Background Sweden is a big country, with a small population. The distance between societies can in some cases be huge and at the same time Sweden is undergoing the biggest urbanization since the nineteen century. Rural societies, such as Melleruds Kommun, are depleted of their habitants and a major consequence is that smaller municipalities will have great difficulties in offering law regulated services to their habitants. Every smaller Swedish society has to adapt to these circumstances and focus on rural development. Melleruds Kommun has since 2009 been an EVS organization. We have learned a lot from our past experiences and wanted this time around to create a more meaningful experience for the volunteers. We created a project that actually addresses a real problem and that will have real consequences if applied and successfully completed. The project This project has two aims. First, to address the growing problem of diminishing population as a consequence of urbanization. In this issue we address specifically rural development. Second, to broader our views and understanding from the perspective of our volunteers, and to develop our international relations with other organizations. Our objective is to elaborate and produce different methods and practices that address the growing problem of urbanization. The role of the volunteer The EVS volunteer will take the role of project leader/member in projects concerning discriminations, social inequality and rural development. All of these projects are connected and will run simultaneous. For example, the project concerning discrimination will focus on interviewing young adults in a rural perspective. We are interested in understanding their concept and feeling on discrimination. At the same time the project of social inequality is closely linked with discrimination. In this project we are concerned with comparing social stature, income and grades in a rural context. The last project will focus on summarizing the knowledge acquired in the earlier projects. We will concern ourselves with identifying strategies for developing rural societies. In the role as a project member the volunteer will learn both the theoretical and practical aspects behind running a project. In the role of Project Manager the volunteer will increase its involvement and learn how to lead a smaller organization and to run independent projects that fall within the scope of our guidelines. We prefer that the project coincides with the general theme but we encourage the volunteer to follow their own ambitions as long as it coincides with our general values. Neither the role as project member/manager nor the type of responsibility is equivalent to an employee of the municipality. Volunteers will have obligations that are reasonable to their knowledge and in the spirit of EVS. They will be treated as equals but will lack the overall responsibility and obligations. The responsibility will primarily rest on our investigators and not on the volunteer. But in the end, we will always put the volunteer in the center and the tasks will be tailored to his ability and genuine interest. The EVS volunteers will have various tasks. It can be all from assist the personal with writing journals, examine statistics, analyze quantitative and qualitative data, arrange meetings with external parties and conduct inquiries.