Rural development, integrated settlement development and social inclusion
 
 
Social inclusion, effective use of resources, visible program participation – new chances for disadvantaged regions

Venue: OKISZ headquarters, Budapest

On October 29th 2014 Butterfly Development has organized an informative event and workshop with the aim to help NGO-s and decision makers from disadvantaged regions of Hungary to better access the funds of the 2014-2020 EU programs. The event was supported by ERGO Network, an international Roma umbrella organization and NAKVI (National Agricultural Extension, Rural Development and Training Institute).

Promoting social inclusion, lowering poverty and supporting economic growth in rural areas is a new priority of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development; and a traditional priority of the European Social Fund. New opportunities, challenges and tasks- the chance of complex solutions- these were the main focus points of our event. Nearly 50 people participated in the event, representatives of NGOs and decision makers; among others roma NGO-s and representatives of minority councils.

Melinda Kassai, director of Butterfly Development has welcomed the guests and introduced the activity of our Association. She has informed the audience about the goal of the event: namely to aid the access to funds in the 2014-2020 period for Roma organizations through preliminary information exchange. The main lesson learned from recent years is that Hungary was not able to use up all EU funds targeting the Roma population. For this reason it is very important, that stakeholders gain access to information already in the preparatory phase of the funding policies; this way financial resources can accessed in an effective and targeted manner.

Representing the Equality Program Office of NAKVI, Melinda Rézműves has also welcomed the audience. She has briefly reported on the community and rural development activity of NAKVI and has introduced the “Czinka Panna” Roma scholarship programs and its recent results. In her speech, she raised several questions: Are we capable to actively form our lives in disadvantaged rural areas? Who will support those people living in rural areas, who want to be self- sufficient? She has asked the audience to become messengers of this events, to locally cooperate to become active participants in forming their and their communities’ lives.

After the introduction, three presentations followed in the topic of the 2014-2020 Operative Programs:

Economic development priorities of the Regional Operative Program, with specific focus on municipalities
PRESENTER: Zsolt Kükedi, Economic Planning Office, Network developing fellow


New developmental funds in rural development
PRESENTER: Mátyás Szabó, National Agricultural Extension, Rural Development and Training Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Head of department

County level development, recent experience
PRESENTER: Bence Csuhany, Hungarian National Rural Netowrk, County representative

To promote further information on participants, Butterfly Development has prepared a comprehensive summary of the 2014- 2020 EU funding priorities and the national operative programs.

In the afternoon a workshop took place, the participants discussed the possibilities of accessing funds in four smaller groups. The task of the groups was to evaluate, discuss and write down what they think is needed for accessing funds for Roma people on the organizational, municipal, regional and state levels. At the end of the workshop, the groups have presented their results for each other. In the end, a plenary session served the purpose of summarizing the results of the workshop and the day.

rural development   Hungary   roma   poverty   ERGO   conference   workshop  
 
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