In 1993 the FAO/Regional Office for Europe (REU), in collaboration with the Women in Development Service of the Sustainable Development Department (SDWW), commissioned an analysis of the socio-economic situation and status of rural women and families in selected Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, 1 based on a proposal made by the Working Party on Women and Families in Rural Development at its October 1992 meeting in Innsbruck, Austria. A preparatory group was nominated at the same meeting, which held its first discussion on the project in Vienna in March 1993 2
(1 In this document the term "CEE countries" is used to refer to the project countries and not to all Central and Eastern European countries.
2 The group members were: Mr. Budavari, FAO/ECE/Geneva; Ms. Agnes Gannon, Ireland; Ms. Leena Kirjavainen, FAO/SDW; Ms. Gertraud Pichler, Austria; Ms. Jela Tvrdonova, Slovakia; and Ms. Pirjo Siiskonen, Finland.)
It was agreed that the study should focus on women's role in rural areas, on the farm and in the family; their participation in education, training, agricultural services and organizations; household technology and knowledge of home economics; social security systems and legal issues; and research projects and development programmes for rural women in the participating countries. In addition, an economic profile for each country was to be included.
The design of the study and the collection of data was entrusted to the Mikkeli Institute for Rural Research and Training, University of Helsinki. 3 Ten countries were involved in the project: Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia (Albania and Romania were invited but did not participate).
(3 The Letter of Agreement specified the following responsibilities for the Mikkeli Institute: (i) research work, preparation of a data collection instrument, data collection at country level, correspondence and communication, processing and analyzing of data, consultancy; (ii) preparation of individual country reports (country profiles); and, (iii) production and dissemination of a scientific report and information on the results of the project. The report was written by Dr. Pirjo Siiskonen.)
The ministry of agriculture of each participating country nominated a national counterpart (hereinafter referred to as the "Focal Informant"), and charged with collection of data for the study. FAO/REU and the Mikkeli Institute organized a workshop for all focal informants on the process of data collection, the content of the questionnaire, information sources, the validity and reliability of the data, and the project timetable. The workshop was held in Nitra, Slovakia (17 to 19 January 1994).
The preliminary results of the data and analysis were presented and distributed at the 7th Session of the Working Party on Women and Families in Rural Development, held from 18 to 21 October 1994 in Athens. Following this session, a draft of the preliminary results was sent to all the focal informants in order to correct any faults and completing the missing data.
