Santiago de Compostela hosts a new edition of the forums ‘Challenges and opportunities of rural Spain’
Entrepreneurship, youth and inclusion were the main topics addressed in the debate on the rural future of the region
ESF+
On 11 July, the Forum ‘Challenges and opportunities in rural Spain: Galicia’, an event organized by Fundación MAPFRE in collaboration with the Galician Regional Government and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) with the aim of highlighting the business opportunities in rural Galicia and the possibility of attracting and retaining talent from the local area.
This meeting is part of the actions carried out by Fundación MAPFRE as the Intermediary Body of the Social Inclusion, Child Guarantee and Fight against Poverty Program of the European Social Fund Plus, for 2021-2027. Over this period, through the calls for +Rural Grants, projects will be financed for a total value of 30 million euros.
Entrepreneurship, youth and inclusion, as well as new care models, were the main topics addressed in the debate, in which Alfonso Rueda, President of the Galician Regional Government; Julio Domingo, CEO of Fundación MAPFRE and the Infanta Elena de Borbón, Director of Social Projects of Fundación MAPFRE, took part. Other speakers at the two round tables included Marta Mariño, General Director of Self-Employment and Social Economy of the Galician Regional Government; Juan Carlos Pérez, CEO of ‘Aldealista’, a community created to fight depopulation in rural Galicia; Beatriz Gallego, director of Inserta Empleo Galicia of the ONCE Group; and Carlos Martínez, mayor of the Vedra municipality in A Coruña.
During his speech, Julio Domingo referred to the European Social Fund Plus, “one of the main EU instruments for promoting social inclusion, equal opportunities and employment”, and announced that in the first half of 2025 a new call for +Rural Grants will be announced, this time endowed with 20 million euros co-financed by the ESF+ and Fundación MAPFRE, and which will be targeting entities in the third sector, the social economy and labor organizations.
More information on this call will be released in the coming months and will be communicated through Fundación MAPFRE’s website.
