SERIGO

European rural areas face social, demographic, economic, and environmental challenges linked to global transformations and crises, which affect people’s living conditions and well-being, hitting those in vulnerable situations the hardest.

SERIGO aims to enhance the resilience, social inclusion, and well-being of vulnerable groups in European rural areas through social economy and social innovation. The project is organized around several lines of action:

• Conducting empirical research through 24 case studies and 5 pilot actions;
• Stimulating debate and collaboration among diverse stakeholders;
• Developing recommendations to support the design of social inclusion policies in rural areas.

SERIGO applies an intersectional perspective to vulnerability and combines critical systems thinking with community-based participatory research to explore the potential of social economy in promoting social inclusion and improving the quality and accessibility of services in rural areas.

Within SERIGO, Eurac Research coordinates Work Package 3 on case studies, which collects and analyses empirical data from 24 cases across 12 countries, focusing on the impact of social economy initiatives implemented at the local level. Through these case studies, the project investigates the conditions that lead to social exclusion, as well as the enabling factors and the potential of social innovation to improve the situation of vulnerable groups.