Across rural areas in Europe demographic and structural changes in the agricultural sector cause unprecedented challenges and problems which have to be addressed now in order for rural areas to stay viable in the future. This requires concerted action by the different actor groups shaping the future of the place they live in: political decision-makers, public administration and citizens. Rural local authorities, on the one hand, heavily rely on their citizens and need to encourage their more active engagement in shaping the future of the village, be it in the form of enabling the political participation of citizens in public planning and decision-making or encouraging citizens to engage in more voluntary actions to address issues of public concern (civic engagement). Citizens, on the other hand, need to become more active in public affairs. Designing a European course concept that can be applied in different political contexts and cultural backgrounds, the project promotes the mutual learning of the three mentioned actors groups in rural areas and considers both civic engagement and political participation in an integrated manner. This concept forms the basis for the development of national training curricula that take the different political framework conditions and cultural contexts into account. To test the concept, curricula will be developed and field-tested in DE, CZ, BG and the transferability of the training to the Estonian and Portuguese context will be assessed. As a result of the training, the different actor groups will know more about the relevant social changes and resulting challenges, a modern role-model of local administration in civil society; they are aware of each other's roles, responsibilities and expectations and are subsequently enabled to fulfil their civic roles mode adequately. The course concept and national curricula will be disseminated among educational institutions in the five countries and at the wider European level