From RURAL to PLURAL: Building Rural Youth Ecosystems through the European Youth Village

Rural youth across Europe often face limited access to youth work capacity, fewer youth-friendly spaces, and weaker representation in local decision-making. The “From RURAL to PLURAL” approach shifts the focus from isolated actions to integrated ecosystems: from isolation to connection; from mono-structures to diverse, interlinked local systems; and from young people as “beneficiaries” to young people as co-creators with municipalities and community actors. 

We will use the European Youth Village and the experience of the previous European and National Rural Youth Summits as our learning lens. Participants will meet local youth initiative groups, municipal actors and practitioners, visit Sancraiu - a European Youth Village youth-friendly community, and work in mixed-country labs to translate learning into project concepts and policy-oriented follow-up. 

This study visit aims to:

Strengthen participants’ shared understanding of the European Youth Village and ERYS model as a practical framework for rural youth empowerment and participation. 

Build the capacity of rural youth organisations to translate local needs into participatory projects and partnerships using Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps opportunities. 

Support National Agencies and rural actors to connect policy intentions with grassroots realities, using the rural youth ecosystem lens for follow-up actions. 

Activities flow

Day 1 – Arrival & community welcome, expectation mapping.
Day 2 – European Youth Village in practice: the concept and what happened so far,local governance; dialogue with municipality; ecosystem mapping.
Day 3 – Sancraiu field visit - how it was transformed as a European Youth Village; peer exchange on inclusion, participation and community organising, partnership marketplace..
Day 4 – European Rural Youth Summit 4.0: needs for further development,  commitments, drafting the follow-up steps, evaluation.

Day 5 – Transfer; departures. 

Participants profile (at a glance)

We are looking for 30 participants who:

• represent rural youth organisations, local youth councils, community initiatives or youth work structures with a clear rural focus; 
• work in or with National Agencies (especially Inclusion & Diversity officers and youth sector coordinators) and want deeper understanding of rural youth ecosystems; 
• are youth policy makers, trainers or project leaders working on rural inclusion, participation and wellbeing; 
• Erasmus+ and/or ESC newcomers from rural areas who can realistically turn learning into concrete next steps. 

The participants should demonstrate: motivation linked to rural realities; relevance to their role/community; and commitment to follow-up (project ideas, dissemination, or internal NA learning transfer). 

Expected results: shared understanding of EYV/ERYS as a rural youth empowerment framework; stronger cross-country cooperation; concrete project and partnership ideas; short good-practice summary for dissemination through ERYS/SALTO channels. 

Learning Approach

The programme will combine: community-based field visits; stakeholder dialogue (youth initiative groups, municipal actors, practitioners); guided reflection and synthesis; and “project labs” where participants turn insights into draft actions and partnership concepts, including the next European Rural Youth Summit. 

Learning references include community organising and participatory rural planning as practical tools to support youth–municipality cooperation and to move rural youth from passive recipients to active co-creators.