The ‘Helemaal van Hier’ (“Buy Local”) project is a campaign to generate awareness among consumers and companies about shopping locally. Buying locally means that shops in villages survive and continue to offer basic facilities and more. However, that’s not all; local businesses also offer occasions for people to meet up, they support the activities of local associations and give villages extra resilience to weather the storms. And when local shops also adopt the reflex of buying locally, farmers and other suppliers of regional products gain direct access to a larger and more interesting market. Networks of producers and shop managers are currently being set up in six municipalities, campaign material and skills are being developed and enhanced together with the shopkeepers, who are also being offered coaching. Similar initiatives are being undertaken regionally within the Hageland LEADER area.
The project will run from 18/11/2020 to 30/06/2022
Partners: Head initiator:
LEADER Kempen Oost (vzw Rurant) Co-initiator :
Vzw LEADER Hageland
Vzw De Ruisbroekmolen (coördinator region Hageland)
Village Retie
Village Balen
Village Oud-Turnhout
Village Bierbeek
Town Zoutleeuw
Village Lubbeek
The global budget for this project is €150,306.25
€80.000 of this is allocated to the Hageland LEADER region and €70.306,25 to the Kempen-Oost LEADER region.
Goals: Strategic goals:
To strengthen the local economy
To reinforce social cohesion
To reduce the number of food miles
Operational goals:
To support local economic policy
To boost/reactivate existing initiatives
To promote the exchange of knowledge between local shopkeepers
To increase local purchases by local residents
Actions: Action1: Municipal ‘Buy Local’ Round Table
As a start-up, we need strong networks where producers and shopkeepers can meet and become aware of each other’s existence.
Setting up a new local network or improving the dynamism of an existing local network of local tradespeople (retailers, short-chain farmers, etc.).
A ‘Buy Local’ Round Table
Will ensure local support for the project
Will encourage arrangements and collaboration between local tradespeople
Will offer an opportunity for dialogue and exchange of information
Etc.
Specific actions:
Inventory of local tradespeople (short chain farmers, retailers, producers, etc.)
Inventory of local concertation networks
2 ‘Buy Local’ Round Table meetings per year and per municipality
Action 2: Awareness campaign
The aim is to create campaign material and develop skills together with the shopkeepers so that they can also contribute in the future to achieving the objectives of 'Helemaal van Hier'. Creating campaign material and coaching shopkeepers is the second main objective of the project.
This awareness building campaign is aimed at two target groups:
Consumers: local residents to encourage them to shop more locally
B2B: local tradespeople to encourage greater local cooperation between them “I work locally”.
We will work with an external communications agency on the concept and execution of the campaign.
Important basic elements that must be provided for the execution of the assignments include:
Making optimal use of existing initiatives (events, etc.) and information channels;
Use existing Toolbox locally as a strong source of inspiration that can be partially translated into Flemish amenities;
Ensure that the look and feel are coherent with the local identity of the region (Hageland, Kempen region) ;
Local tradespeople as a sort of quality label : Knows you, Guarantees service, Helps you
Action3: LAB’s
In our attempt to forge a stronger bond between local tradespeople and consumers, we will test different concepts, ranging from upgrading existing local markets (market with and from local suppliers) and promoting local gift vouchers to potential innovations such as creating a local currency.
It is the role of the ‘Buy Local’ Round Tables to gather ideas about this and make choices. This bottom-up way of working should ensure sufficient support and participation by local tradespeople.
Each municipality will choose its own activity, its own LAB (if municipalities choose similar actions, they can of course set up collaborative ventures with the other municipalities). This means that different concepts can be tested locally within the project; they are then evaluated (what works and what doesn’t, lessons learned, etc.) and compared with each other, which should lead to an interesting exchange of knowledge.
Action 4: Anchoring and sharing knowledge
Based on the knowledge gathered during actions 1 – 3 a Toolkit will be put together comprising:
Templates and manuals
Useful campaign material (window posters, etc.)
Inspiring, detailed examples of actions and initiatives
Etc.
This will all be compiled in a (digital) Toolkit so that it can be shared with other local authorities that want to start up similar initiatives.
Knowledge sharing initiatives can be set up with other local authorities about the results of the project. With a focus on success stories and failures and with a presentation of the Toolkit that they themselves can use.
To this end, we will aim to dovetail into a series of existing initiatives among this target group (local authorities) around the same theme (quality of life, local economy).
Action 5: Project coordination
Given that this is a collaborative venture that involves intense collaboration in two fields with six different municipalities and with a wide range of other players, there is a need for project coordinators and agreements.
The project coordinators will undertake the following specific actions:
Opportunities to reach bilateral arrangements with the participating municipalities
Regular coordination between the two project coordinators (project group); follow-up, adjustments, mutual communications, etc.
Agreement on arrangements between all partners (steering committee) (min. 2x/day)
Reporting, drawing up statements, progress reports
