* NEEDS AND MOTIVATION Although rural development is crucial for economic and social growth, young people living in rural areas tend to face unique challenges that affect their quality of life and well-being. Among other things, a European research project called Rural NEET Youth, coordinated by ISCTE and funded by the European Union, highlights the challenges faced by young people in rural areas: -> They have limited resources in terms of access to services and opportunities (educational, professional, social, cultural, etc.); -> They are more exposed to the fragility of the economy in these areas, experiencing high levels of unemployment and precariousness. They are also more exposed to phenomena such as absenteeism and/or early school leaving; -> Territorial inequalities in access to employment and education opportunities make these young people more vulnerable to becoming NEETs (neither studying nor working). In fact, rural areas have the most young NEETs; -> The most qualified young people in rural areas tend to leave, while the least qualified stay. The latter "find it harder to leave and are condemned to precariousness (...) They are often left with the opportunities that remain". All this contributes to young people in rural areas being more exposed to multidimensional situations of vulnerability, which affect their well-being. As a result of these challenges, these young people tend to face a problem that urgently needs to be addressed: their poor quality of life and mental health. Faced with this problem and its multidimensional causes, young people in rural areas live with the need to benefit from opportunities that will enable them to become more resilient, more aware of their potential, more future-oriented, more dynamic and proactive, etc., which could lead them to build more successful futures on a personal, social and professional level, etc. and thus improve their quality of life and mental health. An effective way of supporting this development in young people is by exploiting their skills, particularly through non-formal education. For an effective intervention at this level, it is crucial to activate all organizations that can contribute to the work within the youth sector and non-formal education - including NGOs, schools, youth centers, public bodies, etc. - for conscious, articulated and committed work with rural young people, which helps to deconstruct the challenges they face. But the truth is that the technicians/organizations relevant to the youth sector are not (yet) prepared to intervene in this field, especially those who usually work more in the formal sector. And that's why this project came about, to ensure that the technicians who work with young people are properly prepared to take on this commitment and responsibility. We therefore prepared a project that took into account the needs of these technicians, such as the need to understand young people's challenges more deeply, to develop additional professional skills, to recognize new tools and working methods (including non-formal ones), etc. * PROJECT IDEA That's how this project came about, in which we brought together experts and organizations with the potential to contribute to work in the youth sector, from 8 geographical contexts, who participated in the project with a view to building their capacity, recognizing effective working practices in working with young people in rural areas and creating sustainable working networks, including at an international level. What we wanted was that, at the end of the project, these technicians would be able to support young people in improving their quality of life and mental health, particularly by exploring the methodology of non-formal education as a driver of skills development in rural young people (which gives them greater capacity to deal with their challenges and, from there, to build successful futures). * SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES Based on this explanation, we can say that the main objective of this project was to contribute to the professional development of technicians working in the youth sector, so that they are able to support young people in rural areas to combat their current low quality of life and mental health. Our specific objectives were: -> Deepen technicians' knowledge of young people's challenges, particularly in terms of their low quality of life and mental health; -> Promote the development of skills in technicians; -> Deepen practitioners' knowledge of the methodology of non-formal education as a response to the challenges faced by rural young people; -> Strengthen European cooperation to create common responses to problems that are also common to the European context.