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How to demonstrate solidarity in mountain areas during the COVID-19 crisis? Get inspired by some initiatives

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, mountain communities face unprecedented challenges due to the lockdown and isolation. The situation brings social difficulties for people, even more those living in remote areas, and financial ones for rural businesses affected by the closure.

This item of news aims at sharing experiences and inspiring other mountain actors to help them overcome the current challenges.

 

How to support rural businesses facing the crisis?

A Hackathon to support rural businesses, Spain

Because of the fall-off in activity, many businesses face financial difficulties, including in rural areas. To exchange good practices and collaborate to implement solutions, a rural Hackathon was organised on April, 8, 2020 by El hueco, a Spanish association supporting rural businesses and social economy companies – an organisation which for instance supported La Exclusiva “the shop for rural areas with no shop” which participated to SILVER SMEs project. Discussions analysed possible supplementary sources of incomes and new activities for rural businesses as well as solidarity and social effects of the COVID-19 crisis for rural communities. To learn more on initiatives presented during the Hackathon, please visit 20 ideas to fight the crisis in rural Spain.

Small donations to support rural cafés, France

Bouge Ton Coq (an association working for the territorial development of French rural areas) and the Association of rural mayors of France launched a call for donations to support rural businesses in the country, including villages’ cafés and bistrots which will be financially affected by the closure during the lockdown. The idea is to encourage people who initially went to their village’s café to make a donation instead of “paying their round”. Donations are distributed on a weekly basis to mayors who applied for financial support to help businesses on their municipality. The crisis will indeed worsen the difficulties that these rural businesses have been experiencing for several decades in France and comes at a time when the government had set itself the goal of creating 1000 cafés in villages as part of the Rural Agenda presented in September 2019. Villages’ cafés are important places for mountain communities, they do not only serve drinks but are also quite often post offices, small restaurants, local groceries and sometimes even organise cultural events. For more information on the multifunctionality of rural cafés, see our good practice from Massif Central, France.

 

How to achieve solidarity and encourage social cohesion?

“Tick and crosses” community support in Ballachulish, Scotland

Ballachulish, a small village with 700 inhabitants, at the edge of the Bidean Nam Bian mountain, implemented the “ticks and crosses” concept. The idea is simple: if you are healthy and doing well you put a green tick on your window, if you need any kind of help you put a red cross. In just a few days, 50 people in the village volunteered to support the most vulnerable persons, to go shopping in the small village shop for instance. Volunteers also set up a public hand-washing station in front of the shop. The concept was replicated in several villages in the United Kingdom and could inspire other rural areas even after the lockdown. All material to help you in replicating the concept was made available on covidgo.uk

Mountain research support older people, Portugal

CIMO, the Mountain Research Centre, a member of Euromontana, has responded positively to the call from the Ministries of Labour and Social Security, Science and Territorial Cohesion to test the residents of the region’s retirement homes. An entire building of the research centre has been converted into COVID-19 testing rooms. CIMO is also providing support for human resources management.

“Giving a hand” a platform to foster solidarity, Slovenia

The Slovenian platform Pomoč na dlani, which promotes solidarity between people, connects persons in need of assistance and volunteers willing to literally “give a hand”. It focuses its current activities on support to vulnerable, disabled and elderly people for shopping or homecare (not personal care) and on babysitting for parents who must work and could not find another solution for their children.
Similar platforms exist in other countries:

Many other initiatives have flourished in rural and mountainous areas, giving an insight of the resilience and sense of mutual assistance of our communities. If you developed a similar initiative in your territory and are looking for ways to maintain it, please have a look at SIMRA’s practice guide which will provide you with key steps to implement your social innovation and support your mountain community.

Are you aware of a different initiative which can bring added value and support rural businesses and people? Do not hesitate to share it with us, contact Blandine Camus!

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24 April 2020

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Today, members of the Rural Pact Coordination Group (RPCG) meet online to discuss: • The forthcoming RPCG Declaration on the future of EU rural policy, which addresses the open questions in the @European Commission’s ‘key achievements and ways forward’ report;• RPCG members’ position papers on the future of Europe’s rural areas;• RPCG members’ role in the Rural Pact Conference of April 2025;• Members’ actions to date & the Rural Pact Support Office 2025 work programme.More information at: bit.ly/4fwtjnS#RuralPact #RuralVisionEU ... See MoreSee Less
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📢 #CallForProposals: you can now submit proposals for the #InternationalMountainConference!The international conference dedicated to #MountainResearch is taking place from 14-18 September 2025 in #Innsbruck. It is being organised by the Research Area “Mountain Regions” at the Universität Innsbruck ⛰️🇦🇹📝 The #IMC is currently looking for proposals focusing on scientific research in #MountainRegions around the world. There are six formats to choose from, including plenary sessions and workshops - find out more and submit your proposal by 28 November: loom.ly/ntncy_M ... See MoreSee Less
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We're at the #Gismart project Kick Off meeting in Paris today to share guidelines on communication, dissemination and exploitation of results 💡For the next two days, we will discuss the following steps to assess the sustainability of geographical indications all over Europe, including in the mountains ⛰️🌱🚜👩‍🌾 How to transition to more sustainable diet systems ? 🌱 How to implement the Farm to Fork Strategy?🥩🧀 how to develop a methodology to assess economic, social, environnemental dimensions of GIs sustainability?Pleased to be working on this key topic with INRAE and to continue collaboration with AREPO! More info on GI-SMART 🔗 www.euromontana.org/gi-smart/ ... See MoreSee Less
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🌄 A week ago, we were opening the #MountainConvention2024 in the stunning Catalan Pyrenees! 🏔️✨ 250 mountain stakeholders came together in Puigcerdà to shape the #MountainEconomies of tomorrow! 💬 In the face of socio-economic, environmental, and demographic transitions, our economies must become 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 than ever! 💪🌱From fair remuneration of farmers & ecosystem services, to funding for the transition of mountain resorts, circular economy development for wool and wood products, support for entrepreneurship and interesting public procurement or taxes systems ... all a huge thank you to everyone for your energy and ideas! 🙌 These will be captured in the 𝐏𝐮𝐢𝐠𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚̀ 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, which will be presented on 11 December on International Mountain Day 📜🏔️🔜 Presentations and materials will soon be available! A special thank you to our co-organisers Territori. Generalitat de Catalunya. and CREAF, as well as our supporters Ajuntament de Puigcerdà , #NEMOR Network for European Mountain Research, European Rural Pact 🙏 ... See MoreSee Less
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