SLOVENIAN RURAL DEVELOPMENT NETWORK SRDN DRUŠTVO ZA RAZVOJ SLOVENSKEGA PODEŽELJA - DRSP Goran Šoster, LEADER Seminar Croatia / Mrkopolje / Nov. 2011

Slovenian Rural Development Network - SRDN  Emerged as follow up of the Integral rural development programmes and regional workshops of the initiative PREPARE (Partnership for Rural Europe)  Established 16. Oct. 2002,  Start of operation in January 2003  Membership: individuals, NGOs, LAGs from all Slovenian area  New members: 27 LAGs (from total 33)  SRDN is the meeting and coordination place to support integral development and projects in the rural area

Mission of the SRDN  Connecting all actors from the different levels of the rural area  Supporting cooperation, links and exchange between institutions and individuals in the rural area  Representing the interests of the members on the national and international level  Enable the flow of information on all levels between non governmental and governnmental level  To represent the rural civil society in the process of preparation of the Rural Development policy

On going activities of SRDN  Expanding the membership beyond LAGs  Informing the members and publicity about achievements and problems in rural development  Cooperation in the international activities and initiatives and in the bodies of EU  Trainings and education programmes for the members  Implamenting of projects like: TEPA – training of European partnership animators, Grundtvig – Learning partnerships

3 leading themes of the project TEPA From local participation to intersectoral partnership Rural resource management Strategic planing

Content and duration of the TEPA  Preparation of the training programme for partnership animators  Manual for animators and partnerships  Project duration: autumn autumn 2008  Budget of the project: €  Involved: 6 countries (Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Sweden) 9 partners 15 experienced experts for rural development 50 participants of the trainings More than 10 local partnerships (exchange)

Training of animators  Two pilot trainings – each training gathered 25 participants from 5 countries  First training: locations from Slovenia and Hungary  Second training: Slovakia, Czech R. and Poland  Each training different methodological approach

Cooperation in the European initiatives  PREPARE (active member) 13 countries: Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Litvania, Poland, Czech R., Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, (Macedonia) Target countries: Albania, Belorusia, BiH, Bulgaria, Monte Negro, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine Representative in the EN RD COORDINATION COMMITTEE Representatives in LEADER SUB-COMMITTEE Representative in DG Agri-RD Advisorygroup

Cooperation in the European initiatives  ELARD (European LEADER Network)  Member of ERA – European Rural Alliance  Member of ERCA – European Rural Communities Accociation  Bilateral or multilateral initiatives related to certain projects (cooperation with Italian, Croatian, Hungarian and Austrian partners)  Transnational cooperation in projects with Latvian Rural Forum in Turkey; with ALKA in Macedonia with IDM in Albania

What makes us visible in the country  Publishing the statements about RD policy, created within: PREPARE OG Round tables  Organising events (focused on the membership needs – recently LEADER oriented)  Active participation in the proces of creation (SUGGESTIONS TO M.A.) and implementation of RD policy (MONITORING COMMITTEE) and  Connecting local initiatives + LAGs

Achievements of SRDN until today PREPARE GATHERING 2009 Organised in co-operation with HMRR 80 participants from 18 countries  10 EU member states  8 non member states with expressed interest on joining EU

Achievements of SRDN until today - LEADER  Status of umbrella organisation – network of LOCAL ACTION GROUPS  LEADER programme is temporary focus of the SRDN  33 LAGs active in LEADER programme  27 of them are members of SRDN  Recognised representative of LAGs and rural civil society according to the voluntary input and delivered results

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