This report was produced in the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, as part of the programme of work of the Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC). The report was undertaken in close collaboration with country delegates to the OECD Working Party on Rural Policy (WPRUR).
The OECD team elaborating and drafting the report included Marc Bournisien de Valmont (Chapter 3), Betty-Ann Bryce (Chapter 4), Bridget Donovan (Chapters 1 and 3), Eduardo Rodriguez Montemayor (Chapters 1, 2 and 2), Fernando Riaza Fernández (Chapter 3), Sinead Teevan (Chapter 3) and Felix Winkelmayer (Chapter 2), with input from Stefano Barbieri, Loukas Gourgiotis, Michelle Marshallian, Tetsuharu Mori and Andres Sanabria under the supervision of Jose Enrique Garcilazo, Head of the Regional and Rural Policy Unit in the Regional Development and Multilevel-Governance Division, led by Dorothée Allain-Dupré.
Nadim Ahmad (OECD), David Freshwater and Peter Wostner (Vice-chair of RDPC), provided scientific guidance on the manuscript. Special thanks for conveying valuable comments on various drafts of the report to Daniel Baumgartner (Switzerland), Jane Frances (New Zealand), Antanas Karbauskas (European Commission), Eugéne Leblanc (Canada), Sabrina Lucatelli (Italy), Gareth Makim (Ireland), Silvia Nanni (European Commission), Olavi Petron (Estonia), Stephane Pronovost (Canada), Oh Seong-ik (Korea), Minori Tasaki (Japan) and Kazuhiro Watanabe (Japan).
The OECD is also grateful for comments and guidance received from the delegates to the OECD RDPC and the Working Party on Rural Policy throughout the project.
Jack Waters (OECD) co-ordinated the production process of the report. Jeanette Duboys and Elena Acrones Sanjuan (OECD) prepared the manuscript for publication.