The project has one main objective: to "correct" the lack of visibility of citizens of rural areas in the media by encouraging them to make their voices heard, to take part in public debate and democratic life, to talk about their daily lives, to make the identity of their territory better known, to tell their story. To do this, the project proposed to support, train and develop the skills of rural communities in the creation and animation of local, collaborative, participatory and independent digital media: blogs, webTV, mobile journalism, etc., so that these communities are able to speak out and be part of democratic life. RURAL STORIES aimed at reducing territorial inequalities, empowering rural citizens in their media voice, creating and sustaining communities and mobilizing organizations at the European level. The project wanted to address the challenges faced by rural territories in terms of social development, citizen participation, digital inclusion and experience sharing at the European level.
Partners motivation have found their roots in their commitment of several years for the development and the visibility of rural territories. Each of them, in their own country, has made the same observation: rural areas poorly covered by the media, populations lacking expression supports, cut off from the major media flows, suffering from the caricatured vision given of their way of life, little or not trained in new technologies, lack of awareness of digital tools possibilities. They are convinced that this invisibility is not a fatality and that rural populations, by being accompanied and trained in digital tools and journalistic techniques, can take "their story" in hand. The needs that this project has met are citizen participation with a proposal for empowerment and leadership tools in rural areas, but also a need for media literacy with the development of multimedia, alternative and participatory digital tools and training in the use of social networks. Finally, it is a need for social innovation that this project has responded to by giving non-specialists the opportunity to tell their identity.