Project organizator: Agrupamento de Escolas de Aguiar da Beira 

The Training Course will take place between the 9th and 13th of May 2024 in Aguiar da Beira, Portugal.

While rural development is crucial for economic and social growth, young people living in rural areas tend to face unique challenges that affect their quality of life and well-being.

Among others, a European research project, called Rural NEET Youth, coordinated by ISCTE, and funded by the European Union, highlights the following challenges for young people in rural areas:

• Have limited resources in terms of access to services and opportunities (educational, professional, social, cultural, etc.);
• They are more exposed to the fragility of the economy of these territories, experiencing high levels of unemployment and precariousness. They are also more exposed to phenomena such as absenteeism and/or early school leaving;
• Territorial inequalities in access to employment and education opportunities make these young people more vulnerable to becoming NEETs. In fact, rural areas have the most young NEETs;
• There is a tendency for the most qualified young people in rural areas to leave the territories, while the least qualified ones stay. The latter "find it more difficult to leave and are condemned to precariousness (...) They are often left with the opportunities that remain.

All this contributes to young people in rural areas being more exposed to multidimensional situations of vulnerability, which condition their well-being. Therefore, as a result of these challenges, these young people tend to face a problem that requires an urgent response: their low quality of life and mental health.

Working language: English

Number of Participants: 24 (4 for Slovakia)

Participating countries: Portugal, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Spain, Slovakia