LEARNVIL project has created ecological and social added value of spaces facing demographic challenges (high aging index, depopulation). To accomplish this, LEARNVIL focused on green tractor elements: gardening, eco-agriculture, agrarian heritage, rural landscape. Community engagement, rural development and dynamization, heritage education, environmental education and tourism atraction have been leveraged zed by these "green" tractor elements Learning Villages is our inspiration model. Learning Villages are communities that think and plan together the shape and future of their places. International connections have inspired them and helped them to achieve these aims and to foster active European citizenship in their inhabitants. Learning by doing and learning by projects adult education have played a key role in these processes. Creativity interdisciplinar injections in less favoured peripheral rural areas can help to stop negative population trends and attract tourism and new residents. LEARNVIL pilot programme have been set up in eight selected villages. These learning villages have been: - the object of study and ethnographical, sociological, and economical research, social diagnosis and tourism and atraction potential feasibility studies and reports. - a scenario for Learning-by-doing Adult Education on active citizenship, health & safety, participatory budget, digital competencies, rural entrepreneurship, cultural heritage management, sustainable tourism and environmental education - context and object of strategical thinking and long and short-term planning - the center of a strategy to impact on their tourism attraction, cultural heritage and landscape valorization, environmental social awareness, community decision and action (specially in times of pandemies and health emergencies) - places for programs of health and well-being active ageing for older adults An International Training and Coaching Programme has included: - a Learning and Knowledge Sharing Community in EPALE platform - 6 presential international thematic weeks that have developed conferences, learning activities, expert workshops. - Local Coaching and Training programs in each of the five villages LEARNVIL has contributed (and its effects will continuously develop in the following years) to change the 5 learning villages inside and outside. It has empowered their communities and embellished their corners. The project and its outcomes have been submitted for the Europa Nostra Heritage Awards. How deep has LEARNVIL impacted these learning villages has depended and will depend on community engagement. For this, local authorities and civil associations' support has been crucial and they will continue to be associated partners and life-long adult learners during the next years and projects.
The LEARNVIL project aimed to concentrate adult education and cultural creativity in depopulated villages with the following objectives: - Generate knowledge to address and manage contemporary challenges in depopulated rural Europe. - Develop adult education and guidelines for active citizenship in the fields of learning villages, public management, participatory budgeting, responsible consumption, environmental education, community action in a pandemic crisis, and active aging and well-being. - Create an international applied educational community action program focusing on gardening, agrarian heritage, rural landscape interpretation and management, and ecoagriculture as essential elements for sustainable development. - Establish and strengthen artistic and cultural events (such as exhibitions and festivals) and design programs for pilot learning villages. - Internationalize the villages by promoting twinning arrangements, integrating them into international networks and partnerships. - Explore creative solutions for planning the physical environment and cultural landscape, including the development of cultural corridors and thematic routes. - Enhance local responses and reduce vulnerability to external forces.
Demographic challenges are critical in some European peripheral areas, culture and heritage are fundamental tools for facing them. The LEARNVIL strategic partnership aimed to contribute to Education for Rural Transformation (ERT) and sustainable development by implementing a range of strategic training, networking, community practices, and internationalization efforts in a selection of pilot learning villages. Concentrating human capital and strategic resources in rural areas at risk of depopulation is particularly important in less-favored peripheral rural regions. Our challenge has been and continues to be fostering rural development and community dynamization through creative and innovative management of arts, culture, and cultural heritage. Education, mediation, and community participation are fields that require intensive work in both rural and urban areas to enhance European active citizenship and promote high-quality participatory democracy. Learning territories and learning villages serve as models and principles to inspire community-based planning and budgeting, as well as encourage social participation in the management and governance of cultural heritage.