Interregional workshop in Bulgaria under the Coop4RURALGov project

In the period of 28th – 29th of January 2025, an interregional workshop on “Rural Proofing toolbox. A better governance methodology taking existing experiences and the conclusions of the Olite, Spain workshop as a starting point” within the frame of the Coop4RURALGov project “Rural Proofing. Cooperation for better sparsely populated rural, coastal and mountain focused governance” took place in Pazardzhik, Bulgaria. The event was built upon findings from the Olite workshop held in September 2024 and took steps toward developing a Rural Proofing Toolbox – a set of methodologies and tools to better integrate rural considerations into governance.

On the first working day, the event started with a welcoming speech by representatives from both Bulgarian partners – the Municipality of Bratsigovo and the Association Centre for Sustainability and Economic Growth. Experts from Bratsigovo Municipality presented a good practice: Local Action Groups (LAG), which is a joint collaboration between both Bulgarian rural municipalities – Bratsigovo and Peshtera. The aim of this LAG is to identify and implement a strategy for local development and sustainability in both rural regions.

A second presentation followed to recap the workshop, which took place in Olite, Spain back in 2024 about finding “Key learnings and outcomes. Building a common starting point.”

The partners of the project were divided into 4 working groups to analyse 2 case studies (coming from England and New Zealand) on “Rural Proofing Methodology and Toolbox”. Then the participants made a summary of the two case studies and chose the strengths, opportunities and key learnings. The final objective of the workshop was to present methods and tools of efficient rural proofing mechanisms that came as an outcome of the 4 working groups.

The second working day started with a review of the main key findings and solutions from the first day. Then the consortium discussed how to move forward in the next two workshops (Estonia and Ireland) from what they have learned in Spain and Bulgaria.

The event concluded with a Steering Committee meeting of project partners. The progress of activities was discussed, and the upcoming tasks and events were planned.