We wanted to strengthen the capacity of our organisations to design, communicate, and deliver meaningful adult learning in ways that are practical, accessible, and rooted in our communities. A key aim was to improve our skills in areas such as project design, digital communication, teaching, facilitation, and collaboration. We also wanted to support people in our communities to take initiative, develop their own projects, and connect with others facing similar challenges. This included strengthening local communities and at the same time creating links across borders, especially between people and organisations in rural, remote, and peripheral areas of the EU. Another goal was to build and test formats for learning, networking, and knowledge-sharing that could continue beyond the project itself. We wanted to document what we learned, share useful practices with a wider audience, and make the results accessible to other adult learners and similar organisations. Overall, the project aimed to strengthen both organisational capacity and human connections, so that more people could act, collaborate, and contribute to sustainable and humane change.
We (Vihreä Pourusmäki and Luna Red) applied for this project to strengthen our ability to support individuals and communities in creating sustainable and humane ways of living. As relatively new organisations working in geographically peripheral areas, we faced challenges in reaching people, engaging communities, and delivering accessible adult education. We also wanted to learn to work with the EU project framework. Our internal main need was to improve our capacities and skills in digital tools, communication, project design, and collaboration. Strengthening these skills would allow us to offer more flexible and higher-quality learning opportunities and to better support people in developing their own initiatives. Many of the people we work with are motivated to contribute to positive change but lack the structures, networks, and practical support to do so. The project addressed this need by creating opportunities for learning, exchange, and collaboration across local and international contexts. Through this project, we aimed to strengthen both our organisations and our wider networks, enabling a ripple effect that supports community-led action and contributes to a wider eco-social movement in Europe.