Stepping Up for Rural Communities - Development and Participation

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. Taking into consideration the above context, this training course is to give its participants an opportunity to reflect on the concept of participation seen as a way of increasing the involvement of young people in the rural/deprived urban areas they work with. Participating youth workers will get to know a set of practical tools on how to motivate young people, how to identify their needs and how to encourage them to mobilize around social issues that are crucial for their communities. In result, participants are expected to develop a better understanding of the participation itself and to increase their professional capacities for organizing projects that stay in accordance with the specific needs of young people from geographically disadvantaged areas.