Report of the European Forum on Rural Development

The proceedings of the European Forum on Rural Development Cooperation organized by the European Commission and EU Members in September 2002 are now available. The document includes a description of the Forum objectives, outputs, results and actions decided by the participants.

The Forum, held in Montpellier (France), gathered policy makers, practitioners from the European Commission and EU Member States development agencies. The Forum tackled strategies to reduce rural poverty in developing countries and redesign approaches to rural development since three quarters of world poverty is concentrated in rural area and aid allocated to agriculture is in decline. The Un System Network on Rural Development and Food Security reported this event in its website in the October 2002 update.

The conclusions that were reached during the 3-day meeting encompassed topics such as the broad scope of rural development, poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSP), decentralization, community based development and civil society, policy coherence in developing countries and rural-urban linkages.

To download the document you can visit the Forum website at: http://www.ruralforum.info