On September 4th, 2025, the FLIARA project was a key voice at a recent event in Târgu Mureș, Romania, focused on empowering rural women through European funding opportunities. Organised by the Romanian National Rural Network (NRN), members of the FLIARA Stakeholder Advisory Board, the event, titled “Entrepreneurial opportunities for rural women through LEADER”, provided a platform to discuss the vital role of women in shaping sustainable rural economies.

Laura Incze and Anastasia Oprea took the stage to highlight the contributions of Local Action Groups (LAGs) in supporting female entrepreneurs. They presented insights from the FLIARA project, sharing success stories and identifying key challenges that LAGs face in creating effective financial support measures. A central message of their presentation was the need for LAGs to go beyond fulfilling indicators and to instead focus on providing substantive, tangible support that enables rural women to thrive. The speakers emphasised that this shift is crucial to ensuring that the special allocation for women entrepreneurs in the new programming period makes a real impact.

The event also featured two of FLIARA’s Romanian innovators, Florentina Călugăr and Laura Albu. Ms Călugăr, a LAG manager and entrepreneur, shared a powerful, on-the-ground perspective, while Ms Albu, a gender expert and president of the Romanian Women’s Lobby, offered a broader perspective on the challenges and successes of rural women, drawing on inspirational examples from other countries.

This event placed the topic of rural women on the Romanian rural network’s agenda as FLIARA prepares for its national advocacy event in Romania on October 30, where the project’s policy recommendations will be a central focus.