FARM HUB. Work in the Nature

"<< Background >>We applied for this project based on joint interest in developing co-working spaces in rural areas. At the time of writing the proposal, both partner organisations - Lab Futura and Foreste Urbane - had a long track-record working on this topic in their countries/regions. We had been working locally and wanted to create synergy and bring the activities to a European level. We acknowledged that educators, adults’ educators, local activists and other people are missing skills and knowledge on how to co-design such spaces and how to ensure the sustainability and usefulness of such sites for all the community. Therefore we created the “FARM HUB” project to provide trainers with knowledge, skills and non-formal education tools to use with their own target groups to design and set up smart spaces useful for social and co-working activities in rural and green areas.Secondly, we wanted to provide rural communities with relevant know-how on how to establish maintain and use spaces for social issues and co-working. Finally, we wanted to share good practices and experience stories about co-designing and setting up co-working spaces in rural areas, which act not only as shared offices but also for social indoor and outdoor activities.<< Objectives >>The project ""FARM HUB - Work In The Nature"" was aimed at the regeneration and networking of rural and marginalized areas with the rest of the territory and the world through the co-design of co-working spaces. These centers provide essential resources for local activists and educators working with disadvantaged groups. The FARM HUBs serve as shared community spaces, equipped with PCs, Wi-Fi connections, co-working areas and brainstorming spaces.In particular, the partners collaborated to achieve the following objectives:1. Training local activists and educators in co-designing co-working centers in rural areas through non-formal education and group-building activities.2. Connecting European rural areas by co-designing, creating, and implementing co-working spaces in nature, supporting associations and educators in social and inclusive outdoor activities.3. Fostering local and EU networking to promote inclusive and green education initiatives.<< Implementation >>The project implemented the following activities:-Project management and monitoring;-Online/offline training for local activists/educators/adult educators in Latvia and Italy;-International training course in Latvia;-Co-design of Farm HUBs in Italy and Latvia by qualified staff and educators;-Face-to-face final events and an online streaming event (""virtual bridge"") to promote the project results.<< Results >>Main achieved results of the project are:-2 teams in Latvia and Italy created and 51 local activists/educators/adult educators trained;-2 series of workshops co-designed and implemented by partners consisting in 70 hours in total of joined online (10 h) and local offline (60 h) activities;-One international training course implemented in Latvia lasting 3 days and involving 14 participants (10 trainees and 4 staff);-2 Farm Hubs co-designed/regenerated in Latvia (Saldus) and Italy (in a rural territory near Lecce and Copertino) as smart centers useful for outdoor and green activities;-More than 100 local stakeholders involved in the development of the Farm Hubs in Latvia and in Italy, including the 2 face-to-face final events and 1 online streaming event (""virtual bridge"") for engagement of civil communities and networking."