The Monaghan Irish PoliRural pilot’s Foresight activities have directly involved 0.3% of the county’s total population of 61,386 so far, driven by its PoliRural Stakeholders Panel with broad representation reflecting the dynamic and complex rural county.
The PoliRural Foresight Process has concluded that Monaghan is at a pivotal “Moment of Change” due to drivers such as the climate change, EU Green agenda, Brexit, Covid-19, Ukraine war, etc, which present big challenges, but also opportunities, particularly in the context of the EU Long-Term Vision and policies for Rural Areas.
The Monaghan Foresight Action Plan, which has been iteratively developed in the Foresight process, aims that by 2030, Monaghan will be a strong, connected, resilient and prosperous rural region, with a vibrant and inclusive community, involving the highest proportion of non-traditional new entrants and young farmers in Ireland.
To achieve this transformation, Monaghan’s local community will take control of its own rural region’s future, to counter-balance Ireland’s current over centralised governance and policy making, by using the LEADER methodology of locally-orchestrated “bottom-up to meet top-down policies and funding” to proactively improve the rural attractiveness of the region.
The pilot is now progressing endorsement and adoption of the Action Plan by formally integrating it into the Monaghan LEADER Programme and long-term strategic planning of Monaghan Integrated Development (MID), the county’s community development company. It is planned to establish permanent monitoring/governance and progress tracking by continuing and enhancing the Stakeholders Panel beyond the end of the PoliRural project, and data collection and analysis of annual KPI’s, relating to specific actions/targets listed in the Action Plan and an end-of-LEADER programme evaluation in 2028.
