Integrated rural development programs in Greece: an empirical approach to their management, practice and results

Abstract

Under the framework of the 3rd Community Support Framework and especially as part of the Operational Program for the "Agricultural Development and Reform of the Countryside 2000-2006" the Integrated Rural Development Programs, having as a total budget 506 millions euro and applied in forty mountainous, island and disadvantageous areas of Greece. The planning of the integrated programs was based on the intention of the European Community to support programs which target the territorial approach, as well as to the strategy for the integral and sustainable development of rural areas. The integral rural development concerns the viability of the agricultural countryside and refers to the whole net of functions which are developed to these areas. Moreover it is an approach that has multiple variations and considers the interactions and the correlations among productive, social and environmental factors. The project investigates the so far practices and management of the Integrated Rural Development Programs as well as the differentiation that the managing practices and tactics produce among the primary targets and the final results of the programs.