10.11.2016

The sixth meeting of the National Rural Networks was held in Senec, Slovakia, on 8-9 November, hosted by the Slovak Rural Network . This meeting is part of the regular meetings for the coordination of activities and training of national rural networks convened by the European Network for Rural Development (ENRD). Representatives of national rural networks from fifteen EU Member States attended.

The meeting focused on the governance of national rural networks: their structure and role. To understand the governance of each of the national rural networks, the ENRD Contact Point requested information from each, which has been standardized into a profile template. These profiles are available for consultation on the ENRD website . Two national rural networks—Finland and the host country, Slovakia—presented their governance model and activities during this meeting.

Other topics discussed at the meeting included progress on thematic work, as well as tools and methods that add value to the networks' work and enable them to engage a wider audience. Cooperation with the National Rural Development Network (ENRD) and the support and resources that national rural networks can access from it were also discussed at the meeting.

The recent Cork 2.0 Rural Development Conference and the ten agreed-upon principles for rural development policy were presented to the attendees. Representatives from each of the national rural networks present had the opportunity to share with the participants the activities carried out in their countries, as well as those planned for the near future, related to the principles outlined in the Cork 2.0 Declaration.

More information (in English) about this meeting can be found at the following link  

The next meeting of the National Rural Networks will be held in Portugal in March 2017.