The project sought to accomplish the following objectives: 1. Inspire and guide the creation of repair communities of practice in European rural areas; 2. Develop a significant number of local Repair Cafes in small and interior rural areas together with the local community; 3. Promote the exchange of best practices between organizations organizing Repair Cafes in Rural areas and with European Makers specialized in Repair Communities; 4. Stimulate new forms of collaboration between grassroots organizations toward the goal of active and structured intervention in adult education; 5. Pilot a mobility scheme for future Repair exchanges in the sector of Adult education; 6. Better understand the specificities of Repair Communities in Rural areas and the potentialities of these activities in such territories; 7. Promote the values of Erasmus+ and European exchange within isolated rural communities, through the promotion of peer-to-peer learning and grassroots activities; 8. Supporting opportunities for participants in acquiring and developing key competencies, including basic skills, to foster employability, socio-educational and personal development, as well as participation in civic and social life.
We applied to this project because all partners shared the same belief that Repair Cafes should extend beyond urban settings, serving as a catalyst for waste reduction and supporting a circular economy also in rural areas. Based on each organization's experience working in rural villages, we understood the potential impact of Repair Cafés on the promotion of social inclusion, stimulating community participation, and advancing lifelong learning and informal education for adults. We also sought to share and learn from our partners and European makers, specifically their skills in setting up Repair Cafés, teaching troubleshooting and Repair to small communities, and logistics involved in organizing such events in a territory with undeniable specificities as small interior rural areas. The development of such a project favored that exchange, ensuring it enhanced the unique experiences of each participating organization. Finally, we were also driven by the desire to give our local communities and other repair communities in Europe the opportunity to also learn and benefit from an Erasmus project which brings cultural and social exchange, and inspire other communities in rural Europe to start their own local repair communities.