Managing the Network

Networking at EU level

“Networking the networks” is one of the key roles of the ENRD, but its success relies greatly upon the contributions from, and cooperation with, the NRNs at national and regional level.

NRNs also have an important multiplier function at national level. The implementation of individual RDPs can benefit significantly from exchange and networking at EU level as new ideas and approaches are fed into proposals for new activities and projects under the different measures available in the RDPs. For example, the expansion of social farming in Estonia in 2010-2012 was directly linked [PDF ] to the participation of the Estonian Rural Network in the ENRD Thematic Initiative on Social Farming that was launched in 2009.

All NRNs should therefore have sufficient capacity and resources to engage both with the ENRD and with other NRNs at the EU level. This includes ensuring that staff in the network support units (NSUs) have good language skills and there are resources available for translation and the financing of activities for disseminating anything relevant which is developed at EU level or together with other networks.

Specific examples of NRN engagement at EU level in 2007-2013 included:

• Support to the regular updating of NRN information – an interactive map on the ENRD website providing information on the structure and activities NRNs in all Member States has been an important tool for networking tool at EU level.
• Participation at meetings and exchanges at EU level - NRN representatives from all Member State are regularly invited by the ENRD Contact Point to participate in meetings and events organised at a European level to share experiences and information.
• Input into planning and governance of the ENRD – all NRNs were represented on the ENRD Co-ordination Committee for 2007-2013 and will continue to be represented on the Rural Networks Assembly in 2014-2020.
• Providing examples of projects and good practices (relevant experiences) in RDP implementation – the RDP Project Database could not have been developed without the active support of the NRNs.
• Providing information for demonstrating the “added value” of rural networking - all NRNs have contributed network statistics and success stories for the development of an on-line resource illustrating the current state of knowledge regarding the added value of networking in rural development policy.
• Contribution to ENRD thematic work – contributions were made both through providing content input and providing participants to meetings at EU or regional cluster level.
• Participation in NRN clusters – many NRNs have participated in the thematic and / or geographical ‘clusters’ that exist at EU level. For example, the ENRD Contact Point established ‘thematic clusters’ – so-called NRN Thematic Initiatives - to develop joint activities, promote greater cooperation and promote technical exchange and dialogue between networks. Meanwhile many NRNs also formed their own ‘geographical clusters’, the most successful of which has been the Nordic-Baltic Rural Networks.

It is anticipated that all of these EU level activities will be continued and strengthened in 2014-2020, plus there will be many additional activities – including those linked specifically to the EIP-AGRI Network (see Info Box below).