A.R.O.S.E. (Agriculture and Rural Opportunity for a Sustainable Europe)

Nowadays, is usual for rural youth moving towards urbanized centres, to seek for a wider job offer and for better living conditions in general. Meanwhile, a great share of young people (29% of 16-29 years old aged) still living in remote and rural zones is at risk of social exclusion and poverty (Eurostat, 2016), along with the highest registered percentage of NEETs (neither employed nor in education or training) in average across the European Union. When investigating the rate of NEETs, according to the level of urbanization (cities, towns and suburbs, rural areas) by country, emerged a notable difference between young people in rural areas compared to those living in cities. For example, in Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia was registered an higher gap between rural and city living youth, with an higher rate of NEETs in rural areas. In contrast, in Belgium and Austria the most urgent ratio of NEETs was reported in high-urbanized area (Eurostat, Neet by degree of urbanization, 2019). European rural population accounts for more than 20% of the total (European Union: agriculture statistical factsheet, DG Agriculture and rural development, 2020), with almost 2 million Km2 of predominantly rural areas across the territory of European Union (EU-27), which is around 44% of the whole territory. Furthermore, since across Europe the greatest portion of elderly people is living in rural area, at the same time is steadily decreasing the resource of young people who will guarantee the future of the development of these areas of maximum interest for the whole European Union.
The objective of the project is to motivate young women and men from both rural and more urbanized area to meet up, at first to foster european integration and cooperation and also to hopefully stimulate a sense of entrepreneurship in the primary sector, through practical activities on vegetable garden, greenhouse, roadside stands of homegrown fruits and vegetables, direct marketing, and visits to local farmers. Therefore, blending non-formal and informal learning, we will encourage them to seek for new innovative ideas, explore and grew their own aspiration towards an actual sustainable rural Europe.