SOCIAL INCLUSION

Smart Villages are about people.

Smart Villages are communities in rural areas that
use innovative solutions to improve their resilience,
building on local strengths and opportunities.

People 4 people

Imagine a World, in which people rediscover the scenic beauty of our country sides, in which our citizens embrace social engagement, understand the advantages of cooperative structures and feel proud to be an active member of their respective community. A World that embraces and harnesses technology, instead of seeing it as a threat, because it gives us the liberty to concentrate on the essential and live outside of the city in an environment ideal to raise a family. Solidarity, freedom of choice, family values and ecological consciousness will go hand in hand, thereby unifying the core visions of our four pro-European political families.

Smart villages begin with local people coming together to develop a strategy around local assets and aspirations. Investing in rural communities, in people and their ideas, has the opportunity not only of boosting the development of much-needed infrastructure, but also of capacity and society building. The smart villages approach must be front and centre of any attempt to solve depopulation, boost the provision of services and realize opportunities for growth in rural areas. Smart villages embrace a functional cross-sectoral approach, interlinking the available and future development
tools. It is about the life of rural citizens and it reaches out to a broad range of stakeholders beyond local people, including rural development practitioners, legislators, politicians, entrepreneurs, NGOs and academics.

Co-operative structures

Social inclusion has been defined as the process of promoting the values, relations and institutions that enable all people to participate in social, economic and political life on the basis of equality of rights, equity and dignity (EU-Council of Europe youth partnership, Glossary, 2017). Promoting social inclusion poverty reduction and economic development in rural areas is the centre of
Smart Villages project.

Art and culture

Identity expressed through culture is a necessity for all human development. It creates the fundamental building blocks in our personality and in the ties that link us to communities and nations. Through culture, people and groups define themselves, conform to society’s shared values, and contribute to society.
Art — in its various mediums — is vital in sustaining life. It should be viewed as highly important to education to create a thriving society with meaningful expression, imagination and flourishing cultures – and in that rural areas should not be left behind.

E-health and e-care

E-health innovation has the potential to address rural issues of isolation and lack of access to local health care providers and facilities. Connecting doctors, nurses, care homes, patients, university academics and small companies in the region helping to find the best uses of the internet, apps and robotics in health and social care.

Digital platforms

Enhancing the accessibility, use and quality of information and communication technologies (ICT) in rural areas.

  • Broadband infrastructure, including its creation, improvements and expansion,
  • Passive broadband infrastructure
  • Provision of access to broadband
  • Public e-government solutions