On 8 november 2022, SHERPA and POLIRURAL will organise a webinar on “Effective mechanisms to address new governance challenges in European rural areas”, as a side event of the European Week of Regions and Cities. This online event will present new governance challenges that the rural regions of Europe must address in this time of almost continuous disruption.

he opening address by Samuel Vican, Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic, will introduce the issue and explain the scale of the challenges that rural regions now face.  This will be followed by a series of case studies on how these challenges can be addressed based on achievements of the EU funded POLIRURAL and SHERPA projects.

Marieta Okenková, former member of the accession negotiations team of the Slovak Republic and Gabriel O’Connell, CEO of Monaghan Integrated Development in Ireland, illustrate what can be achieved by the application of an approach to Regional Foresight that was developed and piloted in the POLIRURAL project. Karen Refsgaard, research director at Nordregio in Denmark, and Samuel Féret, mayor of the village of Arzal in France, illustrate the role that Multi-Actor Platforms developed in the SHERPA project can play, in support of planning and programming for rural regions.

The event will be moderated by Anita Seļicka, Director of the Latvian Rural Forum, council member of the European LEADER Association for Rural development, member of the steering group of the European Rural Parliament, expert member of the LTVRA working group on Rural Proofing and Rural Revitalization, and coordinator of the POLIRURAL Foresight initiative in Latvia.

The webinar will take place on November 8, from 15.00 to 16.30 CEST. Participants will have a chance to ask questions of the speakers. So, please let your colleagues know. Even if they cannot attend on the day, they can access the recording and presentations which will be available afterwards on the SHERPA and POLIRURAL project websites.