Rural women network

Let's Raise the Curtain!
Creative Workshop to Improve the Participation of Rural Women in Local Development

Description of the project:

This project aimed to improve active citizenship and local development of European rural areas by increasing a sense of ownership of the European Union among one of the most marginalized inhabitants: women. This project also aimed to involve rural men in this process.

Since the beginning of Industrialisation era, we are confronting the slow desertification of rural European areas by young generations. Rural women are often the main "outsiders" of democratic community life, local development and European identities. Their role within these rural community contexts is often linked to the family life and care, in opposition with the role of men, linked to public life and work.

To stop the process of desertification, to enhance local development and to improve the same chances for all, we needed to increase the involvement of women, who embody the way to give new vitality to the local democracy and economy. Moreover, their involvement led to the optimization of the human resources in the rural territory and helped women build a positive image of themselves.

This project's fulcrum was a creative workshop that brought together some women and men of European rural areas to experience, share, learn and think on how women can have an active role in participating to the European local rural development and how men have a key role in this process.

This creative workshop was developed around three moments blossomed in an evolution process of active, informal and creative learning:

(1) Intercultural learning process & sharing European rural women cultures and traditions and the problems they face in rural areas.

(2) Discussion on "How Europe can improve rural women's life quality"

(3) Elaboration of creative strategies to develop active participation and European identity within women coming from rural European areas and to improve the participation of men in this process.

This workshop was held in Sicily between the 16 and the 25 of November 2008 and brought together 43 women and men from several European countries representing very different cultures (France, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Portugal, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta, Estonia and Italy).

During this Workshop, professionals, community leaders and civil society representatives gathered together in Sicily for 10 days (between the 16 and 25 of November 2008) to:

(1) share European rural women cultures and traditions and the problems they face in European rural areas,

(2) discuss on how Europe can improve rural women life quality,
(3) learn about intercultural learning process,
(4) elaborate creative strategies to develop active participation and a European identity within women coming from rural European areas and to improve the participation of men in this process.

Evaluation:
The participants' learning process and experience was really intense during this creative workshop.

The evaluation highlighted that:

1. Participants liked the intercultural evenings because they gave them the chance to know more about other cultures. Getting to know the traditions and habits and customs of other cultures was a good opportunity to open their minds and to realize how much the word is varied.
2. They enjoyed very much the visit of the rural "San Giovanni" and meeting local population because they got to see the real life of this community. They spent much time with local population and they were very curious and motivated to talk with them, to know their way of life.
3. About the themes of this project, the participants enjoyed most of them, especially: Gender aspects of women in rural development;  Gender based discrimination in Rural Europe; Rural Europe and modern issues on gender; How gender policy can address the different problems faced by women in rural areas: policies at different level including EU policy.
4. Also, participants enjoyed presenting their experiences on the situation and problems faced by women in the rural context and the creative workshop on affirmative measures to address the problems of women in rural Europe. They reported that these activities were particularly engaging.
5. They appreciated the discussion of the strategies to improve participation of women in rural Europe and thinking about the opportunities, organisations and presentations.

Follow up:
Most of the participants in the project were very motivated to work on project building to improve participation of women in rural areas. Filling in their evaluation questionnaire, most of them wrote that the project's activities helped them develop new skills and competences.
Some of the participants wrote a project idea about the capacity building and confidence building for women in rural areas. They called this project "Feeling Good in My Community"; through this project, they meant to achieve the following objectives:
To tackle the issue of internal migration and immigration of women in rural areas (Trafficking); to provide tools for education; to provide vocational training; to create a safe environment through counselling, support groups and psychological support; to provide access to information for state programs and available resources, to improve life quality in local communities in rural areas, to strengthen the local communities; to promote active participation; to create a Network of opportunities - share best practices - break down of stereotypes through a methodology like Information campaigns, vocational trainings and Exchanges.
Another project idea that participants wrote was about Art as a bridge to research political thinking and sustainable Environment. This project was aimed at women and was meant to build a bridge between younger and elderly people. It aimed to sharpen their consciousness; to express themselves; to promote active participation, to build active citizens; to provide them with the opportunity of learning about other countries' policy; to provide methodology approaches; to increase their knowledge of the political system and of the environmental issues. They considered art as a tool that could help increase their knowledge of themselves and of their capacities. Also, with regards to the methodologies, they considered the possibility to apply: earning by doing, cultural animation, role playing.
Participants worked on these projects very well. They were motivated to create projects and activities to increase the power of rural women and of women more in general.