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Rural Vision
News article24 February 2023Rural Pact Support Office

Welcome the Rural Pact Support Office!

The newly established Rural Pact Support Office (RPSO) aims to provide facilitation and networking services to the Rural Pact and its community. Funded by the European Commission, the RPSO will be implementing actions designed to contribute to the achievement of the Rural Pact ambitions. In particular, it will aim to  amplify rural voices and bring them higher on the political agenda, enable networking, collaboration and mutual learning as well as to encourage voluntary commitments to act and contribute to the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas (LTVRA).

A team of experienced experts from AEIDL will carry on with the excellent work conducted by the European Commission (EC DG AGRI and DG REGIO) in the coordination and animation of the Rural Pact since its conception in December 2021. During this period, the EC has managed to engage with a community of nearly 1 300 stakeholders and encourage commitments from more than 80 individuals and organisations willing to take action. These impressive results will, undoubtedly, make the work ahead for the RPSO both exciting and challenging.  

The RPSO is well-equipped to provide support tailored to the needs and demands of the Rural Pact community, including public authorities, non-governmental organisations, Academic and research,  innovation organisations, businesses and citizens. It will conduct activities to animate the community, promote the Pact and its work in third party events, organise the meetings of Rural Pact coordination group, and develop good practices to inspire action for the revitalisation of rural areas across Europe.

In 2023, several events will be organised to provide a physical and virtual space to the Rural Pact community to meet, exchange and learn from peers. The good practice webinars, Policy Labs and the high-level Policy Forum will offer an excellent opportunity to capitalise on the collective intelligence of the Rural Pact community and support the implementation of the Rural Vision. The RPSO will be responsible for managing the Rural Pact webpages and platform, and the Rural Pact´s social media channels, which will be launched shortly. It will also publish an annual Rural Vision Magazine and the monthly newsletter to share information and promote actions carried out by the community.

The RPSO will act as key contact point for the community members that have already committed to taking action, as well as for the new individuals and organisations who will wish to do so. If you are interested, you can join the community and make a commitment.

Last but not least, the RPSO will seek building synergies and complementarities with the other EU networks and initiatives relevant for the future development of the rural areas, such as the EU CAP Network, the Broadband Competence Office Support Facility (BCO-SF), the Territorial agenda for the EU and the Talent Booster Mechanism among others to achieve a shared goal: Contribute to stronger, connected, prosperous and resilient rural areas in Europe.

You will soon receive all the information and contact details to be in touch with the RPSO, should you have a question or proposal. We are eager to hear from you!

Details

Publication date
24 February 2023
Author
Rural Pact Support Office