![Rural youth can’t be ignored in the debate on Europe’s future [Promoted content] | INFBusiness.com](/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2275595b54a9344f6fe4cdf1ef5dcf2c.jpg "While the voices of rural young people are often not heard by European decision-makers, the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) should be an opportunity for them to have a say on their future if we have learnt anything from Brexit, according to Daniel Grist from the NGO Rural Youth Europe.")
While the voices of rural young people are often not heard by European decision-makers, the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) should be an opportunity for them to have a say on their future if we have learnt anything from Brexit, according to Daniel Grist from the NGO Rural Youth Europe.
Interview with Daniel Grist, Communications Officer at Rural Youth Europe.
Could you briefly present your organisation, Rural Youth Europe (RYEurope)?
Rural Youth Europe is an umbrella organisation which looks after 22 different organisations in 20 countries across Europe, gathering 0.5 million young people. Our members include 4-H clubs, young farmers’ clubs, and Landjugend, among others. We hold three main events throughout the year: a study session, a rally and an Autumn seminar. We are tackling issues that affect and impact rural young people all over Europe.
You are working together with the European Youth Forum on “The 25 Percent Project” which aims to amplify young people’s voices in the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE). Could you tell us a bit more about it?
“The 25 Percent Project” is something we are really excited to be part of because it allows us to give rural young people a voice in CoFoE. As part of the project, we are asking our grassroots members across Europe to collect ideas for the future of Europe. These ideas will then be shared with EU leaders.
On our social media channels, we are regularly sharing a link that allows young people to write down ideas for a better Europe. It could be something to do with climate change, housing, education, or youth services. After we’ve collected all these ideas together with other partner organisations representing different groups of young people, a group of researchers will read every single proposal and their findings will be the basis for a new set of demands to be taken directly to CoFoE. With this project, we’re trying to encourage young people to get excited about youth participation. This is a very nice way for them to simply share their ideas, knowing that these will be heard by someone.
We are also working on a similar project with the European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA), where young farmers can share their dreams for the future of the EU using short audio clips. These are based on questions we ask about such topics as climate change and environment, the EU in the world, European democracy, health, values and rights, migration, economy, digital transformation, education, culture, youth and sports. These clips are a good way of talking about the Conference and strengthen youth participation in the process.
Are there any recurring themes among these demands of young people living in rural communities, especially in light of CoFoE?
There is a whole range of diverse ideas being put forward by rural young people but we certainly can see some common trends. One of them is making sure that rural people have the same opportunities and access as everyone else. We see many proposals demanding affordable housing in rural areas. Also, making sure that there is access to broadband is really important now with everything happening online.
What we are also seeing is an expectation for equal representation and access for the LGBT community in rural areas. We’re seeing that there is less representation and visibility of these people in rural areas, which means that they potentially don’t feel included in the community. Initiatives like bringing prides to small towns can help change this.
Amid the pandemic, we are very dependent on online tools for participation and CoFoE reflects that with its Digital platform. Is the online environment a supportive or limiting factor in terms of rural youth participation?
On one hand, the digital aspect is a huge opportunity for all rural young people because it allows everyone to get involved and make their voices heard – but this is only in theory. The reality is that a lot of people in rural remote areas don’t have access to broadband and find it really difficult to get engaged. If there is a rural young person really willing to get involved in these processes but they don’t have the infrastructure to do this, they feel excluded and frustrated with the process. If I was balancing it up, I’d say the opportunities for doing things online outweigh the negatives but, until everyone has equal access to broadband, we can’t be happy with where we are.
With all our activities within rural youth organisations, we think it’s been brilliant moving stuff online because everyone has access to it, but making sure we reach everyone is more difficult. We worry there are many people that are really active online but there are also the ones that are totally not keen on the online stuff, and then they get even more excluded, which is an increasing challenge.
Do you have any advice for European civil society organisations on how to increase their outreach beyond the ‘usual suspects’ such as university-educated people from big cities, especially in the context of CoFoE?
It all comes down to communication and making sure you are reaching out to everyone. Partnerships with organisations like Rural Youth Europe with their reach is really important. We have been involved in the “Together Thursdays” project which is all about sharing what the EU does for people and communicating it in simple terms to make it accessible.
This is important to reach beyond narrow groups, including people living in farms who are just as impacted by what’s going on in the EU as everyone else. Overall, farming is such a big part of the EU economy. Notably, the farming community was a huge part of why the UK decided to leave the EU and the conversation around this was massive. Many rural young people would be frustrated if farming wasn’t given enough prominence in CoFoE.
Do you have any final remark or wish for the future of Europe?
As RYEurope, we work with organisations across Europe that are directly involved with rural young people who don’t feel represented by anyone else. Often, these organisations are the only opportunity for rural young people to try new things and make sure their voices are heard. It’s crucial that rural youth organisations continue getting funding for their activity. This is important because they have been greatly affected by the pandemic and many of them have struggled to move their activities online. A lot of our member organisations are trying to rebuild themselves amid the pandemic and they need support because they are vital to rural young people’s mental and physical health by providing them with opportunities.
Source: euractiv.com
