On May 12 and 13, 2026 , the European Parliament in Strasbourg will host the “Youth Voices from Rural Europe” event , a highlight dedicated to the participation of young people from rural areas at the European level. Co-financed by the Connect-R project (Erasmus+ Youth) , this event will bring together more than 150 participants , including around 100 young people from MFR delegations and European rural areas.
This edition marks a new stage in the development of the project, with a strengthened openness at the European level thanks to the mobilization of partners in Romania , Iceland and Estonia , allowing for the exchange of perspectives and realities of rural youth across different territories of the European Union.
For two days, young people will be at the heart of the action: they will work on building a collective advocacy strategy , with a clear objective—to better connect the European Union with rural youth by making their realities, needs, and proposals heard. The highlight of this event will be their opportunity to speak within the European Parliament itself, in a symbolic space where public policies are shaped.
In parallel, workshops will be offered to educational teams and decision-makers to strengthen their capacity to support youth participation. These sessions will encourage the evolution of approaches and practices, combining collective intelligence, a sensitive approach, and civic engagement. The goal: to enable adults, in their respective roles, to better support young people's empowerment, in line with the MFR movement's mission and the Sustainable Development Goals.
This event is fully aligned with the momentum generated by the MFRs (Rural Family Homes), whose “ Architects of the Future ” project forms the backbone of this initiative. This project aims to train engaged young citizens, capable of understanding the challenges of the contemporary world and actively participating in them, in connection with their local communities. To concretely support this ambition, the movement relies in particular on EMA – Education for the World and Others – which equips teams and young people to develop, lead, and structure projects that foster engagement, openness to the world, and civic participation. In addition, European funds, and in particular the Erasmus+ Youth program, support and co-finance these initiatives, offering young people opportunities for experiences on a European scale, such as the one offered through this event.
It also represents a key step in a broader ambition for 2028: to further mobilize these spaces for dialogue in the European Parliament, with a generation of young people and adults fully at ease in these places of democratic participation.
A few places are still available, both in person and online. For any inquiries, please contact alissone.frandemiche@mfr.asso.fr
To follow the news of the project and the event, visit the social networks of the Union MFR: Facebook , Instagram and LinkedIn.
