Royal Decree 1268/2018, setting out the conditions regulating the concession of subsidies to rural women’s enterprises throughout the country was published on 11 October.

This legislation regulates economic aid disbursed to women's entities that carry out training activities supporting the participation of this grouping in the development of the areas where they live, contributing to the improvement of their working and living conditions.

Given that rural women throughout the country face a common set of issues and conditions, the Royal Decree stipulates, on a one-off basis for 2018, that the subsidies will be managed centrally.

The main points of the Royal Decree, which subsidizes activities relating to the role of rural women in the economic development of the rural environment and, specifically, activities which they can access in the same conditions as men, are as follows:

Beneficial entities: requirements and duties

The entities eligible for subsidies are associative groupings of rural women that comply with the requirements stipulated in the Royal Decree. They must: be legally constituted as such and filed on the corresponding national public register, be not-for-profit, be up to date with their fiscal obligations and have regular projects promoting rural women, among others.

Amount

No single beneficiary may apply for more than 20% of the entire amount available in the tender.

Activities eligible for subsidies

Enterprises applying must present a single project containing the proposal of activities designed to achieve the goals in the regulation:

• Entrepreneurship and inclusion of women in economic activity in the rural environment
• Opportunities offered by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for involving young women in agricultural activity and access to the other measures in rural development programs
• Greater uptake of shared ownership of farming businesses
• Access by women to the governing bodies of institutions linked to agricultural activity and rural development

The activities eligible for subsidies will consist of holding training sessions on subjects relating to these goals. These must be face-to-face sessions lasting at least 4 hours a day and be attended by at least 15 people, at least 80% of whom must be women. This 80% must fit within further ratios of the attending women’s ages: 15% should be women under 41 and 30% should be women over 65.

Other points covered

The regulation also sets out the assessment criteria for accepting applications, expenses that can be subsidized, compatibility and threshold of the funds available, among other administrative and procedural matters.