Digital governance and information technologies in local action groups (LAGs)

Abstract

LEADER has been an outstanding example, within the European normative institutional model, of progress towards territorial governance. The application of this policy has been organised through local action groups (LAGs). This study aims to develop the analysis of the existing relationship between rural development and territorial governance by looking at the usefulness of digitalisation processes in providing access to the information available in these LAGs. The paper will attempt to measure digital governance with the DGOVERNANCE_LAG tool to evaluate digital access to the information provided by the groups. There will be an analysis of the information openly available online offered by the 251 LAGs in Spain. This information will be scrutinised using a methodology composed of 21 indicators. The results obtained display an average of 50.33%, being very high in the relationships between the groups and their citizens but showing that internal modernisation still needs to be improved and oriented towards the handling of resources and the development of elements that encourage the decision-making process.