This page gives context to RuralEcho and makes visible the project framework, the partnership that shaped it, and the conditions for reuse and adaptation.
VOICES — Voices from the Fields: Stories of Social Change in Rural and Remote Communities is the Erasmus+ project within which RuralEcho was developed.
The project starts from a simple but important observation: rural and remote communities are often spoken about, but far less often heard in their own voices. Public narratives about these places are frequently reduced to a familiar set of themes — resilience, decline, tradition, isolation — while the everyday complexity of lived experience remains underrepresented.
VOICES responds to this by treating podcasting not only as a communication tool, but as a method for youth expression, local storytelling, participation, critical media literacy, and community-rooted visibility.
Within this framework, RuralEcho was developed as a practical field guide for youth workers, educators, and young people who want to create podcasts that are ethical, low-cost, participatory, and grounded in rural and remote contexts.
Project website: voices-ruralecho.eu
Programme: Erasmus+ — KA210-YOU Small-scale partnerships in youth
Project code: 2024-1-IT03-KA210-YOU-000253169
Duration: 2024–2026
RuralEcho was built through a transnational collaboration between three organisations across three countries.
Absentia APS — Italy 🇮🇹
Lead partner. Based in Stintino, Sardinia. Absentia APS works at the intersection of culture, territory, and participation, with a focus on exploring rural identity, community memory, and creative practice in marginalised and remote areas.
East of Moon — Iceland 🇮🇸
Partner organisation based in Iceland. East of Moon works in youth culture, creative production, and non-formal education, bringing a perspective rooted in small-community life and Nordic youth work tradition.
Asoc Juvenil Illipula — Spain 🇪🇸
Partner organisation based in Spain. Asociación Juvenil Illipula works in youth participation, local culture, and community engagement, contributing experience in participatory methods and rural youth realities from a Southern European context.