The results of the European Network for Rural Development, chances and doubts

Fehér, István – Kujáni, Katalin Olga

Keywords: European Network for Rural Development, Rural Development Program, mid-term evaluation, Hungarian National Rural Network

2010 was the year of the Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) of the Rural Development Programmes for 2007-2013 in the European Union. Halfway through the programming cycle, the MTE was a significant moment of reflection on the effectiveness and efficiency of how programme resources had been utilised and the results and impacts achieved. The results of the European Network for Rural Development (ENRD) are also examined in this period.
The ENRD is two years old. Its purpose is to act as a catalyst for the Rural Development Programs of the 27 Member States. The Contact Point of the ENRD, which is responsible for communication between the networks of the Member States and organises the European level programs such as the LEADER partnership research, is also involved. On the national level, the National Rural Networks (NRNs) support the exchange of good practice in Europe and within the respective country, help identify international rural projects and act as a link between governments and local stakeholders.
In our publication first of all we tried to review the best practices and the most useful solutions in the Member States. Second, we carried out a survey of the results of the Hungarian National Rural Network (HNRN). In Hungary the NRN started to build good relationships with the local stakeholders, villagers, researchers and members of the government. We therefore interviewed these people and asked their opinion on the actions of the HNRN in the last two years. We looked into how the HNRN could reach these stakeholders and associations, what their opinions were, and finally how the Hungarian network could achieve its goals.

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