Rural Development and Innovation
ETC's work on Rural innovation in the Netherlands and Europe aims to create insights in the best ways to promote rural innovation through multi-stakeholder interaction, build capacities of relevant stakeholders and support town, provincial councils and national ministries in implementing effective rural innovation policies.
Background
Rural development in the Netherlands and all over Europe, including Eastern Europe, is still high up on the agenda. All regions and countries are seeking for a balanced development that involves social, economical and environmental issues. Policies that had a clear focus on either economical and common agricultural (e.g. CAP) development or on social and environmental aspects (e.g. LEADER), are becoming more and more integrated.
New EU-member states have to meet EU policy and legal requirements. A demand for supporting regional sustainable rural development will stay at all levels (European, national, regional and local).
Sustainable rural development requires an enabling environment for the people at local and regional level. Important in that respect is their ability to take responsibility for local and regional developments. This requires a participatory democracy, which in most countries implies changes in the political and governmental context and the processes at local level concerning e.g. local initiatives, regional planning, subsidy schemes, and decision-making.
ETC and Rural Development
ETC Advisory Group is focusing on participatory approaches to rural innovation both in the Netherlands as well as in Eastern Europe. Approaches that enable the combination of various interests of different types of land users into multi-functional sustainable land use are the central focus. The unit supports sharing innovative experiences and development of adequate policy guidelines. This unit operates the Secretariat of the Netherlands Rural Innovation Network of the EU programme Leader+.
Together with partners in Africa, Asia and Latin America, ETC EcoCulture aims to increase the relevance and impact of agricultural research and extension in order to ensure sustainable livelihoods and food security for the large majority of people living in rural areas.
