Should I stay or should I go?
It is a question that many young people in rural and remote areas of Europe ask themselves when they think about their future and the opportunities their local area can offer.
Staying means trying to build one’s future in the area where one lives; leaving, on the other hand, means seeking elsewhere those opportunities that often seem to be lacking.
But this choice is not merely an individual decision. Every departure, every return and every decision to stay helps to shape the future of a region: communities that change, opportunities that seem to shift elsewhere, but also connections, resources and possibilities to be recognised, nurtured and transformed into new prospects.
SOS – Should I Stay Or Should I Go? was created to try to answer this question, by involving young people in the revitalisation and sustainable development of rural and remote areas across Europe. To achieve this, SOS begins by listening to and involving local communities, with the aim of building skills and creating new opportunities to envisage and shape the future of rural and remote areas, so that they can become places where people choose to stay, return to or put down new roots.
Learning to listen to local communities
This is precisely why the SOS Community Activation Camp was launched – SOS’s first international training programme, hosted by the Danilo Dolci Centre for Creative Development – ETS.
During the training, 24 young people from Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Greece and Spain explored tools and methodologies which they will take back to their own communities in the coming months, directly involving the people living in those local areas.
The programme was developed on the basis of Danilo Dolci’s reciprocal maieutics and participatory action research, two approaches that emphasise listening and participation and recognise that communities play an active role in identifying needs, resources and possible solutions.
Furthermore, during practical activities and discussions, participants explored a form of leadership based on facilitating collective processes and worked on tools to gather experiences and viewpoints, interpret them and identify common themes.
The programme also introduced storytelling, used not only to describe a local area but to give space to the experiences and perspectives of the people who live there.
From the Community Activation Camp to the SOS Booklet
What was learnt during the training does not remain solely with those who took part.
Methods, tools and activities have been compiled in the SOS Booklet, a practical guide designed to support anyone wishing to promote processes of listening, participation and community engagement.
The booklet contains guidance and practical examples relating to:
- reciprocal maieutics
- participatory research
- leadership
- storytelling,
From listening to the voices of communities
Over the coming months, the teams will take what they have learnt directly to the local areas through local listening and participation workshops, involving a total of 360 people across Europe – 60 from each country.
It will be their experiences, needs and perspectives that will help to build a collective narrative of the rural and remote areas involved.
The stories collected will then take on a new form through the creation of geolocated podcasts, which will link people’s voices to the places they belong to and allow listeners to experience their memories through their headphones.
This is a different way of telling the story of areas often described solely in terms of what they are losing – residents, services and opportunities – whilst also highlighting what they hold dear and the possibilities they can still build.
Would you like to find out more about the work of SOS – Should I Stay Or Should I Go? Follow us on Instagram, visit our website or contact riccardo.bellavista@danilodolci.org.
SOS – Should I Stay Or Should I Go? is a European project funded by the programme Erasmus+ – KA3: Support for policy development and cooperation – European Youth Together 2025
Partner
- Coordinator: Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo Danilo Dolci ETS, Italy
- Right Challenge, Portugal
- Re-Act, Bulgaria
- Active Youth Institute, Lithuania
- Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (IED), Greece
- Fundación Santa María la Real (FSMLR), Spain
For further information
Contact Riccardo Bellavista: riccardo.bellavista@danilodolci.org.