Rural Inspiration Awards 2021 - Projects Brochure

Since 2019, the Rural Inspiration Awards (RIA) have been celebrating projects that use funding from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) to help rural areas meet the wide range of economic, environmental and social challenges of the 21st century.

The RIA 2021, ‘Our Rural Future’, celebrated EAFRD-funded initiatives that may contribute to inspire the future development path for rural areas to be set out in the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas. The ENRD supported the active participation of rural stakeholders in developing the Vision and devoted the 2021 edition of its Rural Inspiration Awards to EAFRD-funded projects that could help inspire the Vision or were already delivering on some of its expected key themes.

For this RIA edition, the ENRD Contact Point received 125 entries from 22 Member States, under four thematic categories: Green Futures, Digital Futures, Resilient Futures, and Socially Inclusive Futures. They were all evaluated in terms of direct benefits, networking value, transferability, synergies with other EU policies, innovation and 'visionary aspect'.

This EAFRD Projects Brochure provide further details about each of the 20 RIA 2021 finalist and highlights their contribution to a Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas as inclusive, sustainable places where nobody feels left behind.