How It All Started

About us

Four decades of influencing and encouraging the development of rural areas and communities in Europe

ECOVAST, the European Council for the Village and Small Town, was set up in 1984 to further the well-being of rural communities, and the safeguarding of the rural heritage, throughout Europe.

We are a volunteer-based organisation that seeks to influence policy and action by citizen involvement. Our network supports its members, and encourages cooperation between them, as they pursue their activities in rural areas.

ECOVAST’s membership has grown rapidly, and has accumulated active involvement from over 500 members in 20 countries in East and West Europe. The membership is widely drawn, to include individuals, academic bodies, government and non-government organisations, from local to international level. ECOVAST can thus act as bridge between decision-makers and those who are active at local level, between experts and practitioners. It operates mainly as a network, to assist mutual support among its membership in pursuit of their activity in rural areas. It has national sections in several European countries that provide a focus for exchange and activity in each country, to benefit its rural communities and rural heritage.

ECOVAST’s policy approach for rural Europe is set out in our “Strategy for Rural Europe”, published in 1994. This was one of the first documents dedicated to rural development in Europe and has been translated into many European languages, and widely distributed. We have published several policy documents, reports and overviews that can be found under Publications.

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Our work at an international level

Campaigning

As a campaigning organisation, ECOVAST seeks to express the concerns of its members throughout Europe to policy-makers, official bodies and others; and to make their views felt in the debates which affect the future of rural Europe. To this end, we keep our members informed and consulted about the evolution of rural policy.

ECOVAST is a member of the Council of Europe’s International Non-Government Organisation Group. It was a member of the European Commission’s DG Agri Rural Development Advisory group from 1998 to 2014, and of DG Regio’s RURBAN group from 2011 to 2014 and a member of the European Heritage Group since 1996 and the European Heritage Alliance 3.3. since 2011.

We develop rural policies and rural strategies and meet rural actors and rural projects from many countries through our conferences and study visits.

We are represented at major European events related to European policy. We submit reactions to major consultative documents from the Commission and other bodies. (In 2014 the Commission revised the composition of the civil dialogue groups on the CAP to PREPARE, as an umbrella organisation of which ECOVAST is a founder member, which retains a place on the group, representing ECOVAST among other NGOs.)

Cooperation and partnerships

ECOVAST works in partnership with several other pan-European organisations. We were a founder member of the networks of PREPARE (Partnership for Rural Europe) and CIVILSCAPE, and still work with them. We cooperate with organisations EUROPA NOSTRA and EUROGITES.

With Forum Synergies and other non-government organisations, we have launched the PREPARE programme – (Pre-Accession) Partnerships for Rural Europe. This programme which developed into a strong network is aimed on countries that are preparing to join the European Union, and its focus has gradually shifted from Central Europe towards the Balkans and further towards the Black Sea countries

Thematic international working groups and technical missions

ECOVAST has had a number of active working groups that focused on topics such as integrated rural development, rural architecture, landscapes, rural tourism, heritage, agriculture and forestry, small towns and other topics relevant for development of rural communities.

Technical missions: at the request of our members, or of governments and other organisations in different countries, we have been able to send experts from within the ECOVAST network to a number of countries to advise on aspects of rural development, rural tourism, heritage protection and other issues.

Projects

We have taken part in major practical projects, such as the Heritage Trails project in Slovenia and Bulgaria, the Wine Traditions Network (WITRANET) project, the Transnational Woodland Industries Group (TWIG) project, and ASSET project (Action to Strengthen Small European Towns).

Meetings and events

ECOVAST organises Annual General Assemblies, with accompanying events (symposia, conferences, study tours etc). These are held each time in a different country. The meetings were stopped during the 2020 pandemic and post-pandemic times, but we hope to continue the tradition in the future.

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Services at national level

ECOVAST has national sections in several European countries. The national sections organise activities in each of these countries, according to their perception of the needs and priorities of the countries and the interests of the members there. Such activities may include translation and publication of the ECOVAST documents and literature in the national language, campaigns on issues related to the well-being of the rural people and the rural heritage, organisation of seminars, conferences, training events etc, publication of reports, handbooks other material as well as practical initiatives, for example related to the restoration of traditional buildings and the creation of facilities for rural tourism.