Engaging stakeholders in territorial initiatives: GRANULAR project toolkit
- Rural Pact
- Rural Revitalisation Platform
- Stronger Rural Areas
- Connected rural areas
- Resilient rural areas
- Prosperous rural areas
A new resource from the EU-funded project GRANULAR offers practical guidance on stakeholder engagement in territorial initiatives. It is designed to support territorial actors throughout the process.

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The toolkit contains a set of principles and practical guidance that can be used flexibly in different territorial contexts and alongside other materials and resources.
It is aimed at those leading territorial engagement processes, including actors involved in Local Action Groups and rural networks, civil servants, consultants, NGOs, researchers and students.
The toolkit provides a guided process that can be revisited as new knowledge, actors and circumstances emerge. Key aspects of stakeholder engagement are addressed, such as understanding the territory involved, managing the process, and the skills and knowledge needed to work effectively with actors.
It includes:
- a step-by-step approach for actors leading territorial engagement processes;
- practical examples from rural contexts;
- guidance on issues such as expectations, trust, stakeholder fatigue and integration of different perspectives.
The toolkit’s objective is to support coordination of territorial initiatives and integration and exchange of knowledge among rural actors, as well as stakeholder participation.
The GRANULAR project is funded by Horizon Europe and aims at generating new datasets, tools and methods to better understand rural areas.