Human

The well-being benefits from living in rural areas are well recognized and supported by the global literature. There is an increasing agreement that greater involvement of local rural communities can contribute to and promote this well-being.

The SWEDA Project aimed to combine the work of the primary sector with several other functions that affect the quality of production, biodiversity and conservation of the rural human aspect.

According to the EU, the identification of multifunctionality takes place through three factors:

• Economic, companies that diversify their production belong to the multifunctionality;
• Environmental, multifunctionality manifests itself through the protection of the environment and the enhancement of the rural landscape;
• Social, multifunctionality protects and keeps local traditions alive through itineraries, recreational and educational activities.
  
  

The main 3 topics addressed by the project were:

• Rural development and urbanisation;
• Cooperation between educational institutions and business;
• Health and well-being.
  
  

The project was part of this perspective and wanted to propose innovative solutions that can trigger the transformation of both small, medium and large farms into integrated sustainable well-being.

The Consortium, based on the IO3, produced recommendations for the integrated sustainable well-being of rural areas.

The partners had experience in the circular economy, bio-economy, sustainable rural development. So, they developed a training path accompanied by capacity-building actions aimed at policymakers and actors active in the agricultural sector to ensure that the efforts asked for farms to contribute to the integrated well-being of rural areas supported by the development of an environment conducive to change.