On 1–2 June this year, the European Union's research and innovation programme HORIZON 2020 project "SHERPA – Sustainable Hub to Engage into Rural Policies with Actors" summarised the results of the project at the final conference, held at the European Committee of Regions in Brussels. During the four years of the project implementation, 41 SHERPA Multi-Actor Platforms (MAPs) were established in 19 EU countries and in the UK (Scotland). In total, over 630 political, academic and public representatives were actively involved in the MAPs, analysing selected issues most relevant to their regions, discussing and developing bottom-up insights for a long-term perspective on rural development in Europe, and drafting Position Papers. The project has created a public SHERPA repository of knowledge on EU rural policy, bringing together relevant results from previous and ongoing projects.
Institute of Economics and Rural Development of Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences participated in the SHERPA project as a member of the European Rural Development Network (ERDN). ERDN was represented by over 30 participants at the final conference, 6 of whom took active part in the plenary discussions and presentations. Dr. Živilė Gedminaitė-Raudonė and Dr. Rita Lankauskienė gave a plenary presentation summarising the project's insights on Prosperous Rural Areas. Lithuania was represented at the conference by the most active participants of the Lithuanian MAP: Virginija Šetkienė, President of the Lithuanian Association of Rural Communities, and Kristina Švedaitė, Chairperson of the Kaunas District Local Action Group.
SHERPA project comprehensively addresses the full scope of the H2020 Coordination and Support Action for the topic “RUR-01-2018-2019 - D Rural society-science-policy hub”, agreement No. 862448.
Total project budget is 5 mln. Eur. Project duration: 4 years.
More detailed information is available online: https://rural-interfaces.eu/; https://rural-interfaces.eu/news-or-events-sherpa-final-conference/; https://www.linkedin.com/company/ruralinterfaces/
Project coordinator in Lithuania dr. Živilė Gedminaitė-Raudonė
tel. (8 5) 261 7978, el.p. zivile.gedminaite@ekvi.lt;
tel. (8 672) 00413, el.p. rita.lankauskiene@ekvi.lt
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