Rural’Seuca

A meeting of Academics, NGOs, Policy makers and

stakeholders on rural issues in Romania, 8-11 August

2010

Rural’Seuca

• Introduction to Rural’Est

• Journée Transition• Warsaw 2009• Think Tank Saschiz• Rural’Seuca

Rural’Est

www.ruralest.eu

Paris: Journée Transition

Warsaw: "Sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas in an enlarged

Europe"

Think Tank Saschiz: why?•Many people working on Rural Development in Romania (Academics, NGOs, Policy makers, International Donors, LAGs, individuals) but lack of lateral communication/information sharing.

•This leads to Inefficient and uneven development, and ‘reinventing the wheel’.

•‘Think Tank Saschiz’, also known as ‘Rural Seuca’ was developed as an experiment to see if lateral communication could be possible

•~25 participants from 4 different countries and many different disciplines

Consensus

Policy Makers

NGOs

Academics

•Plus farmers, LAGs, other rural stakeholders!

•Better informed policy making•More effective policy recommendations•Cooperation towards a common goal

Think Tank Saschiz: Discussions

• Round-table type discussions

• Goodness of fit of the CAP to Romanian agriculture,

• The future of Romanian agriculture,

• The potential for organic farming to increase rural incomes,

• The role of NGOs in Romanian rural development

Think Tank Saschiz Outputs

• Creation of network• Saschiz Declaration• Googlegroup ‘Saschiz’• ‘Think Tank Saschiz’

report • Rural’Seuca!

Rural’Secua

• Aims and Objectives• Theme: CAP post 2013• Program• Outputs• Rules• Questions

Aims and Objectives• AIMS• To increase the efficiency of, and stimulate innovative Romanian Rural Development by

facilitating vertical and• lateral information flow between actors and stakeholders.• • OBJECTIVES• To create lines of non-institutional communication between actors and stakeholders• To build social capital within the field of rural development• To facilitate west/east flow of information regarding innovation and best practice in rural

Development• To engage participants with rural life at the everyday level• To create a common level of understanding of policies affecting rural areas (for example,

the CAP) and to build on this with communal analysis from the perspective of different stakeholders

• To create a consensus between these actors and stakeholders as to what is needed for the development of Romania’s rural areas: future directions, prospective research and coherent strategy

• To communicate all of the above to both policy makers and the general public.

The CAP post 2013

• Period of Consultation• Need for Data• Why do we need a

European common agricultural policy?

• What do citizens expect from agriculture?

• Why reform the CAP? • What tools do we need

for the CAP of tomorrow?

Myths and Realities

• Ouput from Think Tank Saschiz- the barrier of lack of information

• What is the information gap between farmer beliefs and what is present in policy?

• How can this be addressed?

Themes schematic

Policy

Information

Farmers

Policy

Information

Farmers

Rural Seuca

Farmers’ Perspective

Polic

y Pe

rspe

ctive

Themes Schematic II

CAP 2013

Data Collection and Needs

Proposals for Research

facilitation (Policy perspective)

Myths vs Realities (farmer

perspective)

Information and Debate

Policy Proposals CAP post 2013

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Outputs•Paper- Myths and Realities•Policy notes on 2013 (opinion piece)•Poster at EFNCP conference•Article in La Canada•Beginnings of proposal for future projects...?•Creation of Social Capital•Rural’Secua online•Future workshops•Up to you!

Rules/Code of Conduct

• Discussion is to be free and open- this is a relaxed environment

• We encourage debate but please be polite and do not make personal attacks

• If you do not want to be quoted as having said something, please say.

• All points of view are welcome- there is no agenda

Thank you.....questions?