Questions & Answers
Here you will find common questions and answers – both for you who are seeking leader support and for you who are running a leader project.
Seeking support
Who can apply for leader support?
Associations, companies, authorities, and organizations that promote development in a leader area can apply for support. Legal entities can own and apply for support for a project, while individuals cannot apply for support from us.
Which area should I apply in?
Leader Lappland 2030 only finances projects that residents and businesses in our area carry out. Our Leader area includes six municipalities in Västerbotten (Dorotea, Lycksele, Storuman, Sorsele, Vilhelmina, and Åsele) as well as two municipalities in Norrbotten (Arjeplog and Arvidsjaur).
If you are in another municipality, there are other Leader areas that can grant support. You can find information about which Leader areas exist in Sweden at www.leadersweden.se
Does your project idea match our development strategy?
The leader funds follow our local development strategy, which has three overarching goals:
- To retain current residents and create opportunities for increased immigration, clear objectives for physical and mental well-being are required. Additionally, by utilizing the potential that local solutions, digital technology, culture, and nature offer, we can create a foundation for a sustainable living environment. The place has the ability to attract people from all over the world, both for enjoying living and visiting.
- To meet the area's challenges, active cooperation, sharing of knowledge, and mutual interaction are required. We must also collectively strengthen places that promote inclusive and gender-equal entrepreneurship to benefit diversity. Furthermore, increased stimulation for entrepreneurship in the area plays an important role in achieving greater self-sufficiency and a more balanced economy. Small-scale initiatives, circular models, and local production become significant within the existing ecosystem where businesses operate.
- Many engaged people in the area participate voluntarily and actively contribute to positive development. At the same time, we need to support and encourage these individuals. By increasing engagement among citizens, an opportunity is created, especially for those who do not actively participate in community life today, such as youth and foreign-born individuals. A strengthening of the voluntary sector could thus be realized. Moreover, this would give more people the chance to influence their leisure time and actively participate in community development.
The strategy includes four different intervention areas, and your project must clearly be linked to one of these areas to be eligible for funding. The LAG board has the opportunity to assess only one project within one of the intervention areas. We recommend that you review the strategy carefully before starting your application.
Consider the finances already now
Costs in your budget
Only the costs that you have specified in your requested and approved budget can be approved in a future application for payment. Therefore, it is important to carefully consider the cost items that you include in your application.
Liquidity – ability to wait for funds
Keep in mind that all granted funds are paid out in arrears. Therefore, it is important to plan in advance how you will have resources to cover the project's costs while waiting for payment. You must also demonstrate that you have good own liquidity before the Agricultural Agency's decision. The last 20% of the amount you have applied for is paid out when the project has been completed and reported.
Advance
It is possible to apply for an advance, but this is only available for non-profit and economic associations. If you apply for an advance for an economic association, the activity performed must be of a public benefit nature, and this must be substantiated in the association's statutes.
The project owner can receive a maximum of 250,000 SEK in advance. Contact the development office for more information.
How much support can you apply for?
We collaborate with the applying organization to develop a reasonable and realistic budget based on local needs. We start the discussion by focusing on what needs exist and what benefits the planned project can offer, rather than discussing finances directly. Through this, we ensure that the project aims to address the actual needs and create real benefits for the local community.
How long is the application period?
It normally takes 3-6 months from the board's decision until the Swedish Board of Agriculture makes a decision. You can start deducting costs from the date you submitted the application via the Swedish Board of Agriculture's e-service, but you do this at your own risk, before the formal decision from the Swedish Board of Agriculture has been made. Therefore, it is important to avoid large investments in a project before the decision has been made.
Running projects
What administrative things must I be prepared for when running a project?
When the Swedish Board of Agriculture formally decides on your project, you will receive a start notice by mail, which contains detailed conditions and regulations for the project. The most important conditions include:
- You must account for the project's expenses and revenues separately from your regular accounting, by having a separate project book or accounting, or by using a cost center in your accounting.
- You must follow certain requirements when communicating about the project, such as the correct use of the EU logo for support.
- You must comply with the Public Procurement Act when purchasing in the project.
- You must retain all investments that you purchase through the project for at least 5 years after the final payment.
Since payment is made in arrears, it is important that you have good liquidity and at least 20% of the requested project support.
It is also important to have good financial management from the start of the project. Collect all invoices and payment proofs continuously and plan when you will apply for payments.
Apply for advance payment
When the Swedish Board of Agriculture has formally made a decision on support, you as the applicant can apply for advance payment. All applicants, except municipalities and authorities, can apply for advance payment.
You can receive up to 50 percent of the total support as an advance, but a maximum of 250,000 kronor. Part of this amount comes from the EU and another part comes from Sweden. Note that the maximum advance amount is limited to the part that comes from Sweden. The exact amount is specified in your support decision.
Keep in mind that you must account for the expenses for the advance as it counts as part of the granted support. You report this together with the application for partial and final payment.
To apply for advance payment, use the Swedish Board of Agriculture's e-services.
When will I receive the money?
Now you must plan to have enough money available for a period before you can request payment since all funds granted are paid out in arrears.
When you have expenses, you can apply for payment via the Swedish Board of Agriculture, but to avoid delays, we recommend that you create a routine for reclaiming funds at least every quarter. Keep in mind that it takes 3-5 months to process each application. You should also remember that the last 20% of the requested amount will not be paid out until the project is finally accounted for.
Here you can read more about accounting.
What do I do if my project is delayed?
If you do not manage to complete your project before the project's end date, you should contact the development office and apply for a change to your support decision. Even if the project changes direction, budget, financing plan, or if anything else significant changes compared to what was intended, you should contact the office.
Please note that if you report expenses or carry out activities that are not included in your support decision, this may lead to deductions. Therefore, you must have these changes approved before the expenses can be eligible for support.
If the leader office or the Swedish Board of Agriculture approves your application for a change, the change will take effect from the day the application for change was submitted to the leader office.
What is meant by voluntary time?
Leader is a method based on cooperation, local initiatives, and local conditions. Therefore, voluntary engagement is important in a leader project. As a project owner, you must demonstrate how you have achieved AT LEAST 20% of the requested amount in voluntary resources. Each hour is valued at 340 SEK for everyone over 16 years old.
Example: You have received a project approved for 100,000 SEK (20% of 100,000 SEK = 20,000 SEK) 59 x 340 = 20,060. In this project, you need to work 59 hours voluntarily to achieve 20%.
Think of it as the time that is spent voluntarily on the project, is your co-financing and your counter-performance for the 100%iga support.
In the final report, you should account for the total time spent and describe what the time has consisted of. To easily keep track of this during the project's progress, you need to somehow note and compile your voluntary time. This can be done in our developed template, but it is also fine to use your own documents.
You can also include other voluntary resources in the project. By other voluntary resources, it means, for example, materials that you receive as donations, or a rental space that the property owner offers you to use for free during the project period.