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Since starting in 2016, the Horizon 2020 project “Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural” (SIMRA) has been at the forefront of promoting the contribution of social innovation to social, economic and environmental development in disadvantaged rural areas. As a transdisciplinary research project, SIMRA has managed to address numerous facets of the current global  context such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, etc. and to make its research relevant in the real world.

SIMRA organised its final conference in Brussels on 19 and 20 February 2020. This two-day event comprised a full-day policy conference and a half-day training workshop to about tools and approaches developed in the SIMRA project. During the final conference, many of the project’s main findings were presented and their implications for policy at all levels (EU, national, regional and local) were discussed, including with regards to the legislative reforms still in discussion for the next EU programming period 2021 to 2027.Continue reading

A long row of colourful jackets, hats and small talk is ploughing through the deep snow at Valbjørgmorka in Vågå, Norway. Some hikers have ski poles; others keep their balance by just dividing their body weight, left, right, left right. We leave a long path of yeti-look-alike footprints behind.

The great thing with snowshoes is that everyone can use them, tells guide Tesfahiwet Hailu. -In contrast to cross-country skiing, you do not need any training. In Vågå, you can borrow snowshoes at the library, take them on and get to places you otherwise cannot access during winter.

This Sunday’s snowshoe hike is the second one hosted by Hailu, a refugee from Eritrea. Both hikes are a very visible result of SIMRA’s Norwegian Innovation Action. Researchers from the Eastern Norway Research Institute use outdoor life as a bridge to inclusion and integration of immigrants.Continue reading

The Horizon 2020 project SIMRA – Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas – has just published its final policy brief “How can policy help bring about social innovation in rural areas”.Continue reading

This fifth collection of examples of social innovation published by the SIMRA project describes the 7 Social Innovation Actions implemented within the project.Continue reading

This news was originally published in the newspaper Heraldo de Aragón on 1st December 2019

Over 35 experts from a dozen countries have met in Zaragoza to analise the fundamentals of social innovation in rural areas. They met Artieda’s example.

The development and revitalisation of rural areas in order to prevent their depopulation is, nowadays, one of the highlighted issues on the social agenda. Although this matter has to be addressed by taking into consideration political and economic factors, people who live and are committed to build their life project in these areas cannot be left aside. Continue reading

CTFC presented the main results of the SIMRA case study on Forest Defence Groups in Catalonia on the 4th of December 2019, in Solsona.Continue reading

Engaging with the hard to reach in rural areas was the topic of the workshop organised by SIMRA during the European Rural Parliament organised in Candas, Spain, in November 2019.Continue reading

By going to University to study or leaving for a year abroad to work, many young people decide to settle in areas with opportunities for professional development rather than returning to their place of birth. Out-migration of professional youth, coupled with ageing and depopulation, especially plague many mountain areas. Youth that wish to remain confront the lack of meaningful jobs, suited to their professional experience.Continue reading