EU Rural vision

Don’t miss the launch event of the new Rural Toolkit on EU Funding on 6 February. Gain insights into EU funding programmes that support the initiatives of local authorities, institutions, businesses and individuals in rural areas. Register to attend online!

Join our Good Practice Webinar on 20 March 2024 to discuss ways in which local communities can help anticipate and mitigate the impacts of climate change in rural areas, and adapt to those changes that are inevitable. Express your interest by 15 February.

How can the EU Rural Vision and Rural Pact strengthen LEADER? And what is the added value LEADER can bring to the Pact’s implementation at the local level? Explore the outcomes of our session at the LEADER Congress of December 2023.

Browse through and get inspired by projects, policies, case studies, tools and methodologies that contribute to rural revitalisation and the objectives of the Rural Pact. Have an exciting example to share? Contact us at info@rural-pact.eu.

The video recordings and highlights report of our dedicated Good Practice webinar are now online! Discover an overview of policies, tools and mobile, digital, or community-based solutions for improving access to health.

The Rural Pact Community is proposing specific, voluntary actions that contribute to achieving the ten shared goals of the EU’s Rural Vision. Everyone is welcome to contribute and no action is too small. Find out who has committed, what actions are proposed and what topics are addressed.

Discover highlights and key messages from the recent LEADER Congress, including the resulting Declaration on ‘LEADER and CLLD within European policies post 2027’. The Congress called for strengthening the role of the approach, developing new financial resources for its implementation, as well as simplifying access to funds.

A recent paper by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) proposes a methodology for the definition of functional rural areas in the EU and seeks feedback on the method and results.

A recent European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) hearing emphasised the role of enhanced access to financing and effective governance in shaping sustainable rural development. Stakeholder inputs will feed into the preparation of an upcoming EESC opinion ‘Towards a European Rural Agenda’.

Mr Ben van Essen of the European Rural Community Alliance (ERCA) and member of the Rural Pact Coordination Group calls on all Dutch members of the Rural Pact community to connect and identify ways of supporting each other.

New capacity-building opportunities for social economy SMEs in the agrifood sector: the new GRAINS project is working to provide support in the transition towards sustainable and environmentally friendly practices and production processes. Look out for upcoming opportunities!

A new database developed by the Tools4CAP project brings together a comprehensive collection of existing methods and tools used for the design, implementation and monitoring of the 2023-2027 CAP Strategic Plans in the aim of supporting their implementation.

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) is currently looking for postdoctoral researchers in any of the disciplines taught at the University, including rurality. Interested candidates should apply by 16 February 2024. For more information, please contact Ms. Soledad Morales Pérez, Coordinator of the UOC Rural Network, at: smoralespe@uoc.edu.

A recent publication by the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies outlines a five-point plan to place local communities at the heart of EU policies, calling for bottom-up rural development.

Discover the final publication of the pilot action ‘A future for lagging regions’ of the Territorial Agenda 2030. It explores cooperative regional and local development as contributing factors for the long-term improvement of services such as digitalisation, mobility, health and local supply in rural and peripheral areas.

A new policy brief by Nordregio – a leading Nordic research institute – addresses the challenges and opportunities of the green transition in Nordic rural areas, emphasising the need for more fair approaches.

A new publication by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, provides an overview of the EU’s food chain, from primary production through to consumption and environmental aspects related to the various stages of the food chain.

The calls for research and innovation projects under Horizon Europe’s ‘Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment’ cluster are closing on 22 February 2024.