YOUTH RE-WORKING RURAL - Fostering youth entrepreneurship and local development in rural areas through co-working and spaces reconversion

Start date 01-09-2017–End date 31-08-2019

EU Grant–187.097,82 €

Programme–Erasmus+

Key Action:

Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Action Type:

Strategic Partnerships for youth

Countries covered–6

Coordinator

Studiesenteret.no

Strandveien 6A

9350 Sjøvegan

Troms

 🇳🇴 Norway

Coordinator Type: Non-governmental organisation/association/social enterprise

Phone: +4741613301

Contact Person

 Name: Astrid Hogmo

 Email: astrid.hogmo@me.com

 Phone: +4799434031

Summary

Youth Re-working Rural project brought together 7 partners from 6 EU countries (Norway, Italy, Spain, Greece, Latvia and Slovenia), which decided to cooperate transnationally to tackle common challenges. Project involved rural areas characterized by different pre-assessed economic vocation but experiencing common territorial challenges such as: economic reconversion from traditional sectors to services sector and knowledge based activities, low population density, decrease of inhabitants due to migration towards big cities, brain drain of young people, quite high youth unemployment rates for most of the partners. The economic reconversion has furthermore caused the presence of empty, abandoned buildings previously used for economic activities, that need to be reconverted and exploited economically to contribute to local development and youth employment. Considering that young people with sense of initiative cannot find easily in rural areas appropriate spaces and professional networks to improve their competences and self-employment potentialities, the project’s main objective was to promote co-working spaces as a concept to reconvert abandoned spaces and to encourage entrepreneurship and self-employment among young people as a new form of employee-driven innovation (EDI).

 Its specific objectives were:

 - to promote employment and entrepreneurship in European rural areas by increasing young people capabilities to reconvert empty spaces to host co-working and hubs activities;

 - to promote youth skills and competencies for the development of co-working spaces/incubators focused on the economic vocation of the territories;

 - to foster youth entrepreneurship, networking, training and new opportunities for local development.

Project involved directly in training activities more than 100 young people, aged for the majority between 20 and 30 years, interested in the topics covered by the project (co-working, spaces reconversion and youth entrepreneurship and business networking) and in personal development. Project innovativeness was based on direct involvement of associated partners and local development stakeholders in project activities.

Project activities included: management, evaluation and monitoring activities; tasks dedicated to the production of the Intellectual Outputs and achieving the set objectives and outcomes, measures for dissemination, exploitation and provision of sustainability, a blended learning activity. Project foresaw the production, use, validation and promotion of 6 intellectual outputs: state of the art and map of opportunities (IO1), EQF of the co-working start-upper (IO2), training program (IO3), e-book for the start-up and management of co-working spaces (IO4), virtual community for local development through co-working (IO5), best practices and open challenges booklet “Fostering youth entrepreneurship and local development in rural areas through co-working and spaces reconversion” (IO6). IO6 is extremely important to guarantee sustainability of the project and continuous work on the issues covered. All intellectual outputs are uploaded on the website and on Erasmus + project results platform; moreover IO3 is available also in a video format on You Tube.

C1 activity was fundamental to achieve in a concrete way project objectives as youth worked on the reconversion of existing abandoned spaces and delivered real business models exploitable at EU level. Main feedbacks are collected in a video and in IO6.

Dissemination activities were designed ad hoc for the new virtual generation and to assure transferability of products and results. Key sustainability measures have been foreseen by the partners to assure use of projects results and follow-up actions.

Main results achieved are:

 - youth living in rural areas with newly acquired or reinforced key competences - including basic, transversal and soft skills, entrepreneurial and digital skills – of the co-working start-upper;

 - unemployed youth with increased opportunities of self-employment and employability thanks to the relevant skills gained for exploiting potentialities of territories through the reconversion and management of spaces,

 - youth with reinforced open up mindset for cross-sectorial cooperation allowing greater synergies with other professionals/workers/stratuppers and across different business and local development actors, including members of the Virtual Community.

Apart for benefits on young people, the project has a short and long term impact on the other actors involved. Project partners have reinforced their cooperation opportunities and their ability to train young people and start co-working activities, stakeholders have increased their awareness on the importance and need of co-working for rural areas.

Local communities involved will benefit as youth increased capabilities to exploit potential of territories will lead to socio economic development through skills retention and virtuous circulation of ideas.

WEBPAGE: https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/projects/search/details/2017-2-NO02-KA205-000946

Partners

ASOCIACION AEI CLUSTER DE TURISMO DE EXTREMADURA 🇪🇸 Spain

AVENIDA DE LA UNIVERSIDAD S/N EDIFICIO VALHONDO

10003 CACERES

Extremadura

 🇪🇸 Spain

Partner Type: Non-governmental organisation/association/social enterprise

Phone: +34927260292

BIEDRIBA EUROFORTIS 🇱🇻 Latvia

ANNINMUIZAS BULVARIS 38-37

1067 RIGA

 🇱🇻 Latvia

Partner Type: Non-governmental organisation/association/social enterprise

Phone: +37127763451

CIAPE - CENTRO ITALIANO PER L'APPRENDIMENTO PERMANENTE 🇮🇹 Italy

VIA BADIA DI CAVA 104 sc. R int. 2

00142 ROMA

Lazio

 🇮🇹 Italy

Partner Type: Non-governmental organisation/association/social enterprise

Phone: +393475645583

FUNDACION ECOÁNIME 🇪🇸 Spain

AVDA. CONSTITUCION 35 1-B

06400 DON BENITO

Extremadura

 🇪🇸 Spain

Partner Type: Non-Profit making cultural organizations

Phone: +34697984496

INSTITUTE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT 🇬🇷 Greece

IROON POLITECHNIOU 169

412 22 LARISSA

Θεσσαλία (Thessalia)

 🇬🇷 Greece

Partner Type: Non-governmental organisation/association/social enterprise

Phone: +302410626943

Montefeltro Sviluppo Società Consortile a Responsabilità Limitata 🇮🇹 Italy

Via Manzoni n.25

61049 Urbania

Marche

 🇮🇹 Italy

Partner Type: Social partner or other representative of working life (chambers of commerce, trade union, trade association)

Phone: +390721781599

STEP Institut, zavod za psihologijo dela in podjetnistvo 🇸🇮 Slovenia

Kaminova 8

1000 Ljubljana

Osrednjeslovenska

 🇸🇮 Slovenia

Partner Type: School/Institute/Educational centre – Adult education

Phone: +38640467750