Rural Resilience – Building A Thriving Countryside

The Rural Resilience project is a strategic initiative by ARC2020 to strengthen civil society’s role in shaping the future of rural Europe. At a time of democratic fragility, land inequality, and ecological breakdown, we’re working with partners across the continent who fill the gaps left by failing policies — to imagine, together, what rural transformation can look like from the ground up.

Our vision is a countryside that is vibrant, sustainable, and fair.

In 2025 we focus on three complex and interweaving themes that are key building blocks for the resilience of our rural areas:

• the future of CAP and the EU’s rural budget
• access to land
• generational renewal.

Our objectives are to:

1. Shape policy discourse through grounded analysis and rural storytelling, enabling under-heard voices to change the narratives around European food and farming.
2. Cultivate meaningful partnerships with actors in agroecology, access to land, food sovereignty and rural justice.
3. Deepen exchanges, learnings and impacts with the participation of an ecosystem of stakeholders at our annual gathering.

Staying grounded

The rural is political. We see rural territories not as peripheral, but as sites of renewal, resistance, and commons-based experimentation. Since 2020 we have connected with the farmers, local communities, and rural changemakers who are cultivating a thriving countryside.

A caravan of ARC2020 and partners have brought new meaning to the Weimar Triangle – reinterpreting at the local level the high level diplomatic agreement between France, Germany and Poland, and connecting progressive rural actors in the three countries.

A cornerstone of the project is to build trust between rural and policy stakeholders. Rural resilience starts on the ground, but the conditions for rural life are shaped by policies, funding, and governance at regional, national, and transnational levels. We support decentralised, plural forms of organising — from local initiatives to European alliances.

We embrace agroecology as a tool for system change: not just as a farming practice, but as a social, cultural, and political horizon.

In this moment of uncertainty for rural futures, we endeavour to seed unexpected collaborations and visions for post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the forthcoming EU budget.

The first phases of Rural Resilience (2020-2024) built strong networks in France and across Europe. We connected with rural communities and highlighted innovative socio-ecological transitions.

These foundations expanded to Germany, Poland, and other regions, linking grassroots action with policy engagement and strengthening transnational solidarity.

Check out some of that work in our reports from phase 1 and phase 2 of the project.

Click here to dive into our ARC-hive of articles on Rural Resilience, dating back to the beginning of the project!