<< Background >>CONTEXT & MOTIVATIONWe are living historic times that define the new normality as volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. The world is still facing the COVID-19 pandemic, the largest of four epidemics of the last decade. Yet every year we face accelerated challenges that are becoming a permanent phenomenon - i.e. grave climate disruptions, cyclic economic crises, overlapping refugee crises. An increase in populist governments is appearing as the widespread socio-political answer to these phenomena, while ecologically we are also living what is scientifically known as the Anthropocene with the 6th mass extinction in the history of the planet.From this complex and dynamic situation urgent needs emerge: the need for a more just, equitable and resilient society and the need for a regenerative stewardship of the environment combined with transformative economic practices which give place to decent and regenerative livelihoods.At the same time, UN proposed the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, and in 2016 adopted the interpretation of the SDGs from the perspective of resilience. In 2019, the EU passed the European Green Deal, also framing targets and funding for the next few years.As a partnership of five organisations and one institution, we share the concern that cities are getting most of the resources related to resilience adoption, despite an observed rapid rate of adoption by rural territories. When combined with (1) the availability of high quality learning, (2) an increasing civic engagement and participative democracy, (3) co-created policies for community resilience and social and solidarity economy, we postulate that rural territories can become a leverage point for change in the cities, helping them reduce their overpopulation, providing them a healthy and sustainable food supply, and prototyping social, economic and ecological innovation at a low cost, while establishing more diverse, sovereign and mutually supportive regions.For these reasons, we have designed the proposal for the transnational project “Catalysts for Civic Engagement and Community Resilience”.MEETING THE NEEDS OF THE TARGET GROUPSThis project responds to two different but complementary needs of the target groups mentioned below. On the one hand the need to experience learning collective processes and sustain and experiment innovative resilient practices. On the other, the need to transfer methodologies and tools to further engage the local population, and to ensure the sustainability of the project results.More specifically, the project responds to the target groups needs by:1. YOUTH & ADULT RURAL COMMUNITY MEMBERSOffering innovative learning opportunities, embedded in a networked learning environment, both in-person in their rural communities as well as digitally, so that they can gain the skills and competences required to be more resilient and adaptable to times of change and uncertainty, while helping their community as a whole become more resilient through participatory policy development and planning. 2. COMMUNITY EDUCATORSOffering high quality resources for educators to facilitate learning environments that engage community members in participatory processes aimed to build community resilience. 3. PUBLIC & PRIVATE TECHNICIANS Offering innovative learning opportunities, embedded in a networked learning environment, both in-person in their rural communities as well as digitally, so that they can gain the skills and competences required to be able to carry out their specialist work in the framework of civic engagement and community resilience.4. POLICY MAKERSOffering innovative learning opportunities, embedded in a networked learning environment, both in-person for rural policy makers as well as digitally for both rural and European policy makers, so that they can gain the skills and competences required to be able to carry out their specialist work in the framework of civic engagement and community resilience.<< Objectives >>MAIN GOALIn response to this context, we have designed this project “Catalysts for Civic Engagement and Community Resilience” (CCECR), whose main goal is:Developing methodologies and tools to catalyse rural regions so that they can become leading innovators and policy contributors of the European transition towards overcoming the systemic crisis; training potential catalysts through the development of practical and educational resources, an educational platform and a community of rural resilience practitioners at the European level.SPECIFIC CROSS-CUTTING OBJECTIVES1. COMMUNITY RESILIENCE AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: To establish a transversal and intercultural dialogue that evolves the democratic processes in our rural territories, making space for collective activation of civic engagement, participation and policy development and integration.2. SUSTAINABLE AND REGENERATIVE DEVELOPMENT: To teach new ways of understanding and planning for rural bioregions, based on the promotion and the bridging of local cultures and European policies that steward and regenerate our natural and cultural heritage.3. SOCIAL AND SOLIDARITY ECONOMY: To promote collective entrepreneurship through social technology in rural areas, generating learning environments that act as hubs of resilience innovation, adaptation and adoption in our territories.4. EUROPEAN RURALITY, AS NATURAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGE: To create a broad and diverse learning community of rural practitioners and researchers who share experiences and solutions to common problems, working together to understand, map and scale up tools, strategies and methodologies that are applicable to other European territories.<< Implementation >>In addition to general project management tasks, which include ongoing monitoring evaluation & learning activities as well as communication & dissemination, the project Catalysts for Civic Engagement and Community Resilience proposes to implement the following activities:1. Project Result: Toolkit on Community Resilience - Create a toolkit for youth & adult rural community members, local policy makers & leaders, public & private technicians, so that they can have the tools and strategies needed to generate civic engagement and catalyze community resilience in rural territories.2. Project Result: Teaching & Training Curriculum on Community Resilience - Develop teaching & training curriculum for educators and trainers to teach youth & adult rural community members, policy makers & leaders, public & private technicians and the university students, so that they can have the skills and competences needed to catalyze community resilience in their rural territories.3. Project Result: Pilot Training in Civic Engagement and Community Resilience - In order to be able to design a learning process that is flexible and adaptable, we need to test it in a prototype form, to be able to receive feedback, and coherently improve it.The focus of this comprehensive training is to test the teaching of practical community resilience tools, methodologies and strategies with local