In this episode, part of our Powering Change: Empowering Rural Youth for Energy Communities project, we’re in Brussels with the Rural Youth Europe (RYE) Policy Committee talking all about the power of building an energy community. What are energy communities? And what are EU institution doing to support their development? Dan chats to RYE Policy Manager Adriana Borsellino, as well as energy community experts Maria Bellou from Electra Energy Cooperative and Óscar Güell from REScoop.eu. We also hear from Policy Committee members Sheila Keeshan (Ireland), Ingars Jēkabsons (Latvia), Marieke Hoehne (Germany) and Kristian Sivula (Finland).

Read our interactive guide ‘Getting Started with Rural Energy Communities’ here: https://rebrand.ly/02933e and our step-by-step guide ‘Building your own energy community’ here: https://rebrand.ly/c832ee . You can also find out more about REScoop here: www.rescoop.eu

It’s our last episode of 2025 and we are catching up with all the winners of this year’s Rural Youth Europe Awards. Dan chats to Jillian Kennedy from the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs (SAYFC) about this year’s Project of the Year - the Respect Campaign. He also talks to Fabian Kogler from Rural Youth Austria, Inspirational Person of the Year, and Ewan Aitken from Strathearn JAC in Scotland, the Inspirational Club of the Year. You can also find out more about the SAYFC Big Build campaign here: www.sayfc.org/donate/sayfcs-big-build/.

This podcast has been produced by Rural Youth Europe with the financial support of European Union and the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe. The opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the authors and do not reflect the official opinion of the Council of Europe and European Union.

In this episode we’re in Latvia for the Autumn Seminar 2025. Hosted by Latvian 4H, with support from Latvian Young Farmers, this seminar brought together rural youth leaders from across Europe.

This episode is produced and presented by the participants of the Autumn Seminar and here they present to you the building blocks of a rural youth organisation. They cover our organisation’s vision and mission, the structure and governance, fundraising opportunities and how we encourage volunteer engagement.

This podcast has been produced by Rural Youth Europe with the financial support of European Union and the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe. The opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the authors and do not reflect the official opinion of the Council of Europe and European Union.

As part of the ‘Rural Youth Forward’ project, in this episode we are delving into our research on the different realities and trends on rural youth participation in policy-making across Europe. Dan chats to Victor Cătălin Toma and Catalina Gurgu from the Active Development Association about their work on youth participation, as well as their flagship project - the European Youth Village programme. Find out more and read our Rural Youth Forward resources here: https://bit.ly/3MLXfmS.

This podcast has been produced by Rural Youth Europe with the financial support of European Union and the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe. The opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the authors and do not reflect the official opinion of the Council of Europe and European Union.

We’re at the 2025 European Rally in Slovenia. Hosted by our member organisation ZSPM - the Slovenian Rural Youth Association - this year’s rally is all about empowering young people for active participation. Why do you do rural youth work? What motivates you to give back to your local community? In this episode the participants will be interviewing each other about their own experiences.

This podcast has been produced by Rural Youth Europe with the financial support of European Union and the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe. The opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the authors and do not reflect the official opinion of the Council of Europe and European Union.

Recorded at the Rural Youth Europe Study Session 2025, this episode focusses on rural advocacy. What is it? How do we engage with decision makers? What are the priorities of rural youth? Listen to young people from across Europe sharing their thoughts, as well as tips on how you can start your advocacy journey. This episode was recorded at the European Youth Centre in Budapest in collaboration with the Council of Europe Youth Department.

In our final episode of 2024, Dan is joined by all the winners of this year’s Rural Youth Europe Awards, which aim to showcase the very best of rural youth across Europe. Hear from the team from Landjugend Schwoich who were responsible for this year’s Project of the Year - See Agriculture, Taste Agriculture, Experience Agriculture. Dan also chats to Teele Tõnisson from Estonian 4H, this year’s Inspirational Person of the Year, as well as Joanne Malone and Catriona Bourke, from Castlebar Macra, this year’s Inspirational Club of the Year.