Rural Development Network as a Framework for Research Collaboration
Research team from the Association of Agricultural Economists, Republic of Macedonia (AAEM) and a CENTER team, led by Natalia Bogdanov were engaged in the creation of a network of researchers on the topic of rural development in Western Balkans. Idea for creation of this type of network emerged during the last RRPP project - "The impact of socio economic structure on rural population on success of rural development policy".
During different presentations and events, general public has shown great interest in research findings and indicated that formal collaboration in the region, on the topic of rural development is needed.
Main tasks during the creation of the network for rural development were:
1. Identifying relevant actors (research institutions and individuals) on the topic of rural development and publishing documents with short descriptions of their work
2. Identifying main topics that need further research
3. Organizing meetings for rural development where lead researchers on this topic would give lectures and research presentations.
At the end of the project, interested actors agreed on continuance of future collaboration as it is a baseline for the creation of the research network for rural development.
Research network aims at raising researchers’ and their collaborations’ visibility and strength and raising the number of completed projects, especially through the already existing programs such as Horizont 2020.
The project was supported by the SDC,