Social capital and job creation in rural Europe - Programme

Social capital and job creation in rural Europe, 8 - 9 November 2007, Lisbon, Portugal

Venue: Holiday Inn, Av. Antonio José de Almeida 28-A, Lisbon 1000-044, Portugal

PROGRAMME

Day 1 - Day 2

Day 1: Thursday 8 November

09.00-09.30: Registration

Chair: Jorma Karppinen, Director, European Foundation

09.30: Opening and welcome by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Portugal

09.45: Background and aims of conference
Jorma Karppinen, Director, European Foundation

10.00: Quality of life in Europe: Urban/rural differences
Mark Shucksmith, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK [presentation, pdf, 115kb]
Discussion

10.45: Coffee break and Press Conference

11.15: Social capital initiatives and job creation in rural areas
Irene Mandl, KMU Forschung Austria [presentation, pdf, 345kb]

11.45: Social capital initiatives – the Leader Programme experience in Portugal
Maria do Rosário Serafim, Leader+ Portuguese Network [presentation, pdf, 1363kb]

12.00: Discussion

12.20: Introduction to workshops
European Foundation

12.30: Buffet lunch

14.00: Four workshops on practical experiences with social capital and job creation initiatives in rural areas in various countries

• Workshop 1: Creating/supporting public/private partnerships for employment (between government, social partners, NGOs and private business)
  Location: ‘Navegadores’ meeting room
  Chair: Iñigo Isusi, IKEI, Spain
  Rapporteur: A_ntonio Coimbra_, TECNINVEST, Portugal
  Examples:
  - Germany: Joint policy-making Altmark region - Sibylle Paetow, Regional planning unit, Altmark [presentation, pdf, 5388kb]
  - Poland: The Heatherland Partnership - Leszek Frackowiak, Municipality of Przemkow, Poland [presentation, pdf, 1239kb]
  - Slovakia: Rural Parliament – Juraj Poledna, PERITUS s.r.o., Slovakia [presentation, pdf, 262kb]

• Workshop 2: Creating/supporting business networks promoting employment in rural areas
  Location: ‘Galeão’ meeting room
  Chair: Elena Krastenova, Foundation for Entrepreneurship Development, Bulgaria
  Rapporteur: Jean-Pierre Vercruysse, Association for Information on Local Development, Belgium
  Examples:
  - Bulgaria: Focus on individual target groups: young people and ethnic groups (Strumyani) - Elena Krastenova, Foundation for Entrepreneurship Development [presentation, pdf, 293kb]
  - Portugal: Building on local production/services tradition - network of taverns in Alto Tâmega (funded by Leader) – Francisco Tavares, Associação de Desenvolvimento da Região do Alto Tâmega [presentation, pdf, 3911kb]
  - Ireland: ‘Rural Enterprise – an integrated approach’ – Eileen Linehan, IRD, Duhallow [presentation, pdf, kb]

• Workshop 3: Attracting new businesses to rural areas/entrepreneurship/ revitalising rural economy/ supporting enterprises
  Location: ‘Açores’ meeting room
  Chair: Carmel Fox, CEO, Ballyhoura Development Ltd, Ireland
  Rapporteur: Zane Cunska, Baltic International Centre for International Policy
  Examples:
  - Slovenia: Implementation of rural heritage and creating new jobs in Town, Municipality of Ljubljana - Maruška Markovcic, Advisor for Rural Development, Office for Agriculture, Ljubljana [presentation, pdf, 3568kb]
  - Spain: The Life Micovaldorba Project – José María Gallo [presentation, pdf, 1642kb]
  - Denmark: Multifunctional meeting places for local businesses: economic sustainability and bridging social capital – Gunnar Lind Haase Svendsen, Danish Institute of Rural Research and Development [presentation, pdf, 1060kb]

• Workshop 4: Engaging NGOs in job creation/social capital in rural areas
  Location: ‘VIP’ meeting room
  Chair: Vanessa Halhead, Coordinator, European Rural Community Association
  Rapporteur: Marili Parissaki, ECOTEC Research and Consulting, Spain
  Examples:
  - Poland: The Active Village information society building e-VITA – Klara Malecka, Rural Development Foundation, Poland
  - Greece: Employment for women - Fouli Papageorgiou, PRISMA, Greece
  - Finland: The role of local action groups – Sirpa Karjalainen, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

17.30: Close of Day 1

17.30-17.45: Meeting of Conference and Workshop Rapporteurs in ‘Açores’ meeting room

19.30: Dinner at the Holiday Inn

Day 2: Friday 9 November: Theme - Policy Implications

Chair: Ana Vale, Head of EQUAL, Portugal

09.30: Current EU rural development policy and the Leader+ programme Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (tbc)
Discussion

10.00: Lessons learned from Day 1 on practical experiences relevant to policy-makers
Deirdre Carroll, Conference Rapporteur

10.30: Commentary: How policy-makers must respond
António Figueiredo, Head of Quaternaire, Portugal

10.45: Coffee break

11.10: ROUND TABLE DEBATE: Making social capital work
Moderator: Samuel Thirion, CRITICA, Belgium

NGOs:
Norman MacAskill, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, UK

European Parliament:
Ilda Figueiredo, MEP, Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

European Foundation Governing Board – Employers:
Jan Boersma, Federatie van Land- en Tuinbouw- organisaties (LTO-Nederland)

European Foundation Governing Board – Unions: (tbc)

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Slovenia: (tbc)

12.15: Open debate

12.45: Conclusions / Close of conference: Portuguese Ministry of Social Security and Labour