Youth Work in Rural Areas – European Seminar

This European seminar focuses on youth work in rural, remote and isolated areas and on the role of Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps in supporting young people and organisations in these contexts.

Join this seminar to explore the reality of rural youth work across Europe, to discuss how to better reach and support young people with fewer opportunities, and to exchange practices on how European youth programmes can strengthen youth work in rural areas.
 

A seminar for organisations and institutions working with rural youth

The seminar is part of SPI – Strategic Partnership for Inclusion and Diversity, a long-term strategic partnership between European National Agencies (who will also be present at the seminar) aimed at increasing both the number and quality of projects involving young people with fewer opportunities. In particular, this activity falls within the “Rural strand” of SPI.

As a participant, you already have experience in youth work, youth policy or youth services. This seminar offers an opportunity to look more closely at the specific challenges and opportunities of working with young people in rural contexts and to explore the use of European programmes as tools for inclusion, learning and partnership building.

The seminar aims to deepen the understanding of youth work in rural areas and of the potential of Erasmus+ and ESC as instruments to support young people with fewer opportunities.

You can explore what kind of impact European youth programmes can have on young people, organisations and local communities in rural and remote areas.

Objectives

• Strengthen participants’ understanding of youth work in rural, remote and isolated areas in a European context
• Explore how Erasmus+ and ESC can support inclusion, learning and participation of young people with fewer opportunities
• Exchange practices between organisations, networks, public bodies and National Agencies
• Increase participants’ understanding of barriers and opportunities in implementing European youth programmes in rural areas
• Encourage partnership building and future cooperation focused on rural youth

This seminar is for 40 participants from Erasmus+ Programme Countries who are:

• Youth workers, representatives of organisations and local authorities who are directly or closely involved in the everyday realities of young people in rural, remote or isolated areas and who work to support their participation, learning, wellbeing or opportunities and who have experience in Erasmus+ and / or ESC programmes.
• Experts & researchers - People who bring research-based, analytical or policy-related perspectives on rural areas, inclusion field, youth work, and who can help place practice in a wider European and societal context.

This means the seminar is not aimed at:

• beginners in European youth programmes
• people without a clear role role in youth work, youth policy or youth services
• or organisations without a link to rural or isolated context
   

Programme and venue

Monday 18 May – arrivals from the afternoon and early evening onwards
Tuesday–Thursday 19–21 May – working days
Friday 22 May – departures after breakfast

The seminar will take place in Manosque, France. Manosque is a town with a population of 22,000, the largest in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department, about 1 hour from Marseille.This is a rural territory of hills and mountains with significant economic activity in the associatoins, the areas of specialised agriculture (lavender, honey, vines, olives, fruit, etc.), perfumes and cosmetics, and tourism. The department belongs to the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, which has cross-border cooperation agreements with Italy.

Small steps for a better world

In our activities we support the principle of a safer space, where no one is discriminated against or bullied because of their background or person. We want you to respect the same principle.

We want to enable the participation of people with all kinds of abilities. Please contact us so we can see if we can cater for your needs.

We also strive to make the world a little bit greener. We also encourage you to consider travelling to the destination on land as much as possible.