Partnership-building activity for youth workers
Urban and rural organisations from eleven countries met at the farm to explore how green youth projects can support rural communities, and to start new partnerships.
Why
Rural areas across Europe and its neighbours face depopulation, few services and limited opportunities for young people. They also hold rich nature, strong traditions and great potential for sustainable regeneration. This activity, “ESC and Erasmus+ Green Projects as Opportunities for Rural Areas”, brought together urban and rural organisations working with Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps to explore how green youth projects can support rural communities, and to start new partnerships.
What happened
- NGO fair: each organisation presented its work, its goals and its “why”.
- Learning from the farm: a tour of La Buona Terra and a session on permaculture.
- Green Europe: the European green objectives and the funding opportunities open to youth organisations.
- From context to prototype: in mixed teams, participants analysed their contexts and designed new project ideas step by step.
- Intercultural evenings, evaluation and Youthpass.
Results
- New connections between urban and rural organisations, inside and outside the EU.
- New project ideas for future Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps calls.
- Average overall satisfaction: 9.1 out of 10 (9 responses).
“The NGO fair was a great opportunity to reflect about our own organisations and find out the goals and the ‘why’ of all the other participating organisations.” (a participant)
“When the learning process is driven by oneself rather than by following a set of predetermined steps, the learning is more meaningful, more effective and long-lasting.” (a participant, on their most valuable take-away)
