The Ministry of Regional Development launched the National Rural Pact for Czechia during the Joint Seminar on Community-led Local Development and Smart Villages in Lednice on 28 October 2022. Its mission is to involve the widest possible spectrum of rural development actors, from representatives of the state administration, municipalities, academia and NGOs, to entrepreneurs and individual rural residents. Activating and engaging all relevant stakeholders in the pact will help to make rural voices stronger, heard more and therefore better represented in societal discourse.

The National Rural Pact aims at bringing together all actors working in rural development in Czechia to enable a structured dialogue and cooperation that can help achieve the country’s five rural development goals, as set out in the Rural Development Concept:

1. A stable population in rural areas characterised by high human and social capital, ensuring dynamic rural development;
2. Sufficient infrastructure and amenities in rural settlements, ensuring the quality of life of the inhabitants and creating opportunities for rural economic development;
3. A healthy, recreationally attractive, biodiverse and climatically stable rural environment;
4. An efficient, stable and diversified rural economy, enabling the self-fulfilment of rural residents and forming an important component of the economic base of the state; and
5. The development of multi-level strategic planning and knowledge-based development management and successful cooperation between municipalities.

In 2020 the Ministry of Regional Development (which is also responsible for rural development) elaborated the Rural Development Concept, in close cooperation with a wide pool of partners, which was then approved by the Czech government. In October 2022 the same ministry, inspired by the EC´s Rural Pact initiative, introduced the National Rural Pact and started collecting supporters. 

A second step was to design and implement a communication campaign reaching out to a broad spectrum of actors. The National Rural Pact has been presented at many public events related to regional and rural development. Public and private organisations also actively communicate about the initiative. Information can be found on the websites of the Ministry of Regional Development and other sectoral ministries (e.g. agriculture and environment), as well as on the websites of multiple regional stakeholders, such as the regional standing conferences, National Network of Local Action Groups (LAGs) and the Association of Local Governments of the Czech Republic. 

By signing the National Rural Pact, representatives of institutions and organisations, and even individuals, can submit their contact details and commit to contributing to the rural vision and the goals of the Rural Development Concept. 

In the next phase, the ministry communicates with stakeholders who have signed the pact on different topics connected to rural issues. For instance, it has shared materials from the Working Group for Rural Development, an official work group set up within the Governmental Committee for Sustainable Development, which meets quarterly and discusses selected rural challenges.

The Czech National Rural Pact aims to capitalise on the opportunities provided by the LTVRA at EU level to support rural development in a comprehensive manner and address current socio-economic challenges. The success of this strategy lies in the endorsement and ownership of rural actors. Given that some rural actors perceive a distance between themselves and the European level in terms of taking concrete actions, it is crucial to offer opportunities for local, regional, and national actors to connect and gather at the national level. This closeness may be viewed as more accessible and pertinent, encouraging increased engagement and active participation. 

The National Rural Pact can provide a platform where local needs can be matched with European visions and national approaches. From an extensive mailing list to a panel of experts in the field, the National Rural Pact has diverse benefits and can help to achieve shared objectives.