Rural Spark – Empowering Youth in Rural Entrepreneurship

From 8th to 17th April 2025, Vatra Dornei in the scenic Carpathian Mountains of Romania became the meeting point for 35 young participants from 7 different countries. This Erasmus+ Youth Exchange, titled “Rural Spark”, focused on sustainable rural entrepreneurship and highlighted the power of creativity, collaboration, and local innovation.

The Experience

Through a mix of interactive workshops, creative challenges, and teamwork exercises, the participants explored what it means to be a young entrepreneur in rural communities. Over the course of seven days, they worked in multicultural teams, developing ideas and gaining valuable skills such as problem-solving, leadership, and cross-cultural communication.

The exchange included moments of fun and connection too—whether sharing meals, enjoying nature, or building trust through team-building games. These moments fostered a strong spirit of cooperation and lifelong friendships.

What Happened Each Day

• Day 1: It was all about breaking the ice, getting to know each other and building our team spirit through group cohesion and teambuilding games.
• Day 2: Bought us closer to the Erasmus+ world and gave us the chance to explore the realities of rural communities in each country through powerful and creative theatre plays.
• Day 3: Sparked our creativity with the Marshmallow Challenge, pushed us into self-reflection with personal SWOT analyses, and encouraged entrepreneurial thinking through a creative task: designin a business logo that solves a local community issue using available resources.
• Day 4: Started the process of developing a business idea aimed at solving a rural community problem. Participants formed 6 groups based on the issue they wanted to address and broke down their ideas using a digital Rural Hub Canavas. The day ended with a hackathon where 6 specialists joined to help participants dig deeper and ask questions in order to discover more sides of a business.
• Day 5: This day was all about exploring the region including a beautiful ride the Mocanita and a visit to the unique Egg Museum.
• Day 6: We brought more work on the Canvas and preparation for the next day's special visit.
• Day 7: We held creative and entrepreneurial workshops with students at a local school followed by a meaningful discussion with the mayor of Vatra Dornei at the town.
• Day 8: The grand finale: paritcipants presented their business ideas, we made promises to share our learnings through dissemination posts and events and wrapped it all up with a cozy campfire evening for the last hugs and goodbyes.

Participant Reflection

“Participating in the "Rural Spark" youth exchange was an enriching and challenging journey. We explored entrepreneurship in rural areas and even created a rural hub, which boosted my creativity, teamwork and problem-solving skills. The facilitators were organized, supportive and truly dedicated. Working with people from diverse backgrounds wasn't always easy but it taught me patience, tolerance and the importance of setting boundaries. I'm grateful for everything I learned and the connections I made. I highly recommend Erasmus+ projects to anyone looking to grow personnaly and professionally”

Learning Beyond the Workshops

Outside the sessions, the group shared traditional meals, explored the peaceful Romanian countryside, and exchanged stories around the dinner table. These informal moments became the backdrop for deeper connections and intercultural learning.

“Rural Spark” empowered participants to believe in the strength of local initiatives and to see rural life not as a limitation, but as an opportunity. With renewed motivation and new ideas, they returned to their home countries as young changemakers.

Thank you to all the partners, facilitators, and young people who made this project such a memorable journey of learning and empowerment.

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