INTEGRURAL - Capacitação para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável Integrado em Áreas Rurais

Data Inicio: 2020-09-01 | Data Fim: 2022-08-31

Valor: 254886.00 €

Valor CETRAD: 24538.00 €

Financiador: Erasmus+. Key Action 2-Strategic Partnerships

Grupo de Investigação: Turismo, Identidades e Património Cultural

Coordenador CETRAD: Veronique Nelly Paul Marie Joukes

Membros Envolvidos:

Veronique Nelly Paul Marie Joukes ;

Parceiros:

UTAD - Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro ;

Documento: Não existe


Descrição:

INTEGRURAL envolve ações de formação para pessoas ligadas à produção agrícola, atividades pecuárias, promoção do património cultural (imaterial) e marcas locais, sejam eles empresários e/ou membros de organizações de produtores, ONGs e instituições culturais em zonas rurais. Os dois principais objetivos da parceria estratégica são (1) pôr em marcha um processo de formação estruturada a três níveis: formação de formadores, ações de formação adaptadas às necessidades locais, observação de bons profissionais; e (2) criar clusters com profissionais locais de diferentes áreas. Os clusters, interligados num "núcleo virtual" internacional, servirão de pontos focais para soluções cooperativas e para a promoção da inovação nas zonas rurais.

 

Project partners

1 Leader:

Municipality of Farkadona (GR) (District of Trikala, Region of Thessaly, Central Greece)

6 Partner Organizations:

VerdeMente (ES) - Asociación para la I+D+i, salvaguarda y fomento de la biodiversidad, de la artesanía alimentaria y de la salud integral del ser humano y del medio ambiente near to Cáceres

Auvergne Institute for Territorial Development (FR) - Public Interest Grouping by members from the Higher Education field and from Local Authorities

Time Heritage - Afroditi Kamara & Co (GR) - Consultant in the field of cultural heritage

Polygonal (IT) - Manages the youth centre of Cori municipality, whose scope has been widened regarding its working activities

Ruralidade Verde, Lda (PT) - Consultant in the field of rural development

Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (PT) – Public university

Target group

Micro-entrepreneurs and their co-workers working in a natural environment with cultural heritage.

Objectives

Empowering micro-entrepreneurs within a living-lab environment, to (a) develop small-scale rural clusters; (b) develop strategic-thinking skills and (c) develop network-building activities for future branding.

The project's thematic scope encompasses a number of areas:

1. Competences (especially digital) up-skilling & innovative training for cluster management

2. Local branding and networking for sustainable local development (e.g. social ecomarkets),

3. Strategic thinking training.

4. Interdependence of primary sector production and cultural heritage for creation of added value.

INTEGRURAL is a strategic partnership that brings together a public government institution, universities and SMEs dealing with sustainable development in the field of agricultural production and cultural heritage. It seeks to address the need for educational activities aiming at capacity building and networking in - and between - European rural areas for the promotion of sustainable and integrative development. Furthermore, with the recent experience of the lockdown due to COVID-19, it will also explore ways of using digital media for promoting, marketing and even selling products through online applications and networks.

INTEGRURAL involves training actions for persons acting as entrepreneurs and/or as members of producers’ organisations, NGOs and cultural institutions in rural areas. Its thematic scope encompasses agricultural production, stockbreeding activities, promotion of cultural (immaterial) heritage, and local branding in an integrated approach.

The two main objectives of the Strategic Partnership are (1) to set in motion a structured training process through a three-tier training module (training of trainers, local training actions, job shadowing), and (2) to build on the training process for the formation of local business clusters.

These clusters will create together a "virtual hub" that will enable the exchange of information, of good practices and know-how, as well as the elaboration of strategies for added-value incentives and local branding. The clusters, interlinked in the "virtual hub", will serve as focal points for cooperative solutions and the promotion of innovation in rural areas.

INTEGRURAL will contribute to the development of local capacities towards cooperation, creativity, networking, and extroversion. Making use of the local potential (agricultural products, dairy products, organic farm products, heritage assets, natural reserves etc.), along with an intelligent approach to transnational cooperation and information exchange through the use of digital tools, INTEGRURAL can create and distribute knowledge, and take rural communities out of seclusion. This, in its turn, can lead to a more integrated and sustainable development of these localities, far beyond simple "growth" exigencies of modern economies.

This integrative approach can create meaningful linkages between economic activity, natural environment and cultural heritage, in order to blend innovatively past wisdom and local identity with state-of-the-art models for social economy and sustainability. In addition, energy-saving solutions and organic farming can lead to a more rational use of local resources and thus to greater self-sustainability of rural regions.

All the above are of crucial importance for rural areas, which try to find their place in the national, European and global socioeconomic context, to train, sustain and enlarge the local workforce, and to develop capabilities that combine productively tradition and innovation. To this aim, transnational cooperation is the most important factor. European rurality is at the same time multifaceted and subject to many commonalities, stemming

from comparable nation-state politics and from similar productive activities within their geographical area. This means that the challenges, which European rural localities have to face are to a large extent common and have to be addressed transnationally.

Activities:

Intellectual Outputs (IO)

IO1: Database of Good Practices and comparative study of state-of-the-art [Digital networks, best-case microfarms, rural education projects, Clusters] - Verdemente

IO2: Methodology for the creation of a “virtual hub” – Polygonal (Marco de Cave)

IO3: GIS platform - Farkadona

IO4: Training material (toolkits?) – Time Heritage

IO5: Sustainability study – Ruralidade Verde

Training

C1: Training event in Cori on wine production/ Polygonal

C2: Training event in Vila Real on Mountain Stockbreeding and sustainable development/ UTAD

C3: Cheese and meat production, Local branding, Territorial development / IADT

Multiplier events for local stakeholder’s awareness raising organized by

  1. Municipality of Farkadona in Farkadona
  2. Verdemente in Cáceres
  3. Ruralidade Verde in Vila Real
  4. Polygonal in Cori
  5. IADT in Clermont-Ferrand

Identification of the SDGs to which it contributes

  • SDG 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
  • SDG 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
  • SDG 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
  • SDG 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
  • SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
  • SDG 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

Contacts

Project leader, Konstantinos Asikis: asikiscostas@yahoo.gr

Leader of the Portuguese UTAD team, Veronika Joukes: veronika@utad.pt

Website of the project: https://www.integrural.eu/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/integrural