The Commission had two distinct phases of work. The first phase focussed upon identifying key issues and concerns relating to the sustainability of rural community development. The Commission talked with hundreds of local people, public-service providers, agricultural interests, business people, the voluntary sector, the European Commission, national and local government policy advisers and decision-makers. They commissioned reviews of comparative rural community development practice from across the European Union and internationally and also drew extensively upon written evidence presented to them, the research findings of others and wider literature sources. The first phase of this work was completed in June 2006 with the release of the progress report and DVD. The short documentaries that feature in this DVD can be viewed online by visiting the Media Clips section of this website.
The Progress Report was published in order to report back to the many individuals and organisations from whom the Commmission took evidence and to highlight some key emerging issues and challenges for rural community development. Carnegie and the Commission owe a great debt to all those who gave freely of their time to meet us, to submit written evidence and to let us film interviews.