Spatia Centre for Regional Research, Avaintaito Osuuskunta Suomi, Ruralia Institute at the University of Helsinki (local level research), and MDI analysed the Rural Development Pro-gramme for Mainland Finland and the regional and local plans as an entity.
According to the evaluation the Rural Development Programme for Mainland Finland 2007–2013 was a broad and enabling entity. It gave space for regional and local emphases. The downside is that the programme and the regional plans that complete and focus the programme do not communicate clearly the overall view of the Finnish rural development main themes.
The lack of monitoring data complicates the evaluation of the success of the development actions, but the rural developers are mainly pleased for the implementation of the programme. This indicates that the programme has succeeded. Enhancing the cooperation both between the regions and regional levels is also considered as a merit for the programme period 2007–2013.
Evaluation report as a pdf-document (in Finnish with an English abstract).
Down-to-earth version as a pdf-document (in Finnish).