Rural communities across the European Union face a self-reinforcing cycle of decline. The lack of jobs and reduced access to essential services, such as healthcare and education, drive outmigration, particularly among young people. This, in turn, weakens local businesses and services and accelerates population aging, ultimately affecting the long-term sustainability of rural areas.

To address these pressing challenges, the Horizon Europe ESIRA project is organising a series of workshops focused on developing policy recommendations to support social inclusion and the social economy in rural areas. The first event in this series, the online policy session “Breaking the Cycle of Rural Decline”, will be organized on April 29th from 10:00 to 12:30 (CET).

The event will provide an overview of the main challenges and vulnerabilities faced by rural communities in the EU, highlight the added value of the social economy as an alternative model for rural development, and share inspiring good practices from different regions. Additionally, a policy panel featuring experts from the EU Commission and the EU Parliament (to be confirmed) will discuss the future of social economy in territorial development policies.

The draft agenda is now available, and interested participants can register here. The final agenda will be confirmed in the coming weeks.