Eco-Entrepreneurship for Rural Development aims to strengthen the capacities of youth workers in rural Europe to better address the economic, social, and ecological challenges faced by young people. Rural youth across the continent encounter structural disadvantages compared to their urban peers, including fewer job opportunities, weaker infrastructure, and limited exposure to innovation or mobility. These barriers translate into higher unemployment, precarious jobs, and increased outmigration. Youth workers are often the first point of contact for young people in these regions, yet they lack specific competences and resources to connect ecological sustainability with entrepreneurial opportunities. EcoRuralYouth provides a practical response that aligns the urgent needs of rural youth with the European Union’s strategic priorities on youth empowerment, sustainable growth, and rural revitalisation. Across the EU, youth unemployment stands at 14.4 % compared to a general unemployment rate of 5.9 %, with rural areas particularly affected by seasonal, informal, and low-wage work that pushes young people to migrate to urban centres. Among partner countries, Spain (23.5 %) and Portugal (21.2 %) report some of the highest youth unemployment rates, while France (16.6 %), Croatia (16.8 %), and Türkiye (15.6 %) also face significant challenges, especially in rural zones suffering from depopulation, weak labour markets, and limited access to innovation. The situation is more acute in Romania, where rural youth unemployment exceeds 30 % and nearly one in five young people are NEETs, while Germany, despite its relatively low rate of 6.7 %, still struggles with rural outmigration and innovation gaps indicates that rural youth across Europe remain disproportionately disadvantaged and that eco-entrepreneurship offers a promising pathway forward. Our project is connected fully with European priorities, responding to the EU Youth Strategy 2019–2027, which calls for young people to be engaged, connected, and empowered, while also addressing evidence that rural youth remain under-represented in EU initiatives. At the same time, the European Green Deal, the Nature Restoration Law (2024), and the Clean Industrial Deal (2025) frame sustainability, circularity, and eco-innovation as central to Europe’s growth, opening new opportunities for rural youth through green entrepreneurship. Aligned with the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas (2021) and the EU Rural Action Plan, the project equips youth workers with the competences to translate these policies into practice, fostering eco-entrepreneurship as a driver of rural revitalisation across Europe. Even though, the issues continue to be challenging in the participating countries; local capacity of youth workers remains insufficient to respond to the challenges rural youth face and provide them with mentoring skills to engage them in entrepreneurial activities. Youth workers often lack practical knowledge of eco-entrepreneurship, pedagogical tools to adapt complex green transition concepts to local realities, and transnational networks to exchange good practices. The needs are twofold: first, to provide youth workers with professional development that enhances their ability to guide rural youth towards sustainable livelihood opportunities; and second, to strengthen youth organisations’ capacity to integrate eco-entrepreneurship into regular youth work practice. Addressing these needs will empower youth workers to act as multipliers, fostering resilience and creativity among rural youth and reducing the gap between rural and urban Europe. The project pursues the following objectives: - Strengthen competences of youth workers in eco-entrepreneurship, sustainable rural development, and non-formal education methodologies - Equip youth workers with practical tools and methods (curricula, mentoring frameworks, eco-challenge formats) tailored to rural realities and transferable across partner countries - Foster transnational cooperation among youth organisations, universities, and local stakeholders to create supportive ecosystems for rural eco-entrepreneurship - Support local pilot actions led by youth workers, engaging rural youth in designing and testing small-scale eco-entrepreneurial initiatives in their communities - Embed results into long-term practice, ensuring that partner organisations integrate eco-entrepreneurship into their regular youth work and policy advocacy - Contribute to EU strategies by linking youth work with the European Green Deal, the EU Youth Strategy, and the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas, ensuring policy relevance and sustainability