The first day was dedicated to the theme „Rural isolation in EU” and the key factors for overcoming the tendency – improvements in labour market, infrastructure and education, volunteering, active participation of civil society. Elitsa Nikolova, Secretary for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Infrastructure of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, greeted the participants. André Hudepohl, Vice President of Volonteurope and Policy Advisor at Humanitas, the Netherlands presented the policies of Volonteurope for the future work.
Examples from Bulgaria, Albania and Croatia were presented by Mira Mileva, Coordinator, National Rural Network in Bulgaria; Velislava Chilingirova from Devetashko Plato Association; Ervis Martani from the Albanian Institute for Public Affairs and Marina Koprivnjak, coordinator at the Croatian Rural Development Network. An interesting discussion followed. Constantin Dedu, Board Member of Volonteurope and Director of Imago Mundi, Romania summarised the conclusions of the day. Find out more information and programme.
The theme during the second day was “The common good for Europe: The role of the enabling State”. Maria Petkova, director of Tulip Foundation and Oonagh Aitken, President of Volonteurope and Chief Executive of volunteering Matters, UK opened the conference. A keynote speech on behalf of His Excellency Rosen Plevneliev, President of Bulgaria, presented Deyana Kostadinova, Secretary to the President on Social policies, Youth and sports.
Professor Susan Deacon, Assistant Principal Corporate Engagement at the University of Edinburgh, presented the concept for the enabling state.
Duncan Tree, Head of Policy and Performance at volunteering Matters, UK moderated a discussion with participants Kalin Kamenov, Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports in Bulgaria; Luben Panov, Director of the Bulgarian Center for Not-For-Profit Law; Ronald van der Giessen, Director of Oranje Fonds in the Netherlands and Justyna Duriasz-Bułhak, Board Member of the Rural Development Foundation in Poland. They presented their visions about the relations among the state, civil and voluntary organisations, private sector, media, communities and citizens in the development of the society in nowadays world.
Martin Sime, Chief Executive of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, the UK resumed the conclusions from the follow up discussion. At the end of day Piotr Sadowski, Secretary General of Volonteurope and Maria Petkova, Director of Tulip Foundation closed the conference and outlined the next steps in the continuing conversation about the importance of relations, participation and cooperation. Find out more information and programme.
