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RURAL5GROWTH: Youth rural entrepeneurship based on ICT

2021-1-ES02-KA153-YOU-0000086152021Mobility of youth workersongoingGood practice
Countries: ES|RO|MK|FR|LV|NL · Grant: €16,020
Digital content, technologies and practicesEntrepreneurial learning - entrepreneurship educationYouth employability

Objectives

Relleu is a Spanish municipality in the province of Alicante in the Valencian Community. It has a registered population of 1.147 inhabitants, stand near cities such as Benidorm and Vila Joiosa and just 53 km from Alicante airport. It is located in the region of Marina Baixa, traditionally called Relleu de la Marina. The Town Council of Relleu as a public administration in charge of governing the town has no other mission greater than improve the lives of the citizens of the municipality, thus it is in charge of managing, developing and executing as many activities and actions are aimed at promoting the socio-economic, cultural, political, environmental development of the municipality. Although agriculture (mainly almond and olive trees) continues to be practiced, it is not as important as it was in the last century and today the economic source of relief depends mainly on the services sector. The Relleu Town Council develops activities aimed at young people from the point of view of formal and non-formal education. In this sense, it carries out activities to promote the higher educational development of young residents of the municipalities, developing initiatives that range from tuition and transportation scholarships for University and VET students to non-formal education activities aimed at young people that enhance their soft skills through areas such as entrepreneurship. In the entrepeneurs area, Relleu has a privileged natural heritage that allows the practice of outdoor sports that promote team spirit and cooperation, as well as respect for the environment. Youth unemployment is a problem that many rural territories currently face in the European Union due to the lack of investment, infrastructure and resources to provide their population with the necessary comforts to find employment. The Relleu City Council is implementing this type of digital entrepreneurship policies in rural areas through the recent implementation of 5G technology in the municipality. This has led to high internet connections for its inhabitants and the real possibility of teleworking from rural areas. This was the main idea behind RURAL5GROWTH: Youth Rural Entrepreneurship and New Technologies. Likewise, another added challenge for rural territories is that a large part of their young population leaves their homes to study in other cities, and in the vast majority of cases this population does not return to their place of birth. This problem generates the depopulation of these municipalities and there is no generational change, causing the age pyramid to age rapidly. Our recipe against these problems is through training in digital entrepreneurship and new technologies for the relocation of work in rural areas, so that young people can work remotely in entrepreneurship formulas but also for other companies in their municipality to any other place in the world. With the project RURAL5GROWTH: Youth Rural Entrepreneurship and New Technologies, the idea to achieve was that youth workers from different European countries after being trained, return to their countries and try to apply new skills and ideas. This mobility for the youth workers that was held in Relleu had a goal that youth workers from different European countries learn trough non-formal educational methods about the use of new technologies and how to apply that knowledge to work to seek or promote their entrepreneurship, thus reducing youth unemployment in rural areas. The activities carried out by the participating youth workers had a focus on different topics within ICT applied to remote employment: smart work formulas, remote productivity techniques and tools, social networks for job search, entrepreneurship formulas, Social Selling or online marketing of local products, among others. Through hharing good practices with youth workers around digital entrepreneurship two important problems were discussed: rural depopulation (since the exodus to larger cities is reduced) and, on the other hand, the decrease of income in the rural municipalities (the globalization of these young residents). The project aims were to: - Promote the use of ICT for entrepreneurship. - Provide resources to youth workers to fight youth unemployment. - Involve young rural population in European initiatives. - Create quality employment for everyone. - Provide rural territories with materials and resources to avoid depopulation. - Create employment and promote entrepreneurship in rural areas. - Exchange of good practices with other citizens and youth workers from other countries and related communities. - Promote cultural diversity, traditions and customs. All these objectives were carried out through different working methods, such as the use of different types of practical games such as team-building activities, ice-breaking, workshops, games to get to know each other, trust games, role exchanges, etc. Finally all activities were developed through the principles of non-formal education.

Project partners (6)