Third stakeholder meeting in Bulgaria within the Coop4RURALGov project
On the 1st of August, 2024 the Third Stakeholders’ group meeting within the frame of the Coop4RURALGov project „Rural Proofing. Cooperation for better sparsely populated rural, coastal and mountain focused governance“ took place in Bratsigovo, Bulgaria. The event was organized by the Association “Center for Sustainability and Economic Growth” (CSEG) and the Municipality of Bratsigovo, partners in the Coop4RURALGov project, co-funded by the Interreg Europe Programme 2021-2027 within Contract № 01C0297.
Experts from the Association CSEG presented the project main objectives and the upcoming activities on interregional study visits, exchanges of experience and best practices which are identified. Good practices for sustainable rural development coming from the regions of Navarra – Spain, Galway – Ireland, and Tartu – Estonia were presented.
The participants also discussed topics like the challenges related to improving the capacity of local governments to jointly develop sustainable policies and making regional impact assessment a routine part of the decision-making process of officials as well as for policies, programmes and initiatives approved by legislatures in sparsely populated rural, coastal and mountainous areas were discussed, along with the development and marketing of local resources and the participation of local people in these processes.
16 experts attended this event. These were various stakeholders such as representatives of public administrations (Bratsigovo, Peshtera, and Pazardzhik), educational authorities (school “Narodni Buditeli”, and kindergarten “Zdravets”), social workers, representatives of NGOs (Association “4th of April”), energy agencies (REAP) and SMEs association (NEST) attended.
