RURALITIES (Climate-smart, ecosystem-enhancing, and knowledge-based rural expertise and training centers) is a five-year project supported by the European Commission through the Horizon Europe programme.
The project brings together 52 partners from European and African countries to tackle the challenges of sustainable rural development, with a budget of 4.4 million euros.
Climate change caused by Anthropogenic factors represents the main environmental threat to planetary systems, with immense impacts on ecosystems, food systems, and human well-being for some and human existence for most. Therefore, we need to create more resilient ecosystems, protect the environment and conserve nature while pursuing goals of societal development.
In this context, RURALITIES focuses on rural communities, which are most often underrepresented in the policies and strategies that shape the European ecological, digital, political, and social future. The complexity and diversity of rural areas are often overlooked, such as connections between rural and urban areas, socio-economic disparities, and the impacts of climate change.
Many rural areas face structural disadvantages, such as reduced access to services, economic stagnation, vulnerability to shocks enhanced by climate change, and a growing sense of being left behind.
The main aim of RURALITIES is to increase the capacity of rural areas to transform themselves into sustainable, productive, climate-neutral and resilient agricultural systems. The project delivers an ecosystem-enhancing and climate action-driven expertise and learning framework organised in hubs, comprising a series of innovative methodologies with the learner at its core, supported by a comprehensive network of living labs, and a digital platform combining the Internet and wireless technologies, to engage, connect and empower rural actors. RURALITIES Rural Thrive 2050 campaign aims to engage 100,000+ rural individuals.
Institute for Development and Innovation leads the process of engaging, connecting, and empowering actors of the rural scene by facilitating recruitment of 1,000+ facilitators, building a repository of 10,000+ actors, establishing RURALITIES training centres and developing a scalability plan.
Furthermore, IRI contributes by upgrading and adjusting impact measuring mechanisms (citizen sensing) and utilising various other methods from social sciences to improve the impact of the project, such as systems thinking methodology to define rural challenges and living lab methodology, to enhance rural innovation.
Finally, IRI engages in identifying and structuring rural innovation projects and practising counselling and guidance to selected initiatives.
IRI implements the RURALITIES project in accordance with its Green and Digital Transformation program, which priorities a transdisciplinary approach to the development, implementation and advocacy of social solutions and innovations.
Through this project, we are also looking for answers to questions such as: How can we enable and encourage the optimal implementation of innovative technologies and social innovations? How can we effectively connect people to exchange knowledge, align interests and derive benefits in accordance with the principles of sustainability? RURALITIES also contributes to the objectives of the Program by dealing with the problem of soil degradation and the sustainability of the agricultural sector, which we also tackle through the ClimaPannonia project, as well as through our direct involvement in the Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture of Serbia.
