CNVP is implementing in Macedonia an EU-funded project, National Rural Parliament as a voice of rural citizens. Implemented over thirty months, the project will strengthen civil society's impact on the formulation and implementation of local and national rural development policies. Supporting rural CSOs’ efforts to improve lobbying and advocacy will help to ensure that future decision-making processes become more transparent and accountable. At the same time, strengthening the human and organizational capacities of rural CSOs will allow them to have a more effective and representative dialogue with local government.

The project’s first regional workshop was held in Skopje on 24 November 2017. It focused on promoting regional networking and cooperation, as well as sharing best practices in the design and implementation of rural development policies. The workshop initiated an ongoing dialogue between rural CSOs and the state, and addressed how rural citizens can become more effectively involved in the process of: identifying rural priorities; creating public policies that both overcome bottlenecks and take advantage of opportunities; and taking subsequent resource allocation decisions.

Workshop participants from Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo were introduced to rural development issues of interest to Balkan policy-makers based in ministries of agriculture and related agri-rural institutions. Discussion took into consideration the current EU accession perspective for the Balkan countries, as well as rural development issues relevant to the design and implementation of the EU’s common agriculture policy (CAP) in the post-2020 period.