Inaugural Assembly of Rural Development Network in Bosnia and Herzegovina was held today in Sarajevo.

Through this initiative, 18 civil society organisations working in rural development will, for the first time, officially started formalization and institutionalization of Rural Development Network as effective instrument for establishment of strategic and strong partnership between key actors in rural development of BiH.

This is one of the activities of the EU funded project “ACoRD – Alliance for Common Rural Development in BiH”.

Natalia Dianiskova, Head of Operations Section for Social Development, Civil Society and Cross Border Cooperation at the EU Delegation to BiH said “The European Union puts great importance and provides technical assistance on increased participation of civil society organisations in the democratic process as well as good cooperation between civil society and government at all levels”

ACORD project aims to contribute  to  improvement  of  civic  activism  through increased  participation  and  representation  of  rural  people  in social and policy related initiatives and enhance civil society impact on decision makers (governance, social issues and policy-making) in rural development sector.

European Union if funding this project through IPA 2012 in the amount of 249,400 EUR, while the total value of the project is 280,404 EUR.

Project is implemented by the Agency for Cooperation, Education and Development – ACED in partnership with: ACED from Banja Luka, REDAH from Mostar, Nešto Više from Sarajevo, LAG Una-Sana from Sanski Most and ELARD as European partner on the project.