Spanish Rural Network

The Spanish Rural Network is open to all entities/bodies/organisations working in the field of rural development at national scale. One national NSU works to achieve the network'sGlobal and Specific Objectives.

Contacts

Red Rural Nacional
c/ Gran Vía de San Francisco, 4-6
28005 MADRID Madrid
Spain
Telephone number: 
+34 9 134 715 08
Email address: 
Contact persons: 
Carolina Gutierrez Ansotegui
(Deputy Director General)
Lourdes Barona Flórez
(Head of Sector)
Patricia Martínez Alonso
(Head of NRN)
Sara Herrero Rodríguez
(LEADER Lead)
Jorge Cuevas Moreno
(Innovation Lead)

Links

NSU operation

Objectives

Spanish Rural Network has Global Objectives (GO) and Specific Objectives (SO).

Specific objectives correspond to the mandatory objectives defined by the EU Regulation.

GO1. To establish a permanent and stable framework of relationships among those involved in rural development
SO1. To increase the involvement of stakeholders in the implementation of rural development

G02. To strengthen the implementation and programming capacity of the rural development programmes.
SO2. To improve the quality of implementation of rural development programmes.

Membership

Who can be a member?
The Spanish NRN is open to all entities/bodies/organisations working in the field of rural development at national scale. The national scale condition is very important to avoid over-representation from some regions. 

How to join the network?
In order to become a member of the NRN, interested representatives of the entities/ bodies/ organisations need to send an email asking for membership. They must attach the statutes (internal written rules of the organisation) so that it can be checked if the entity fulfils the two basic requirements. 

Who are the members?
The members of the NRN are classified into four groups:
Public administrations: national level administration; regional administrations, local administrations (23 members until May 2016)
Social and Economic Agents: business organisations; labour unions; professional organisations; organisations from the agricultural and forestry sectors; other organisations related to rural development (40 members until May 2016)
Civil Society Representatives: women associations; social action associations; nature conservation associations; LAG networks (18 members until May 2016)
EIP Entities (26 members until May 2016)

How to get involved?
The NRN does not finance projects during this programming period. 
Projects are financed by means of the RDP measures. 

NSU & RDP management

The NSU and the Managing Authority
Although there are regional RDPs there are no regional NRN structures in Spain. There is one national NSU.
Network coordination is the responsibility of the same Directorate General (DG for Rural Development) that acts as Managing Authority of the National RDP (PNDR).
The Spanish NRN is operating under one of the technical assistance measure of the PNDR. 

The NSU and the Monitoring Committee
The NSU participates in the meetings of the Monitoring Committee (MC) of the National Rural Development Programme(PNDR) as any other managers of the measures, but does not participate in the regional RDP MCs. 

Governance

ASSEMBLY
Composition
The Assembly is composed of 120 members organised in four types of stakeholder groups: 
public administrations, 
social and economic agents, 
civil society representatives, 
EIP entities (see membership in the attachment below). 
The Assembly meets at least twice during the programming.
Tasks
To participate in the adoption of agreements through their representatives on the Steering Committee.
To propose their representatives for the Steering Committee
To propose to the Support Unit (NSU) subjects and activities to be developed and implemented in the Annual Plan of Activities as well as issues to be discussed at the meetings of the Steering Committee.
For the representative of the four groups at the Steering Committee: to actively participate and collect the opinions and suggestions of the group.
To address requests and questions to its representative at the Steering Committee and to the NSU.
To request to their representatives at the Steering Committee and to the NSU the creation of working groups on specific topics.

STEERING COMMITTEE
Composition
The Steering Committee is composed of representatives of the four key stakeholder groups (see above). 
The Steering Committee is formed of permanent and rotating representatives of the members of the Assembly. The number of representatives is proportional to the number of members of each of the four groups: one representative for every eight members (see membership in the attachment below). 
The Steering Committee meets at least once per year.
 Tasks
To review the proposed subjects and activities received and/or propose actions for the development and implementation of the Annual Plan of Activities.
To analyse and approve the annual reports of implementation for its submission to the Monitoring Committee of the National Rural Development Programme (PNDR).
To participate in the adoption of agreements 
To express its views on the issues tackled and to propose, if appropriate, agenda items for the Steering Committee meetings.
To formulate questions and answers.
To review and approve the creation of working groups whenever the application is supported by 25% of the members of the Steering Committee.
To propose meetings of the Assembly..
To approve the membership application of new members (who fulfil ‘eligibility’ criteria) to be part of the RRN

Financial resources

Budget (€)
Total NRN public funds: 15 094 340 
Out of which national co-financing: 7 094 340 
Out of which EAFRD: 8 000 000 
 

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