Stakeholders Meeting and Focus Group Discussion within the Coop4RURALGov project
The fifth stakeholders meeting within the Coop4RuralGov project “Rural Proofing. Cooperation for better sparsely populated rural, coastal and mountain focused governance”, co-funded by the Interreg Europe Programme 2021-2027, was organized by the Bulgarian partner, Association Center for Sustainability and Economic Growth (CSEG), on the 15th of May 2025 in the Municipality of Bratsigovo, Bulgaria, involving Bulgarian stakeholders at local and regional level. These were: representatives from the administration of Bratsigovo, social department of Peshtera Municipality, an environmental agency REAP, some local NGOs, and several educational administrations.
A presentation of the Coop4RuralGov project was performed, together with good practices coming from the partner countries. The concept of “Rural proofing” was presented to the participants.
An overview of the strategy document, Integrated Development Plan of Bratsigovo Municipality 2021-2027, was made and the attendees suggested some ideas on what can be implemented and how to improve the strategy.
In the second part of the meeting, a Focus Group discussion followed in which the participants answered some specific questions about their experience and participation in the preparation of policies, programs, strategies and how to make regional or rural impact assessment. Also, what specific institutional, legislative gaps for implementing rural proofing were met during the preparation and implementation of the Integrated Development Plan of Bratsigovo Municipality 2021-2027.
The event concluded with a debate on potential policy improvements of Bulgarian rural policies.
