About ANRD

Albanian Network for Rural Development (ANRD) – a genuine civil society initiative for improved well-being of rural communities – was formalized on December 11, 2015 crowning a series of efforts over the years in this regard. The efforts so far have reflected the willingness to support and contribute to the successful implementation of sustainable rural development policies and instruments.

June 05, 2015: first meeting of the founding members (14 civil society organizations) of Albanian Network for Rural Network

September 26, 2015:  AgroPuka and Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) (two of the initiating organisations for the establishment of the Rural Network) organised the national conference “Networking for Rural Development in Albania”. By bringing together representatives of civil society and other public institutions, the conference was transformed into a platform to discuss and agree the establishment of the Albanian Network for Rural Development.

December 11, 2015: Albanian Network for Rural Development was registered at Tirana District Court, with the status of non-governmental organisation. The Network is a membership organisation.

March 11, 2016: ANRD organizes the national Conference “Albanian Network for Rural Development: Mainstreaming of Non-Public Actors in the National Rural Agenda”.

April 14, 2017: ANRD in cooperation with the Agricultural University of Tirana organized the Kick off meeting of the First Albanian Rural Parliament.

September 28-30, 2017: The first Albanian Rural Parliament is organized.

from its establishment until June 2020: 27 civil society organizations joined the Albanian Network for Rural Development, becoming part of ANRD’s efforts to advocate and lobby for effective rural policies which are closer to rural communities’ residents, designed with the participation of local communities, understood and implemented with people on the ground.

In line with the EU community-led local development policy, the Network adopts a participatory and bottom-up perspective for advancing the national rural agenda.
Currently, the Network is member of both Balkan Network for Rural Development and PREPARE (Partnership for Rural Europe).