The Rural Hub

The Rural Hub is a not-for-profit organisation based in County Cavan.

We specialise in the development of innovative educational materials and digital resources. These resources aim to address a wide range of target groups including marginalised adult learners, disadvantaged young people not in employment, educations or training (NEETs), older persons, individuals in vulnerable employment, migrant learners and entrepreneurs engaged in the creative sector, with a specific focus on the rural community.

Through the development of e-learning materials and digital resources, The Rural Hub aims to address the current and future training needs of rural residents. We also strive to address the skills gap in the provision of alternative educational materials, innovative approaches and best practices in training and education programmes.

Through our work, we collaborate with peers across Europe to develop, produce and test a range of online learning materials including video lectures, challenge-based learning resources such as online educational escape rooms and WebQuest challenges, interactive workbooks and other digital learning materials.

All educational materials are freely available to local providers of education and training, and in addition we offer flexible training on how to use the available digital media and creative approaches in their teaching practice.

Our suite of digital resources makes use of innovative methodologies for working with disadvantaged groups to build basic skills and competences, and to improve the integration of all groups and individuals into rural communities. Throughout the year we organise a series of events to raise awareness about emerging issues including online safety, disinformation, entrepreneurship, digital literacy and the radicalisation of young people through online environments.

The Rural Hub Newspaper

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Our Story

The Rural Hub was set up as an association by a group of education, training and rural development professionals as a response to the impact of the economic crisis on small rural villages and towns in Ireland. Since it was first established in 2012, The Rural Hub has been providing a wide range of training and capacity development programmes to residents and community groups.

In 2017 it was decided that The Rural Hub would be established as a Company Limited by Guarantee to continue its actions and further develop the range of activities and services it provides.

The Rural Hub is privately funded and receives no grant income from national funding bodies. This has allowed us to focus our attention on areas where there is an obvious gap in service provision and to conduct business without the constraints that often accompanies grant income.  As such, we are a flexible and versatile community development organisation capable of responding to a wide range of needs due to the diverse skills of the staff and volunteers who support these actions.

We have significant experience in the area of community and rural development and have delivered a number of local projects and training programmes to support the social inclusion of disadvantaged rural youth, migrant communities and isolated older residents. We work with these groups, using creative approaches and the testing of digital resources to support greater social cohesion among local communities in County Cavan. We have a developed network of county-wide stakeholders who support our work on a thematic basis.

Our Work In The Community

The Rural Hub is continually developing their programme of Social Mornings and Educational Afternoons to fill the skills gap in the provision of alternative educational in the community. The Educational Afternoon themes are community driven and subject to demand offer introductory sessions such as:

  • Building an online business
  • Social media training for smartphone, tablet and laptop
  • Media production training for young people
  • Creative Writing
  • Entrepreneurship for young people in the creative industries
  • Online Safety & your Digital Footprint

The Social Mornings programme has a community wellbeing focus and subject to demand offers sessions such as:

  • Mindfulness and Meditation
  • Making positive health choices
  • Aromatherapy
  • Knit and Knatter
  • Crafty Crochet
  • Hand Reflexology
  • Working with Crystals
  • Cultural Exchange and Conversational English
  • Storytelling

Keep up to date with the full list of courses and Rural Hub events by following us on Facebook

Erasmus+ Projects

As part of our work on a European-level, The Rural Hub participates in Erasmus+ funded initiatives which aim to address issues affecting rural communities; such as a need for increased digital literacy of residents, the challenge of retraining older employees approaching retirement age, the importance of integrating migrant communities in all aspects of social and civic life and the need to support youth entrepreneurship as a means of counteracting high levels of rural depopulation. In response to these issues, The Rural Hub has been successful in securing funding under the Erasmus+ Programme through the following projects:

Family Circle - Family Learning To Drive Demand for A Circular Economy

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  • Project on Facebook
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    eMysteries - Detective Stories to Engage Students in Close Reading with the Use of Mobile Devices

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  • Project on Facebook
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    Traces - Supporting youth to manage their digital & social media presence

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  • Project on Facebook
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    Influencers - Online social entrepreneurship to foster inclusion of young people living with a disability or a long-term health condition

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  • Project on Facebook
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    Efficient Parenting – Effective and Innovative Approaches for Resilient Parenting

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  • Project on Facebook
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    DigitALAD – Digital Adult Educators: Preparing Adult Educators for a Digital World

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  • Project on Facebook
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    ARTSKUL - Music, drama and storytelling resources for competence building with marginalized adults

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  • Project on Facebook
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    GEN-Z Developing competences and opportunities for social media entrepreneurship

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  • Project on Facebook
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    WIRES-CROSSED – Developing Community Media to Mitigate the impact of Fake News

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  • Project on Facebook
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    HYPER – How Young People Are Engaged by Radicals

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  • Project on Facebook
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    EXEMPLAR - Young Migrant Integration Leaders

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  • Project on Facebook
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    ELEVATION – Raising the skills of adults on the margins of lifelong learning

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  • Project on Facebook
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    Reducing Workplace Stress for Young People by Building Career Management Skills

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  • Project on Facebook
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    Building Entrepreneurial Competences through Challenge-Based Learning - Game Changer

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  • Project on Facebook
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    Peer leadership to promote positive mental health among marginalised - Safe Space

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  • Project on Facebook
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    NEXT GENERATION WOMEN TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURS - BIZMIZ

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  • Project On Facebook
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    Seniors supporting migrant integration - Silver Service

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  • Project On Facebook
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    BEST TRANE - BEST practices for TRaining in Adults Non-formal Education

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  • Project on Facebook
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    eProtect - Safety Toolkit for Consumer and Personal Data Protection for the Elderly during Internet use

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  • Project on Facebook
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    Using Satire and Comedy to Promote Climate Change Awareness - FARCE

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  • Project On Facebook
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    Generation AI: Teaching kids about Artificial Intelligence - GENERATION-AI

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  • Project On Facebook
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    European Green Deal for Cities - EGD4cities

    • 2020-12-01 - 2022-11-30
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  • Project On Facebook
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    NEET-IDEA - Supporting Digital Native NEETs Back to Mainstream Education, Training and Employment

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  • Project On Facebook
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    iWell - Enhancing the Digital and Social Well-being in Schools

    • 2020-12-01 - 2022-11-30
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    OVERCOME - Positive Career Guidance for Low-skilled Adults

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    PLANet B - WebQuest challenges for young people to develop their knowledge about climate change

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  • Project On Facebook
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    RoboGirls - Empowering girls in STEAM through robotics and coding

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  • Project On Facebook
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    SAFE YOUTH - The Science of Sexuality Education and Youth Work

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  • Project On Facebook
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    Supporting meaningful Occupations for low-qualified Migrants, Refugees, and Asylum seekers using the Green Entrepreneurship Model - SOMRA

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  • Project On Facebook
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    STrengthen the Skills Of NEets - STONE

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    Rediscovering Your Musical Youth - Digital Skills Training for Seniors - VINYL WARRIORS

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  • Project On Facebook
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    What's on the Web Safe for All Family Members - A Family Learning Approach to Building Digital Literacy Competences - WOWSA

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  • Project On Facebook
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    CERTIFIED TRAINING FOR SILVER CAREGIVERS - CT4SILVERCAREGIVERS

    • 2020-09-01 - 2022-08-31
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    CASCADE - Craft (and) Artisan Skills (for) Co-operative and Digital Enterprise and Innovation Gains

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  • Project On Facebook