The project aimed to empower youth workers as key catalysts for social and business development in disadvantaged rural areas, which constitute half of Europe's territory but face economic challenges and migration issues. By focusing on social businesses, defined as entities addressing social, economic, and environmental issues, our objectives were working on two levels. Firstly, we intended to showcase successful social businesses in rural regions and small towns through mapping at least ten exemplary cases in each partner country. Secondly, we aimed to enhance the knowledge of youth workers in rural areas by developing an innovative online educational source, dedicated to inspire young people for social ideas and their transformation into businesses. These goals align with EU priorities in the youth sector, fostering quality, innovation, and active citizenship while directly promoting youth entrepreneurship, particularly social entrepreneurship, in rural areas. The anticipated outcomes included the identification of social business best practices and the creation of a valuable online resource for youth workers facilitating the development of impactful social ideas and businesses.
We applied with this project to address the challenge of rural areas being perceived as unattractive to young people. While acknowledging their desire to explore the world, we recognized the unrealized potential in these regions for new economic opportunities beyond traditional agriculture. Our initiative aimed to bridge the knowledge gap in social businesses, particularly among youth workers and young individuals in rural areas throughout the EU. Through the creation of online educational content, our project planned to not only equip youth workers with essential skills but also foster the development of social ideas, contributing to improved entrepreneurship thinking in these regions. This effort, previously unseen in our local and national contexts, wanted to deliver a positive impact on our organizations, participating youth workers, and the overall local and regional environments. Crucially, we wanted to involve young people in the pilot testing phase to gather feedback vital for refining the educational content, ensuring its effectiveness in nurturing social ideas and entrepreneurship. The strategic partnership formed with Zarika, ICAD and Aspira leveraged their expertise in social entrepreneurship and youth work development