There is no legal definition for “SFSC animators”/ “SFSC facilitators” in any of the partner countries, this position/occupation does not exist as such in the Rural Facilitator partner countries. However, it should be mentioned that market organisers, animators of civil organisations, coordinators of LEADER local action groups and advisors of rural development programmes work on SFSC development in each European member state who more and less do similar activities to the planned rural facilitator programme.  These services collected and presented in previous stages of the project (including some best practice examples presented from each country) can help define what the future job of the “rural facilitator” could involve:

• leading the territorial, local food strategic plan, and its operational program, implement strategic and pre-operational studies,
• proposing and implementing sustainable governance, prepare, facilitate and coordinate monitoring bodies,
• contributing to networks of shareholders (European, national and local), organize and facilitate actions to raise awareness and mobilize food and consumer stakeholders,
• preparing all documents: draft deliberations, partnership agreements, technical reports, reports, carry out administrative and budgetary monitoring,
• organizing info days, social events, conferences, meetings, study tours, other professional events,
• organizing farmers' market and mapping other sales possibilities (online marketplaces, open farms programs, touristic events, box sales, direct sales, sales to wholesale consumers, etc.),
• networking: organizing festivals and other open events,
• offering legal consultancy to farmers,
• assistance with sales practices and building up a brand,
• managing PR and communication: editing publications, websites, databases, articles,
• organizing training, lectures, seminars, information exchange,
• providing administrative services (accountancy, access to credit and subventions),
• assistance in IT and other technological solutions,
• monitoring and reporting on the benefits of SFSCs,
• business management, tender writing, and control of projects,
• mapping and sharing successful management and logistic models, legally sound solutions

As a conclusion of the present research, we can affirm that one solution might be a sort of “rural business angels” who can plug the gaps across the value chains, namely the rural animators or rural facilitators. These specially trained persons will be able to:

• facilitate the access to the market of small farmers because they will be able to organise farmers’ associations,
• to promote dialogue between farmers and consumers- maybe there are no conflicts)
• look for special supports,
• analyse the changes of markets
• identify territorial needs to develop the most suitable short food chains.

The broad spectrum of knowledge and competence areas relevant for the human resource aspect of the SFSCs as identified in the present research:

• Knowledge concerning SUSTAINABLE RURAL DEVELOPMENT (environmental sustainability, social sustainability, local development methods and opportunities, issues related to community development, job creation, diversification of local income opportunities in the countryside, human ecology, small-scale food production, substantial knowledge in SFSCs, ecological production, environmental aspects of transportation, farmhouse keeping, food processing, hygiene, and health, agritourism).
• Very good KNOWLEDGE OF THE THREE SECTORS: public, private, and civil society, including a good understanding of their expectations and potential contributions to the partnership, as well as of potential conflicts of interest and ways to deal with them, understanding the potential and dynamics of civic groups.
• Knowledge and competencies regarding BUSINESS PLANNING (strategic thinking, ability to plan, identifying resources, resource management, financial management, recruitment, performance monitoring, supportive supervision, tender writing).
• Knowledge and competencies regarding SALES, MARKETING and USE OF TRADEMARK (sales channels, reaching out to potential consumers, logistics, building up a brand, use of social media, new trends in diet and tourism, symbolic, material, cultural, and ethical factors in food and other goods’ consumption).
• PROJECT MANAGEMENT SKILLS, including resource management and evaluation, needed to identify projects with a high potential to achieve strategic objectives and carry out the animator’s own activities (e.g., community meetings), which should be managed professionally.
• A wide range of SOCIAL COMPETENCES, SOFT SKILLS, including “facilitator” skills, motivating skills, skills to engage and mobilize potential partners, capability to reach out and involve also the most disadvantaged groups, educator skills, ability to stimulate and managing active learning processes, “integrator” skills, developing community bonds and communication, conflict resolution, networking, communication, teamwork, negotiation.
• KNOWLEDGE OF LEGISLATION (legal framework for SFSCs, applying legal requirements, verifying authorizations, verifying farm conditions, applying legislation regarding food security).
• Knowledge of IT AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES (building a website, IT marketing solutions, IT sales solutions, IT distance learning/development solutions, Technological solutions for food production and processing).
• PRACTICAL SKILLS related to such issues as the organization of meetings, moderation of workshops/discussion, methods of ensuring public participation, basic knowledge of agriculture, etc.
• One person cannot possess all the competencies, nevertheless, we listed all the needs which are relevant to the present SFSC era. The trained rural facilitators must identify those competencies which are necessary for forming cooperation between local farmers and consumers and support all the stages of the working supply chains. Thus, they will be able to invite other experts to provide better knowledge for production, sale, processing, logistics, communication, and organization.