The Centre of Competence on Rural Development

The Centre of Competence on Rural Development (Distriktssenteret) is a government agency dedicated to strengthen rural municipalities and regions’ ability to develop attractive communities.

The vast majority of rural municipalities in Norway engage in local development on a daily basis. Aiming to make it easier for municipalities and regions to learn from each other, we collect and communicate the knowledge and experience on local development available all over rural Norway.

Some of our findings on rural development are subject to closer scrutiny. We do not conduct our own research. However, we request and fund research by from researchers nationwide.

A unique aspect of The Centre of Competence on Rural Development is our effort to extract new knowledge through combining research findings and experience from the field of practice. Taking this further, we strive to make knowledge from different sources more accessible for practitioners. Actions producing great results in one community, may not have much of an effect elsewhere. Learning from others’ experiences is, however, still possible.

Who we work with

We lend our support to rural municipalities, regions and others responsible for rural development. We mainly co-operate with mayors, senior officers and project managers. Our support is individually customised.

In addition, we offer input and a knowledge base for national and regional policy-makers. We are in close collaboration with most of the Norwegian counties. Through our knowledge on rural development, we contribute to continous development of Norwegian rural development policies.

Our organisation

The Centre of Competence on Rural Development is managed by Director Marit Mellingen. We are an professionally independent government agency subsidiary to The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development (KDD). We are funded through The National Budget.

Our advisers are located in Steinkjer, Sogndal and Alstahaug. Feel free to contact us!