PREPARE Gathering 2006 was held at Velehrad, in south-eastern Moravia, Czech Republic, 21 to 23 June 2006. The Gathering was preceded by two-day Travelling Workshops,starting in Prague on Monday 19 June. The hosts where the Czech National Rural Observatory, the Czech Network of Local Action Groups and the Buchlov Local Action Group in Moravia. The theme of the Gathering was „The evolution and activity of Local Action Groups,and their role in Rural Development Programmes?” .
All members of the PREPARE network was receiving the detailed announcement of the Gathering.
At the meeting in Prague in June, the PREPARE partners accepted with pleasure requests from two recently-formed national rural networks to join the partnership in the PREPARE programme. The Czech National Rural Observatory was set up in 2005 by twelve individuals who are active in rural development at national or regional level. The decision to create the Observatory followed three years of initiatives by these individuals to bring together people involved in rural action, including national and regional conferences, training programmes and promotion of LEADER-type local action groups. PREPARE had given financial support to this set of initiatives, from the funds given to us by the Mott Foundation. The new Observatory operates, througha National Network for Rural Development, as the network of more than 40 Local Action Groups throughout the Czech Republic.