Scotland: National Rural Network
Connecting Rural Scotland - Promoting Rural Growth

The Rural Gathering event held recently at Perth Racecourse brought together around 300 people from across the country for a day of presentations, workshops and networking.

Ute Vieting, Regional Manager of the LEADER Programme in Hesselberg, Germany gave a very interesting presentation on how the programme works in her area. The importance of networking and stakeholders working togther was the key theme of her presentation.

Bavaria has 58 rural areas, within seven districts, and there are seven LEADER managers in the administration. The Ministry of Economic Affairs has 38 regional management areas on the level of counties. Bayern Regional is a group of about 40 regional managers, who have been networking together since 2005. Ms Vieting stressed the importance of Government departments working together, not just community networks.

The Hesselberg LEADER philosophy has three components:

• Social stability
• Economy
• Ecology

They have a three column structure:

1. Politics, rural administration
2. Non-profit organisations
3. 60-80 employers

All the columns work together, but each column can also work wthin its own network. And the network is growing, with 20 new network partners, including churches, banks, education providers etc.

Hesselberg project examples

Classroom in Nature

Ms Vieting said although laptops and IT are important it is more important to take children into regional areas. The Classroom in Nature project is a network of 14 "green classrooms" each with a special theme. The outdoor stations are used to teach the children about things like agriculture and natural heritage.

Road of Franconian Must

This project combines natural production, regional economics, education and tourism. Must is a traditional drink made of apple juice. Hesselberg has lots of orchards and the Road of Franconian Must brings benefits to farmers, tourist attractions, shops and restaurants.

The landscape is preserved and farmers get more money for their produce. The project combines with local retailers and restaurants who use and promote the Must. They have also built a baking house, which is a station of the Classroom in Nature project.

The project also works with older farmers and small farms. School children collect the apples and the farmers double their return, as the Road of Franconian Must products demand a higher price.

Industry and Handicraft

Ute also talked briefly about an industry and handicraft network working together in cooperation. Local handicraft tradespeople buy materials from local producers so more money circulates in the local economy.

Presentation available to download

The presentations from the plenary session of the Rural Gathering are now available to download from the documents library, including Ute Vieting's presentation. More from the event is available in Rural Gathering archive.