Approximately 600 asylum seekers and recognised asylum seekers currently live in the Wachau-Dunkelsteinerwald region. Building on the work done in the asylum and integration coordination project, targeted measures and offers should be put in place to improve the integration of people who fled to us in recent years. A central role will be accorded to the people already well advanced in the integration process.

In the municipality of Dunkelsteinerwald, there are three “centres” – Gansbach, Gerolding and Mauer – which constantly gives rise to conflicts. With this challenge in mind, the municipality would like to elaborate a long-term development strategy together with the citizens of all these settlements. A professionally competent company should be commissioned to support the process and create the necessary strategy.

Over the coming three years, the Danube Lower Austrian Visitors` Ring will be organising a comprehensive package of qualification measures with training courses, workshops and excursions in a LEADER cooperation project for establishments in the Wachau and Nibelungengau. The landlords should be provided with business training and prepared for future challenges. The changing needs of guests as a result of demographic changes should be identified and the offer adjusted to Holiday on the Farm establishments, vineyards and private room landlords.

With the support of its members, the Hafnerbach Energy Group defined green energy generation sites in the municipality, combined them into an energy hiking trail and also designed and implemented information portals. The trail was opened as part of a hiking day.

In recent years, a number of initiatives have established themselves in the region in late autumn and winter which have had a very positive impact on the development of tourism and thus on extending the season. Apart from the long-distance hiking trail “World Heritage Trail Wachau”, which can be easily hiked even in the colder months thanks to the mild climate, numerous cultural initiatives, such as “ELIT” (European literature days), “Wachau in Echtzeit” (Wachau in Real Time - curated by Ursula Strauss) as well as many Advent markets and culinary events have become established. The implementation of the mobility concept (bus connections) means that all municipalities in the region can now also be easily reached without a car.

The municipalities of Mautern, Bergern, Furth, Rossatz-Arnsdorf and Schönbühel-Aggsbach will be intensifying their collaboration over the coming years and focusing on the common positioning of the south bank. Under the direction of Martin Vogg, who was previously responsible for the project Wachau 2010 plus, existing offers should be combined with new ones and wrapped up into bookable packages, starting with the two locations of Maria Langegg and the Aggsbach Charterhouse.

The LAG Management team currently comprises 3 employees (80 hours a week) and takes care of the initiation, support and implementation of projects aimed at achieving the objectives defined in the local development strategy.

Almost all municipalities in the LEADER region have taken in people who have fled from war and persecution in recent months. At the same time, committed citizens everywhere are taking care of these people on a voluntary basis – both during the asylum procedure and after they become recognised refugees. This work is challenging and takes up a lot of time. Providing these committed citizens with intensive support can give them the knowledge they need to increase the efficiency of their work through networking or to assist them in times of crisis.

One topic that has preoccupied the region for many years is the lack of a crossing over the Danube between Melk and Spitz near the towns of Aggsbach-Markt and Aggsbach-Dorf. After several unsuccessful attempts to set up a conventional bicycle ferry between them, the two towns are now pursuing an unconventional approach: in the future, they could be connected by a cableway across the Danube.

...is an online platform for practical scientific papers on regional development in Lower Austria. Students and topic providers meet at a “topic market place”. This is made possible by the six LEADER regions of Donau NÖ-Mitte, Kamptal, Niederösterreich Süd, Römerland Carnuntum, Wachau-Dunkelsteinerwald and Weinviertel-Manhartsberg, for which the active search for diploma students is a major concern. The platform at www.diplomarbeitsboerse.at put the topics and issues of the regions/municipalities in contact with students and vice versa as a way of bringing fresh ideas and science perspectives to the regions.