It is well known that the European Union pays for big projects like bridges and roads. Perhaps less well known, but equally significant, is European funding that enables small rural communities to help themselves. The HIE Network has used two European programmes to encourage threatened communities to find solutions to their own problems.
Projects tend to be small, but significant to the lives affected.
A bottom-up approach. A high profile on the spot for EU measures. For instance, the people of the remote community of Kilchoan, in Ardnamurchan, believed that a short ferry trip to the shopping centre of Tobermory was potentially better than making a round trip of over 100 miles to Fort William. Projects vary from stores for fishing gear to tourism projects that capitalise on the rich cultural heritage of fishing and fish processing. New ideas such as artificial reefs are being explored.