Rural Voices

In our latest episode, we’re shining a light on a brilliant project from one of our member organisations. We are joined by John Keane, President of Macra na Feirme and co-founder of ’Make the Moove’ - a farmer-led mental health program. Dan chats to John about the motivations behind the project, putting together mental health toolkits and training ‘Farm Champions’ to deliver mental health workshop...

Rural Youth Europe are proud partners in the COCOREADO project - a project that aims to reconnect producers and consumers to rebalance the farmer’s position in the food supply chain. Earlier this year, we invited 40 ambassadors from across Europe to Brussels for the first COCOREADO training event, which focussed on sharing good practices and how to initiate seed initiatives. Dan chats to several o...

We’re back with Series 3 and we’re kicking things off with our first in-person event since March 2020! At the end of April we were in Budapest for our joint study session with CEJA in cooperation with the Council of Europe:  Feed it Forward - Food as a Human Right. Dan chats to the prep team, participants and the experts throughout the course of the event and they discuss how we can make our food...

In this final episode of Series 2, the whole Rural Youth Europe Board are live in Dublin to play the latest game of Campfire Stories! We hear stories from Katie from Scotland, Anne from the Netherlands and Polona from Slovenia. We also hear all about what’s to come in 2022, with all the details for next year’s Rural Youth Europe events. 

It’s part 2 of our LGBTI inclusion episodes. Dan chats to Gethin Bickerton, a young farmer from Wales, to talk about his personal story, as well as projects with NFYFC and the DPJ foundation. He also catches up with MEP Maria Walsh, who discusses why she got into politics, as well as explains the LGBTI network that she helped to set up for Macra na Feirme. 

This episode is part 1 of 2 focussing on LGBTI inclusion in rural areas. Dan chats to MEP Kim Van Sparrentak about LGBTI rights in the EU, as well as Johan Gunnarsson from Swedish 4H, who shares his story of growing up in rural Sweden. 

Are you interested in becoming an ambassador for the COCOREADO project? We held a zoom drop-in session for anyone wanting to get involved in this project which is designed to rebalance the position of the farmer as a key player in food supply chains. Linzi Stewart interviews our Projects Manager John Gillon about what becoming a COCOREADO ambassador entails and how you can apply. 

In this episode we have a debrief on Rural Youth Europe’s first ever virtual rally. We hear from Anja Fortuna, this year’s rally Chair from ZSPM in Slovenia, and Dan also catches up with Mhairi Dalgleish, Team Scotland participant, and Linzi Stewart, Rural Youth Europe Chairman. They discuss the skills they’ve developed through being a member of their rural organisations, ... Read More

How has being a member of your rural organisation changed your life? In this episode Dan investigates the skills that we gain from being involved with our organisations. He catches up with Kristine Skudrite from Latvian 4H and Satu Järveläinen, past member of Finnish 4H and now a Communications Adviser for the Permanent Mission of Finland to the UN in New York. Dan is also joined by Birgit Kuslap,...

What will rural areas look like for the next generation? This month, Dan talks to past Rural Youth Europe Chairman, Michael Schwab, and Swedish 4H leader, Isabelle Hal Wilkens, asking them what they think the future holds for rural communities. Rural Youth Europe Vice Chairman, Niall Evans, also takes part in the latest round of ‘Campfire Stories’. 

In the first episode of the second series, Dan is tackling the topic of Brexit and how it is affecting our members. Dan speaks to Jemima Brown, an NFYFC member whose family moved to France just before the Brexit deadline, and Alex Lyttle, vegetable farmer from Northern Ireland. We also have our new ‘Campfire Stories’ game, where we hear from three past Rural Youth Europe participants. This episode...

This episode is the final one of Series 1 of Rural Voices Podcasts. In this episode, Dan is looking back on the series, reminiscing about the strange year that 2020 has been for us all and reflecting on some of the interviews heard in Series 1 episodes. Dan is joined by Sebastian Lassnig who has recently finished his term as Chairman ... Read More

What makes a sustainable community? In episode 7 of Rural Voices, Dan is joined by former RYE board member Nicolai Olsen to discuss the sustainability of our rural communities. We have interviews with cultural entrepreneur and journalist, Anne-Goaitske Breteler, as well as the Chairwomen of the Danish Eco Village Network, Pia Duus Jensen.

Episode 6 is all about LGBTQI+ Rights & Inclusion. Aris is joined by the newly elected special interests board member Siobhán Gallagher as they guide you through the episode featuring Dan's interview with Benjamin Firth, founder of AgRespect and Aris's interview with Lukas Stede from RYEurope member organisation BDL Germany. To close the episode Siobhán recaps the webinar "Comme...

In episode 5 we are focusing on women in agriculture. Dan is joined by Daniela Allram, the Group 2 representative on the Rural Youth Europe board, and they discuss gender inequalities within the agricultural industry. We have interviews with Ruth Parkes, a Northern Irish farmer and agri-women blogger, and Doris Letina, Vice-President of CEJA.

In the fourth episode of Rural Voices we are tackling the topic of work as a social right. Dan talks to Anja Fortuna, the 2021 Slovenian Rally Chair, as well as Kandikó Rita from Fekete Sereg Nagyvázsony, a Hungarian rural youth organisation. We would have been studying this theme at our biggest event of the year, the Rural Youth Europe Rally, so in this episode we also celebrate past rallies by l...

Rural Voices is back for the third episode to learn all about non-formal education and reflect on Rural Youth Europe's webinar "Ready, Scroll, Learn!". We share the highlights from the webinar delivered by Frederik Kaae Kirk and collaborated by Andreea Maris of the Swedish National Agency of Youth and Civil Society, as well as hear the learning outcomes and personal reflections from...

In this episode we hear how rural youth organisations have created safe spaces for their members to participate during Covid lockdowns. Appearing in this episode are:Rachel Goldie - NFYFC Eirik Førde- Norway 4HZane Šteinberga, Patrīcija Prindule - Latvian 4-H We also hear Moninne Griffith from BelongTo, a LGBT+ organisation from Ireland, speak about what safe spaces are and how we can create them...

In the first ever Rural Voices podcast we learn all about Shrinking Civil Spaces in collaboration with the European Confederation of Youth Clubs at the study session hosted by the European Youth Centre in Strasbourg, France.  We hear experts Rares Craiu Secretary General European Confederation of Youth Clubs, Anna Rurka President of the Conference of INGOs, Leonie Martin Member Council of Europe A...