Rural Inspiration Awards 2019 - Projects Brochure

The Rural Inspiration Awards (RIA) 2019 were the first EU-wide rural development good practice competition organised by the ENRD in the 2014-2020 programming period. This initiative celebrated projects that are using funding from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) in an inspiring way to make European rural areas more competitive, sustainable and inclusive. The competition aimed to increase the visibility of both the projects and the contribution of rural development policy, and to promote knowledge transfer and networking among rural development stakeholders.

Network Support Units (NSUs) responded enthusiastically to the ENRD's call for inspiring projects and 176 projects were submitted from 23 Member States. They referred to key CAP priorities: Improving Competitiveness, Environment & Climate Action, Rural Revitalisation, Social Inclusion, and LEADER.

The RIA provided EAFRD funding beneficiaries with unprecedented visibility for their projects at home and internationally, while helping NSUs reinforce their good practice collection process and their connection with the project holders. Overall, the competition has been a wonderful opportunity to share inspiring real stories of rural development. This EAFRD Projects Brochure is a way to make the celebration continue and provide more inspiration to rural development stakeholders around Europe.