Forum LEADER Giovani 2025

The 2025 Forum LEADER Giovani, “Weaving data and territory”, was organised by Rete Nazionale PAC – Rete LEADER, GAL Elimos and Liminal between 6 and 30 October 2025 as applied training that is also a service to its host territories. After an introductory week online, the in-person course in Marsala opened on 25 October. Module A, led by Liminal, turned the Challenge method into a training device: the theory of the territory as a complex system on the 26th, a day of fieldwork on the 27th in Buseto Palizzolo, Misiliscemi, Valderice and Vita — interviews with local stakeholders and the mapping of points of interest, uploaded directly to Google Maps — and a cross-analysis into stakeholder files, SWOTs and first strategic hypotheses on the morning of the 28th. Module B, led by GAL Elimos with Prof. Maurilio Caracci, translated the analyses into place-based communication: personas, keywords, editorial plans and pilot content.

The four groups presented their strategies on 30 October at the Forum LEADER 2025 in Altavilla Milicia, before about seventy representatives of Italian Local Action Groups; the group for Vita, which mapped the comune’s votive shrines into an itinerary, was awarded the prize for best project, and bilateral meetings with the four administrations followed. The work left 281 mapped points of interest, 41 interviews, four SWOT analyses, four canvases and editorial plans and 28 pieces of pilot content. An ex-post evaluation on an adapted Kirkpatrick model (27 of 38 respondents) recorded overall satisfaction of 4.3 and a recommendation rate of 4.6 out of 5, with territorial analysis named the most useful and applicable skill. Membership is not a transactional reward for attendance.