In the municipality of Kicevo, Rural Coalition has organized two workshops on rural development and tourism, where local stakeholders from the Kicevo region and the Ilinska mountain region were gathered in one place to begin the process of planning and creating the local program for rural development and tourism.

The workshops were very well attended by the local population, institutions and civil society organizations, so we had a truly fruitful and comprehensive discussion on what the rural development and tourism program should contain. This programme is created in a close cooperation with the Minicipality of Kicevo and for the first time the municipality will plan strategic and long-term development of rural areas.

At the first workshop, we discussed the strengths and weaknesses of local tourism and rural development, but we also identified the opportunities and threats of rural development and tourism in the region of Kicevo and Ilinska mountain. Also, local stakeholders were mapped and analyzed. At the second workshop, strategic goals were set, as well as the expected results and activities for the development of tourism in rural areas and improvement of the quality of life in local community.

We conducted the workshop with the expert support of the Faculty of Law - Kicevo, University "St. Kliment Ohridski" - Bitola, who are our external collaborators. These workshops are part of the activities envisaged in the project "The Road to the Village: Creating Sustainable Rural Development in the Heart of Nature" which the Rural Coalition is implementing as a sub-grant funded within the project "Sustainable Use of Natural Resources in Korab Koritnik, Shar and the Albanian Alps", and is implemented by the offices of CNVP North Macedonia and Albania and is financially supported by PONT.