23/03/2026

RURACTIVE Partners Gather in Italy for Annual Project Meeting and Peer-to-Peer Exchange

Val Di Fiastra meeting
From 2 to 6 March 2026, RURACTIVE partners met in Italy for a week of strategic discussions, knowledge exchange and field learning. Activities took place in the Fiastra Valley in the Marche region and across several community locations in the Abruzzo region. The meeting combined the project’s Steering Committee, General Assembly, and a dynamic peer-to-peer programme, reinforcing collaboration across all work packages and Dynamos.

The week opened on 2 March in the village of Ripe San Ginesio with the Steering Committee meeting, bringing together leaders of the different work streams and task partners. Discussions focused on the overall state of project implementation and progress across all work areas.

On 3–4 March, all partners gathered at the historic Abbadia di Fiastra for the General Assembly. The programme combined strategic updates, financial management discussions and in-depth exchanges on the Local Action Plans. A central highlight was the presentation of the place-based solutions, implemented by the twelve Dynamos. This enabled partners to collectively discuss the progress, challenges and innovation pathways of each locally developed solution, while also reflecting on successes already achieved.

The meeting also featured:

A Knowledge Transfer workshop using the Photovoice methodology, where partners exchanged around diverse solutions starting from pictures captured throughout the implementation phase of each Dynamo area. The photos were sent in advance, following three specific “lenses” to bring multiple perspectives into the discussion. Starting from visual insights related to landscapes, communities, biodiversity and technologies, participants deepened their reflections on how different pathways and initiatives could be replicated in other territories.
A replication workshop was developed to showcase the solutions being co-developed by external innovators in each Dynamo. A poster session, followed by a hybrid Q&A session between the Dynamos and innovators, encouraged dynamos to reflect on potential replication opportunities in their own territories and provided innovators with potential improvements and adjustments to their solutions.
Peer-to-peer activities during the meeting further strengthened mutual learning among partners, complemented by informal exchanges and networking moments. The hosting partner Borgofuturo introduced the consortium to the local solution Errante, a mobile unit that can serve as a stage, a screen, a classroom, and generally as a platform that activates communities and networks through the production and execution of events. Partners were able to enjoy an incredible performance on the Errante stage by local folk group, Vincanto, who interpret and promote the musical, vocal and rhythmic heritage of the Marche region of Italy. Borgofuturo also hosted a guided biodiversity walk along the newly introduced trail, the Val di Fiastra Ring, that connects the six villages of the valley through country paths and woodlands. Members of the consortium were invited to take part in a short participatory exercise designed to help reflect on how biodiversity is perceived, valued and observed through a citizens science tool that collect pictures and provides participants with information about local flora and fauna. During the activity, participants documented species they encountered and discovered local endemics and early seasonal blossoms.

Peer-to-Peer in Abruzzo: Learning from local community cooperatives

The week concluded with a two-day peer-to-peer programme in Abruzzo (5–6 March 2026).

Participants visited several rural communities and innovative initiatives, including:

Rocca Calascio castle and exchanges with the local community in Calascio around the mechanism of the local cooperative to reinvest income from tourism into local services for health, culture and wellbeing.
Meetings in Popoli focused on community-based solutions such as “Sharing the Lab”, a food processing lab designed to enable a greater reach of local produce by reducing barriers to expensive equipment through shared ownership and knowledge, and “Narratives of Communities” which works to preserve and transmit local tradition and culture by bridging gaps between generations through theatrical performances and documentation using digital tools.
Engagement with Aielli’s local cooperative, the Murales path initiative, and exchanges around solutions such as “Muoversi Abruzzo”, an initiative attempting to respond to the mobility needs of residents in the numerous small villages in the province of L'Aquila, especially the needs of groups at risk of exclusion and underrepresentation including migrants, the elderly, people with a disability. These site visits provided valuable insights into how community-driven innovation can strengthen rural resilience, social cohesion and sustainable development.

Strengthening the RURACTIVE Community
This meeting demonstrated the strength of the RURACTIVE consortium: collaborative, practice-oriented and firmly rooted in local realities. By combining strategic coordination with hands-on learning and exchange, partners further advanced the project’s mission to empower rural communities across Europe.

The RURACTIVE Consortium