• LAG chosed a village or community from their territory to take part in
this pilot and they are responsible for tehnical side (funding,
documentation, reports etc);
• Villages can fully concentrate on developing their community, including
composing smart village strategies and implementing the pilot
activivites.

10. Smart villages

11. Luunja county villages
Area: Included 20 small villages and 1 borough;
Location: South-Estonia, near Tartu city;
Population: 5411 inhabitants
Strategic goal: Villages of Luunja municipality have a safe living environment and an
environmentally friendly lifestyle, which favors communication and active self-realization. Local
community is interested and involved in development and decision-making processes of the
municipality. For all age groups and families there are good services and access to places of
leisure and hobbies. The village is open to new smart solutions and a common information
system and communication model has been created.
Focus topics: 1) Information and communication 2) Community 3) Village infrastructure 4)
Environment
Pilot activity: Develop a virtual map application where you can find information about service
providers and manufacturers in the region.

12. Kamari village
Area: 1 village;
Location: Central-Estonia;
Population: 347 inhabitants;
Strategic goal: Kamari is enjoyable and safe living environment in the middle of Estonia,
which favors communication and self-realization;
Focus topics: 1) Environment (e.g. waste management) 2) Living environment 3)
Community services (e.g. community kitchen);
Pilot activity: Find opportunities to use closed school and kindergarden rooms for
community benefit.

13. In conlusion
• Pilot activites are in progress…
• Start of the Smart Village Network in Estonia;
• Trust local communities and support local initative;
• Simplification;
• Actual results may take time.

14. Thank you!
Taavi Kurvits
Taavi.Kurvits@agri.ee