actors according to the four transversal objectives, as well as engaging university students in this pilot training process from the perspective of future practitioners, policy makers and/or researchers.The four transversal areas to be covered in this training are in line with the four transversal objectives of this project:· Civic engagement for community resilience· Sustainable and regenerative development· Social and solidarity economy· European rurality as natural & cultural heritage4. Project Result: E-Learning Platform for Community Catalysts - Design and establish an online learning platform to disseminate tools and methodologies to catalyze community resilience in rural territories, through strategies and concrete tools for civic engagement, community resilience, social solidarity economy and regenerative development. This will be done through webinars and self-guided educational modules, and the facilitation of an online community with local hubs nested in a transnational space of dialogue, learning, exchange and innovation.5. Four regional Conferences on Catalysting Community Resilience - Carry out regional conferences in four rural regions across peripheral Europe, with the following objectives: · Learn about and explore the Project Results through the participatory and co-creative method called “Hackathon” to be able to harness and further innovate these results· Promote a broad participation in the E-learning platform on community resilience· Involve participants in the dissemination and multiplication of all Results at the regional and national level 6. One International Practitioner & Policy Conference - The International Practitioner & Policy Conference hosted by EPE in Brussels aims to create an exchange space between practitioners working towards socio ecological transitions in rural areas and European policy makers concerned with achieving the green and digital transition, while strengthening Europe’s resilience and social contract.The objectives of the conference are threefold:· to present to the educational outputs of the project which includes tools for the contextualisation of the Green New Deal to peripheral rural communities in Europe;· to create space for dialogue bridging the gap between rural practitioners and policy makers and charting new ways of collaboration in the context of the future of Europe and on matters related to civic engagement;· to question and deconstruct basic assumptions informing the urban-rural divide debates in Europe in the context of the necessary shifts and diverse roles towards net-zero societies.<< Results >>The CCECR project aims to achieve the following outcomes:1. Local community members, technicians and policy makers skilled and active proponents of community resilience processes and local & European civic engagement.2. Networked local communities in the rural case study regions, as localised community resilience learning and practice hubs.3. Transnationally networked local communities learning and working together to advance community resilience in different rural areas across Europe.4. Increased awareness around SDGs, European Green Deal and their potential implications for policy co-design and co-implementation at the local and European level5. An accessible E-learning platform that engages learners, practitioners and educators in topics related to building community resilience, through civic engagement, social solidarity economy and regenerative development proposals and content.The following project results and outputs contribute to achieving these outcomes:· A toolkit about the practical implementation of community resilience in rural regions for local agents, based on an innovative theoretical-methodological framework in community resilience and systematising local patterns and processes of community resilience in the rural case study bioregions. This toolkit is designed for community catalysts, including general youth and adult community members, community educators, technicians and policy makers. Toolkit aims to stimulate citizen participation, the creation of spaces for intercultural dialogue and social inclusion, the design of public policies, etc.· Open-source downloadable pedagogical material (including teaching posters and videos) and a community resilience curriculum for community and university educators interested in and/or needing cutting-edge innovative teaching material and curricula on how to foster and embed community resilience in rural communities and other marginal or vulnerable communities.· Pilot trainings for local community members and university students, in the practical application of community resilience in rural regions.· An E-learning platform dedicated to the exchange and learning between participants of the different activities of the project. Embedded into the E-learning platform are webinars on the different transversal topics and concrete outputs of the CCECR (i.e. Toolkit & Curriculum).· Local participatory conferences on Civic Engagement and Community Resilience strategies and tools, providing a space in which local community members, technicians and policy makers can exchange and participate in the collective learning around all four of the project results shared during these multiplier events.· A transnational participatory conference in Brussels on Civic Engagement and Community Resilience, providing a space in which local community members, technicians and policy makers can exchange with European policy makers regarding tools & strategies for accelerating community resilience processes in rural communities, with special attention to disseminating the four project results.

CURIOSOIL ambition is to trigger Soil Curiosity and create connections between people and soil. In line with the EU Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe”, CURIOSOIL aims to contribute to transforming the way soil is valued, perceived, taught and communicated. The project will build upon actual knowledge and will work to change the vision of soil from mere substrate to an ecosystem that should be researched and protected. This will be achieved through the development of multisensorial Soil Experiences to raise soil literacy, building of a Soil Optimism narrative and through the co-creation of a set of educational products, curriculum standards, and teacher’s training programmes. The co-design and multi-actor approach will promote student and citizen engagement in the Mission Soil as well as in other European, national, and international soil health initiatives and will incentivise behavioural change towards an increased perception of soil value and its sustainable use. CURIOSOIL will promote multilingualism and work in soil educational settings across 15 European countries. In order to address the expected outcomes and deliver impact beyond the project’s lifetime, CURIOSOIL will work across four impact pathways: IP1. Triggering soil curiosity; IP2. Prototyping multiple educational journeys to increase soil literacy; IP3. Empowering communities and initiatives dedicated to soil education; IP4. Influence policymaking through a soil optimism narrative.