the population resides in urban centers, while the risk of depopulation has increased in rural areas. In order to promote harmonious development throughout its territory, the European Union is strengthening its economic, social and territorial cohesion through Programme Navarra ERDF 2021-2027. Among the main challenges addressed by this instrument in terms of governance is the design of a comprehensive and participatory governance model; a model that also refines the systems of participation of economic and social actors, ensuring more open processes based on the principles of coordination, partnership and multilevel governance. Measure addressed: In line with this objective and with the aim of making the evaluation of the ex ante and ex post impact that policies, programs and initiatives approved by legislative bodies have on rural areas (Rural Proofing) a routine part of the decision-making process of civil servants, the General Directorate of Local Administration and Depopulation manages the Interdepartmental Commission for the Fight against Depopulation with the aim of addressing the demographic challenge from a cross-cutting perspective, as a principle to be taken into account in any policy or plan of the Administration that falls within any of the perspectives from which to face the problem.

Bratsigovo Municipality Integrated Development Plan 2021-2027 (IDP) defines the Priorities for a sustainable development of the municipality in accordance with the goals and priorities of strategic documents for regional and spatial development at higher levels. There are two priorities in the IDP to tackle the main problems of the region: adverse demographic trends; high unemployment rate especially among people who don’t have a higher education profile; low investments in small settlements/villages and almost no forms of industry exist there; negative trends in the touristic sector. Priority 1 emphasizes on the sustainable economic development of the region based on local resources with a special focus on agri and forestry sectors and the potential to develop a sustainable tourism. Priority 2 envisages actions to improve energy performance of buildings and provide actions for climate change mitigations and sustainable waste management. Better governance with the support and active participation of the local community and the availability of a tool to measure the impact and evaluate the effectiveness of legislation, projects and local actions foreseen from the conception to the implementation phase, and through the participation of all community-level representatives in these processes, will allow economic, social and environmental problems as well as the needs of the population to be taken into account and addressed.

Agriculture and Fisheries Strategy 2030 (PõKa 2030) integrates the development directions of agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture, the food industry and rural and coastal areas. The aim of the development plan is to contribute to increasing the competitiveness of these sectors, food security, sustainable development of rural and coastal areas, good plant and animal health, soil condition food safety and the preservation of a clean environment and species diversity. Chapter 3.6 “Rural and coastal development” has two primary goals – Rural communities are active and viable and There is a diversified business in rural areas with growing added value. There are 17 activities to achieve these goals, including the start of rural proofing.

The timeline of this project will align with the mid-term review of the PõKa 2030 which will allow learnings from the project to feed in to the revised policy instrument. Learnings from the project can help resolve problems that rural areas are facing. All in all it helps achieve the PõKa 2030 vision “Estonian food is valued and it is good to live in the rural areas!”

The LECP is a six stage gobernance process (Preparation, Public Consultation, Development of objectives and outcomes, Finalize plan, Implementation and Monitoring & evaluation) to promote and support local and community development of the relevant local authority area, both by the Local Authority directly and in partnership with other development stakeholders.
It’s main features are:
i) High level goals. They can be viewed as the setting of the general direction of travel for a given development plan, in this case the LECP
ii) Objectives. The High-Level Goals should be elaborated further within both the economic and the community elements of the LECP, in the form of specific, measurable sustainable Objectives and an outline of the desired outcomes over the six-year period.
iii) Actions. The delivery of these objectives and ultimate realisation of the outcomes will, in turn, be supported by practical, time-bound Actions as part of the Implementation Plan process.
The Coop4RURALGov project will improve "governance" capabilities in its scope and area of influence by measuring the expected impact on rural and coastal areas of measures adopted in the LECP that will contribute to physical, financial, institutional, social, environmental and other benefits to a society, community or group of people through one or more development interventions. The LECP, as a statutory process, will facilitate the delivery of agreed key actions while fulfilling governance responsibilities.