In Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania we observed an important economical growth during the last years. Nevertheless mountain development and protection of mountain areas in these countries have a very low ranking on the political agenda. The poverty in mountain areas is alarming, migration and its consequences - the over aging of the population - is critical in many mountain areas and environmental problems are still increasing. At the same time mountain areas are an important potential for these states with valuable resources for the development of the society. The concentration of the economical development on a few regions linked with the permanent marginalisation of mountain areas is a real risks and danger.
Phase III of the project in question is the continuation of the previous phases II and it has to contribute to stop the decline of mountain areas by giving inputs for its sustainable development with the active participation of local communities. In contrast to the previous phases, phase III is focused on the three mountain organisations in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania. In these states, the three mountain NGOs are the most developed and the main goal of the project is to consolidate them by increasing the number of members in all mountain areas and consequently the number of concrete actions. In addition the three NGOs must acquire the capacity to build up networks and alliances with all institutions and stakeholders involved in mountain issues, but also to improve the skills to make good use of existing project and program offers for mountain development. The tools offered in these proposals may allow to reach the objective of sustainability of the NGOs, combined with exchange of experiences with We stern partners and training on specific and selected subjects (as animal breeding in mountain areas, creation and management of national agencies for rural tourism, implementation of the EU regional policy).
EUROMONTANA is the implementer for Phase III as it has been for Phase II in cooperation with the Swiss Centre of Mountain Regions (SAB). EUROMONTANA itself and its members will contribute in a very important scale to achieve the goals of the project, mainly in the field of training, exchange of experiences, partnerships and consulting. SDC will support Phase III with a financial contribution of CHF 320'000.- for 2 years.