The multi-actor approach

By September 2025 the nine pilots had recorded 351 stakeholders. They then sorted them into three tiers that decide who co-creates, who is consulted and who is kept informed.

What does the multi-actor approach ask of a PoliRural+ pilot, and how does the tiered stakeholder framework put it into practice?

Under D5.1 a pilot identifies and maps its stakeholders, builds partnerships, plans and decides together with them, sets up coordination, resolves conflicts, and monitors and adapts. D2.1 then ranks each stakeholder as Primary (co-designs the Regional Action Plan), Secondary (consulted through surveys and roundtables) or Peripheral (informed through newsletters, dashboards and open calls).

Six components (D5.1): identify and map, partner, plan and decide together, coordinate, resolve conflict, monitor and adapt
Target of 300 stakeholders; 351 recorded by September 2025 (117 %), up from 83 in May 2024
Tier shares in September 2025: Primary 15 %, Secondary 56 %, Peripheral 29 %
A stakeholder's tier depends on its role in that pilot, not on its type

Open in the interactive book · missions, mini-games and memory cards there

The project engages five target groups: civil society, policymakers, business, science and the general public, each led by a named partner with its own engagement target, together aiming at 300+ bodies and 1000+ participants. In a Regional Action Plan every stakeholder is a beneficiary, actor, enabler or other, and the pilots' databases rank them into primary (15%), secondary (56%) and peripheral (29%) tiers, each engaged in a different way.

The multi-actor approach: who sits at the table, and how close

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The multi-actor approach is the working method of the PoliRural+ pilots. D5.1 explains why it is needed: rural-urban problems are economic, social, environmental and political at once, so no single organisation can solve them. Government bodies, communities, businesses, NGOs and academia therefore take part in planning, deciding and implementing. D5.1 lists six components:

Identification and mapping: who has a stake, and their roles, interests and influence.
Partnerships and alliances: formal and informal networks, for example between rural and urban municipalities.
Participatory planning and decision-making: workshops, focus groups, community meetings.
Coordination and governance: clear roles, decision procedures, transparent communication.
Conflict resolution and consensus building: mediation where rural and urban interests compete.
Monitoring, evaluation and adaptation: tracking effects on both rural and urban communities and adjusting.

D5.1 combines the approach with foresight and with the Lippitt-Knoster change model (vision, skills, incentives, resources, action plans). Everything feeds into each pilot’s Regional Action Plan.

Component 1 in numbers

D2.1 built a shared stakeholder database modelled on the panels of the earlier PoliRural project. It uses 12 stakeholder types from the Description of the Action, from local communities, governments and farmers to digital technology companies, financial institutions and tourism representatives. Personal data in the shared copy are anonymised for GDPR. The overall target of 300 stakeholders was divided among the pilots by population, with at least 20 per region: Slovakia 67, Apulia 55, Monaghan 22. The pilots had recorded 83 stakeholders by May 2024 and 351 by September 2025, 117 % of the target. Apulia was still at 64 % of its share. Men made up 58 % of recorded stakeholders and women 42 %; the goal for period 2 is 50/50.

Making component 3 work: three tiers

A list of everyone is not an engagement plan. Version 2 of D2.1 therefore ranks each stakeholder on four criteria: relevance to the pilot’s objectives, decision-making capacity, mobilisation potential, and the innovation or knowledge it contributes.

Tier	Definition and D2.1 examples	Engagement pathway	Share, Sep 2025
Primary	High influence, directly relevant: local authorities, funding bodies, leading farmer associations	Co-design workshops, foresight exercises, drafting the Regional Action Plan	15 %
Secondary	Moderate influence; collaborators rather than decision-makers: SMEs, NGOs, community groups	Periodic consultations, surveys, thematic roundtables	56 %
Peripheral	Wider ecosystem with long-term value: tourism networks, pan-European umbrella bodies	Newsletters, online dashboards, open calls for input	29 %

In Mallusjoki, municipal planners and regional development agencies co-create, SMEs in the rural event industry are consulted, and tourism associations are kept informed. Many women-led SMEs were present but rarely spoke up in formal consultation. A dedicated workshop for them brought their needs for digitalisation support and micro-finance into the Regional Action Plan.

The tier depends on the stakeholder’s role in that pilot, not on its type. Leading farmer associations are D2.1’s own example of a Primary stakeholder, yet farmers’ associations are Secondary in Apulia and Slovakia. The groups the database still lacks are covered in lessons on uptake.

In the room, but not heard (a comic)

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Read the four panels first. They retell a lesson that D2.1 reports from the Mallusjoki pilot in Finland.

What D2.1 documents. Many women-led SMEs from the rural event industry were present at the pilot’s consultations but underrepresented in them. The pilot organised a dedicated workshop for female entrepreneurs, and their needs, digitalisation support and access to micro-finance, went into the Regional Action Plan.

What the drawing adds. The faces, the lectern and the dot count (seven in the room, one who spoke) are illustration. D2.1 gives no attendance figures for this case.

Why it matters. Component 3 of the multi-actor approach, participatory planning and decision-making, is about formats as much as invitations. The tier list says who should shape the plan; the format decides whose voice actually reaches it.

V sále, ale bez hlasu (komiks)

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Nejdřív si přečtěte čtyři okénka. Převyprávějí poučení, které D2.1 popisuje z pilotu Mallusjoki ve Finsku.

Co dokládá D2.1. Na konzultacích pilotu bylo hodně firem vedených ženami z oboru venkovských akcí a festivalů, jejich hlas ale ve formálním projednání zazníval málo. Pilot proto uspořádal samostatný workshop pro podnikatelky a jejich potřeby, podpora digitalizace a přístup k mikroúvěrům, se dostaly do Regionálního akčního plánu.

Co přidává kresba. Tváře, řečnický pult i počet teček (sedm v sále, jedna promluvila) jsou ilustrace. D2.1 pro tento případ počty účastníků neuvádí.

Proč na tom záleží. Třetí složka přístupu s více aktéry, společné plánování a rozhodování, je stejně tak o formátu jako o pozvánkách. Seznam podle úrovní říká, kdo má plán spoluvytvářet. Formát rozhoduje, čí hlas se do něj skutečně dostane.

Zdroje:

D2.1 Stakeholders identification (v2.0), příklad prioritizace v Mallusjoki a Annex C Tiered Stakeholder Engagement Examples — PDF

Play

Co-create, Consult or Inform? — Eleven real stakeholders from four pilots: put each in the tier its pilot gave it, and see why the same type can land in different tiers.

Builds on: The network of nine pilots
Leads to: Lessons on uptake