ENSURE project is kicking off

The European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina is one of 14 partners of an international project called ENSURE, which stands for European Network for the Cohesion and Solidarity in Rural Areas. The partners successfully passed European Commission’s criteria, and now they are going to cooperate for two years! The partners come from 13 countries – 12 of them come from the European Union, and 2 are our neighbours from Serbia and Montenegro. Six of them are local bodies, five are federations and bodies representing local authorities, one is a regional authority, and there are also 2 Civil Society Organizations (NGOs).

The ENSURE project serves to increase the relevance of policymakers as actors addressing needs of rural citizens in the context of EU policies and European citizenship. In a time where citizens’ confidence in the EU decision making is at an all-time low, and especially the support from rural citizens is rapidly declining, this project aims to understand Euroscepticism, and then to build European approach by making use of available EU democracy tools, as well as by providing new engaging instruments for citizens.

The project addresses day-to-day issues which are prevalent for rural citizens, such as: local development, cross-border mobility of agricultural workers, food security, etc. By bringing up issues that acquire great interest among rural citizens, this project can hit such questions as: the decline of support of the EU, Euroscepticism and the EU citizenship on rural areas. The long-term outcome could be a lasting partnership as a ENSURE Network.

The first ever face-to-face project meeting will be held from 18 until 20 October in Slovenska Bistrica. Its host – Development Information Center Slovenska Bistrica has planned networking sessions, informative workshops and project management workshops. Please follow our FB page: https://www.facebook.com/ensurenetwork/

The project is co-financed by the European Union, Europe for Citizens Programme.