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ENRD Smart Villages Thematic Group

Image source: NRN

The 11th European Network for Rural Development (ENRD) Thematic Group meeting on Smart Villages took place on April 1st, 2020 in the form of a webinar.

The theme of this meeting was ‘How to design the future support framework for Smart Villages in the CAP Strategic Plans and Operational Programmes’, and focused on the situation in Poland, who shared ideas on their support framework for Smart Villages in the next programming period based on village level cooperation, LEADER, investment support and Simplified Cost option (SCOs).

Both the National Rural Network (NRN) and the Department of Rural and Community Development (DRCD) participated in this webinar. Background documents, presentations and images from this innovative seminar conducted over the Internet can be found on the ENRD website. Please see: https://enrd.ec.europa.eu/news-events/events/11th-thematic-group-meeting-smart-villages_en

Smart Villages, and Smart Rural Towns in an Irish Context, are communities that build on, and enhance, their existing strengths and assets through creative thinking, and by embracing innovation, to create desirable places for rural people to live and work. The LEADER Programme is well positioned to become the key policy ingredient and catalyst towards the ‘smart’ revolution of rural towns and villages in Ireland, particularly through its community-led approach to rural development.

Ireland’s LEADER programme focuses on, and includes three core themes (i.e. (i) Economic Development, Enterprise Development and Job Creation, (ii) Social Inclusion & (iii) Rural Environment) which, taken together, constitute the fundamental principles of what the European Commission consider is needed to create and attain a sustainable Smart Village.

For more information on the ‘Smart Villages’ initiative, please visit the ENRD Smart Villages Portal to discover a plethora of inspiring networks and initiatives across the EU.

Source: ENRD and NRN

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