Youth: do we cultivate the future?
HIGHLY COMMENDED PROJECT 2024 WMNP AWARDS
LOCATION: Arco, Italy
APPLICANT(S): Angelica Pianegonda, RUMA Agency. With Municipality of Arco, A.P.S.P. Casa Mia, Fondazione Edmund Mach and Francesco Picello
This project engages young people in developing entrepreneurial projects that enhance the local landscape in sustainable and productive ways. Bringing new life to abandoned rural areas, the project provided finance and training for young people whose business proposals focused on multifunctional, sustainable and landscape-conscious agricultural activities. The initial funding enabled the individuals involved in the project to start new businesses that are being monitored by the project team as they develop.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS
We were greatly impressed that the project put the future of abandoned rural land into the hands of the next generation together with training, finance and support for a sustainable future. The small scale of the project was encouraging because it minimised risk whilst testing the effectiveness of the approach. We applaud how traditional techniques and approaches would be continued by young people and how the project partners invested in this crucial part of a thriving and sustainable future. We congratulate the project for its collaborative and forward looking approach that appreciates the value of traditional practices in the sustainability of rural communities. We are especially pleased that the project puts resources in the hands of those who will be responsible for the future, giving agency to young people, and investing in small scale projects which are often overlooked.