Tackling rural poverty, together

Extract

Website with synopsis, programme, papers and proceedings of a conference entitled: Policies and approaches for rural poverty reduction: What works in practice?
The European Rural Forum took place in Montpellier, 4-6 September 2002, and brought together the European Development Agencies working to reduce rural poverty in developing countries. The focus was on identifying practical means to improve the effectiveness of rural development cooperation policy and implementation.
The specific objectives were:
-          To share experience in rural development between policy makers and practitioners.
-          To provide a forum for the European Commission and EU Member States to discuss common priorities and concerns related to rural poverty reduction and cooperation strategies.
-          To discuss new ways of working in development cooperation (e.g. PRSP processes, sector wide approaches, budgetary aid, decentralisation and civil society participation), and their application to rural areas.
-          To contribute to wider efforts to improve coordination between the European Commission and EU Member States in development cooperation.
The programme of the forum was organised in four parts moving from policy to practice:
(i)                   Rural strategies,
(ii)                 Institutions and governance,
(iii)                Practical approaches to rural development, and
(iv)               Effective implementation.
Within each part there was a choice of four or five different topics, which had been identified on the basis of a questionnaire survey that was widely circulated amongst potential participants. The programme was designed to be broad ranging, covering the wide variety of disciplines relevant to poverty reduction in rural areas. It also aimed to draw attention to the most topical issues in rural development and aid delivery.