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Stepping Up for Rural Communities - Development and Participation
Start date: Sep 1, 2016, End date: Mar 31, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Young people living in disadvantaged rural areas are facing many difficult challenges in their everyday life. They are often suffering from having limited access to educational opportunities, which in turn diminishes their chances on the labor market. Low level of community involvement among young people from rural areas is commonly seen as a direct result of the above mentioned obstacles. However, we believe that the community involvement should actually be perceived as the solution to those problems. By committing to work for the benefit of their surrounding, young people become more active, gain valuable knowledge and develop many essential social skills that can serve as a great advantage in both their professional and personal life.Young people from geographically disadvantaged areas often have a will to get more involved in their community life, but they are lacking information on how to do so, as there are not enough projects and activities fitting their specific expectations and needs. We find it essential to educate youth workers active in disadvantaged areas on the benefits of creating more participatory based projects and to equip them with practical tools enabling them to recognize the expectations of youth they work with. The proposed project is to gather 28 youth workers and young leaders from both Program and Eastern Partnership countries and provide them with a space to discuss the specifics of working with youth from disadvantaged communities, explore different aspects of participation and equip them with tools and methods for promoting it in their respective home communities. The project objectives are defined as follows:- exploring practical tools and methods for increasing active participation of young people from geographically disadvantaged areas- discussing the specific challenges and identifying possible solutions connected to work with youth with fewer opportunities (comming from geographically disadvantaged regions)- exploring the concept of participation and its connection to improving the community life in disadvantaged areas- providing participants with an opportunity to create a concrete action plan for increasing of their target groups that can be implemented upon coming back to their respective home communities- establishing a network of like-minded organizations and individuals who are interested in further cooperation on the topics connected to rural development and work with youth with fewer opportunities The project is to increase participating youth workers' professional capacities in terms of promoting youth participation that can bring benefits both to the individuals as well as contribute to a sustainable development of geographically disadvantaged communities. In a long term perspective the project shall result in an increase openness amongst youth workers to use more innovative and creative methods, which in turn should contribute to a higher quality of their everyday work for promoting social inclusion.
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