• Seven Local Action Groups from Castile and León create the LEADER cooperation project "ACTIVATE"
• The migration of the youth population to urban areas is the main problem in rural areas.
• The essence of the project lies in strengthening human capital through training, awareness-raising and animation processes.

Rural areas face a growing challenge: depopulation and a lack of opportunities for young people. The scarcity of services, difficulties in accessing training, and limited job opportunities lead many young people to move to urban areas in search of a brighter future. However, this migration not only weakens the social fabric of rural communities but also deprives these areas of their most valuable resource: people.

Aware of this reality, seven Local Action Groups (LAGs) from Castile and León have joined forces to create the LEADER ACTIVATE cooperation project . Unlike other projects focused on material or landscape resources, this one focuses on people, especially young people, promoting their active involvement in the social, cultural, and economic life of their communities.

Goals

In this context, it is essential to promote initiatives that not only retain young people in their communities but also transform them into active agents of change and local development. To this end, the following objectives are proposed:

• Increase the sense of belonging of school-age youth and their participation in local development processes.
• Revitalize youth associations and transform them into catalytic structures capable of responding to the needs of young people in rural areas.
• Boost self-confidence in your own abilities to tackle professional and personal projects.
• Provide information and tools that facilitate employability.
• Promote intergenerational relationships between young and older populations to preserve their individual identity.
• Instrumentalize the process of incorporating new members into the GALs of each territory.

Lines of action

To achieve this, various actions are being carried out, categorized as follows:

1. Common actions carried out jointly by the GAL:

• Development of a best practices manual and a final project report to facilitate its implementation in other territories.
• Definition of a youth animation strategy that strengthens associations.
• Creation of a Online resource center with information about the project, support materials, and documents of interest to young people and associations.
• Project promotion and connection with youth through social media and advertising content.
• Holding an event to exchange experiences and present results with participating youth and organizations.

2. Individual actions carried out in each territory:

• Development of a territorial diagnosis of youth associations that will help define support and strengthening strategies.
• Organization of outreach events with workshops at institutes and vocational training centers.
• Development of youth entrepreneurship workshops to promote entrepreneurship and business creation among young people.
• Celebration of a youth entrepreneurship fair with booths, workshops, and presentations.
• Coverage for the transfer of GAL personnel to carry out project actions.
• Dissemination of local project activities through communication resources tailored to each territory.

Participants and funding

The partners of the ACTIVATE intraregional project are the following seven LAGs from the autonomous community of Castile and León:

• ADERAVI (coordinator)
• ADRIMO
• AIDESCOM
• ASODEBI
• Northeast of Salamanca
• ADRI Palomares
• ADRI Cerrato Palentino

This innovative initiative is part of Measure 19.3 LEADER of the 2014-2022 Castilla y León Rural Development Programme (Castilla y León RDP) , financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), with a total investment of €194,257.

Provisional results

Although this cooperation initiative ends its work in June 2025, the State Rural Development Network (REDER) It provides the following provisional data since the conclusions have not yet been completed:

• Work has been carried out with 210 rural youth associations .
• 12 institutes have collaborated.
• 42 training talks on entrepreneurship and a sense of belonging have been given.
• 1,005 students from Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO) and Baccalaureate participated.