Rural Albanian Youth (RURAL-YOU)
Volontari nel Mondo RTM (Coordinator)
ADAD Malore (Co-beneficiary)
Agropuka (Co-beneficiary)
Partnership for Development Foundation – PfD (Co-beneficiary)
Albanian Network for Rural Development – ANRD (Affiliated Entity)
AGIA – Association of Young Agricultural Entrepreneurs (Associate, Italy)
Beneficiaries:
– 200 individuals in target areas aged 18-35 years;
– 12 formal grassroots organisations based in the target areas and active in project priority sectors (agriculture, environment and sustainable tourism);
– 14 Local authorities (no. 3 Regions, no. 11 Municipalities);
– 60 young individuals within Rural Youth Hub (RYH), pilot group operating under ANRD umbrella, expressing the voice of young people in rural Albania and promoting self-activation by rural youth.
01.02.2021 - 31.10.2023
Overall Objective
To strengthen rural youth’s interest representation and contribution to the implementation of Albania’s EU accession agenda in the agricultural and rural development sector.
Summary of the Project
Rural-You is an invitation to look at the rural world from the youth perspective: it aims to involve motivated rural young people to play an active role and contribute to rural development and decision-making processes; it enhances youth participation in the social, economic and political life of rural and remote communities of Northern Albania in the medium-term. Adopting a bottom-up approach, support to rural youth is applied to 3 levels and through 3 clusters of activities: AC1) Awareness, AC2) Activism, AC3) Network. Thus, the project supports rural youth in better understanding existing sector policies, opportunities and perspectives (AC1), mobilizing local resources for /sustainable growth of local economies (AC2), and promoting constructive dialogue among young people and with public authorities (AC3).
Activities
ACTIVITY CLUSTER NO.1 – “AWARENESS”
1.1 Youth-friendly and community-wide information campaign on Albania’s
agriculture and rural development reform in the three target areas;
1.2 Training of Trainers (ToT) for leaders and managers of Albanian partner
CSOs on rural youth empowerment;
1.3 Professional training course for target grassroots organisations and local
authorities on rural youth empowerment;
1.4 Training course for young people from target areas focusing on youth
entrepreneurship in the agricultural and rural development sector;
1.5 Social media campaign on good practices and success stories of youth
activism from target groups in partnership with young communication
professionals and Albanian Diaspora associations.
ACTIVITY CLUSTER NO.2 – “ACTIVISM”
2.1 Set-up of the RURAL-YOU Endowment Fund;
2.2 Information campaign and coaching actions to potential applicants to
RURALYOU funding opportunities and other available schemes for rural youth;
2.3 Financial and technical support to sector grassroots organisations for
medium-scale initiatives focusing on youth employment and professional
development;
2.4 Financial and technical support to informal youth groups/individuals for the
start-up and/or promotion of small-scale entrepreneurial and self-employment
initiatives in the agricultural and rural development sector;
2.5 Participatory monitoring & evaluation (PM&E) of youth initiatives funded
under the RURAL-YOU Fund in cooperation with target local authorities.
ACTIVITY CLUSTER NO.3 – “NETWORK”
3.1 Participatory workshops to develop the internal organisation and the
strategic planning of the Rural Youth Hub;
3.2 Peer-to-peer visits for Rural Youth Hub members for experience-sharing
with substantial rural youth initiatives at the country and EU level;
3.3 Training course on advocacy for rural development for Rural Youth Hub
members.
Results
Outcome 1: Increased awareness among target groups on the role of youth in Albania’s agriculture and rural development reform;
Outcome 2: Increased activism of young people on rural sustainable
development of target areas;
Outcome 3: Consolidated the Rural Youth Hub (RYH) platform as a pilot
experience to engage young people living in remote areas in networking actions
and policy dialogue.
