RURAL
CONNECT
Creating opportunities for rural NEETs through mentoring
Project description
The RURAL-CONNECT project seeks to improve the employability of rural NEETs by providing them with career guidance, job search skills and training opportunities.
In addition, the project seeks to raise awareness among employers and the community at large about the potential of rural NEETs and the benefits of hiring them.
Overall, the initiative seeks to reduce the number of rural NEETs and support their transition to employment or higher education.
Objectives
Implement a customized social innovation and entrepreneurship curriculum that is culturally and religiously inclusive and leads to a measurable increase in the number of people acquiring market-relevant skills.
Provide advanced resources and methods for educators and adult education personnel, resulting in significant improvement in educational delivery and support.
Support the introduction of community projects that strengthen civic responsibility and social cohesion.
Partners
A Turkish public university in Rize founded in 2007. As coordinator of RURAL-CONNECT, it promotes digital skills, innovation and startup incubation to support regional economic development and empower youth.
A Latvian NGO active in personal and professional competence development since 2007. It specializes in digital learning solutions, designing customized eLearning courses and promoting organizational excellence.
A Greek non-profit Social Innovation Centre established in 2015. It uses non-formal education to build youth labor skills, integrating cutting-edge tech like AR/VR and AI to revolutionize the learning experience.
A Spanish municipality with 18 years of experience managing diverse EU-funded projects. It focuses on active youth employment, guidance and vocational training to prevent the social exclusion of local NEETs.
An Italian vocational training and research center founded in 2001 in Naples. It specializes in technology transfer, innovation support, active employment policies and advanced scientific research for regional development.
A Norwegian private lifelong learning and research center. It focuses on adult non-formal education, software development, business consulting and custom soft-skills mentoring for the successful reintegration of youth.
What motivates us?
The motivation for our project lies in the urgent challenge of integrating NEETs (people who neither study nor work) into productive social roles, especially in rural areas.
These people are at increased risk of long-term unemployment, social exclusion and mental health problems. Our project seeks to provide them with important skills, training and support, and to enable them to actively contribute to society.
Activities
- Conduct a baseline survey to identify target groups and their specific needs.
- Recruit and train counselors to provide counseling services to NEETs.
- Organize counseling sessions for NEETs in rural areas.
- Provide information and resources to NEETs on education, training and job opportunities.
- Conduct follow-up surveys to evaluate the effectiveness of counseling services.
- Raise awareness of the project through various channels to increase participation and engagement.
Results
Expected outcomes of the project include increased access to counseling services, improved mental health and well-being of rural NEETs, increased employability skills and job placement, greater social cohesion, and strengthened partnerships among stakeholders.
The project also seeks to create a model for addressing the needs of rural NEETs that can be replicated in other regions.
NEW
Access to the RURAL-CONNECT official platform!
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them. Project Number: 2024-1-TR01-KA220-ADU-000245111