The FYI-R Toolbox
The Future Youth Information for Rural Areas (FYI-R) Toolbox is an innovative strategic foresight instrument developed under the coordination of the European Rural Youth Observatory (EURYO). It is designed to equip policymakers, service providers, researchers, and community actors with the tools and insights needed to anticipate the needs, aspirations, and transitions of rural young people aged 18–29 across Europe.
The FYI-R Toolbox responds to a critical policy and knowledge gap identified through the COST Action CA18213 – Rural NEET Youth Network: Modelling the risks underlying rural NEETs social exclusion (RNYN), which revealed that most rural youth policies are reactive and lack future-oriented data or participatory methods. In addressing this gap, FYI-R toolbox introduces a co-created, multi-level foresight model that integrates quantitative data, participatory workshops, and scenario-building techniques to support evidence-based, inclusive, and forward-looking rural development policies.
Under a COST Innovators Grant (IG18213) - Future Youth Information for Rural Areas (FYI-R), the FYI-R Toolbox was piloted in 14 European countries, covering four main themes - Mobility, Education, Employment, and Entrepreneurship - supported by a Quality Assurance Team that monitored and validated its implementation.
The FYI-R Toolbox’s success lies in its ability to translate complex rural trends into actionable intelligence, empowering stakeholders to design future-oriented policies, programmes, and services that strengthen youth engagement, social cohesion, and resilience in rural territories.
The FYI-R Toolbox is aligned with key EU frameworks such as EU Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas (LTVRA), the European Pillar of Social Rights, the EU Youth Strategy 2019–2027, and the Rural Pact, positioning EURYO as a leading European reference in rural foresight and youth innovation, bridging research, policy, and practice to shape inclusive and sustainable rural futures.
By bridging research, policy, and practice, the FYI-R Toolbox enables policymakers and practitioners to design evidence-based, future-oriented strategies that promote innovation, participation, and resilience in Europe’s rural communities, ultimately contributing to the creation of inclusive and sustainable rural futures, ensuring coherence with the Union’s overarching goals of social inclusion, territorial cohesion, and youth empowerment.
Unlike traditional approaches that often result in abstract recommendations disconnected from local realities, FYI-R Toolbox is designed through collaborative foresight methods involving stakeholders and rural youth themselves. This ensures that the outputs are not loose guidelines but concrete indicators, visual foresight displays, and tailored reports that can be directly applied in policy, programme, and service design.
FYI-R Components
The FYI-R Toolbox is a hybrid strategic foresight instrument combining digital tools, participatory methods, and expert guidance. It enables the anticipation of rural youth transitions and supports decision-makers in exploring alternative futures beyond the usual decline narrative associated with rural areas.
It consists of four interconnected components that guide the foresight process:
- Mapping focuses on portraying rural youth realities using public indicator databases, triangulating with qualitative insights from local stakeholders, and zooming into the lived experiences of marginalised groups.
- Living Lab Preferred Futures builds futures literacy with young people, explores alternative scenarios from vision to action, and negotiates preferred futures by probing possible courses of action.
- FYI-R ExChange Living Lab brings stakeholders together through mapping and co-exploration workshops, fostering ideation and co-creation sessions to design solutions, followed by prototyping, testing, and collective evaluation.
- FYI-R Online Hub serves as a digital space where national teams coordinate tailored requests, provide methodological guidance, and integrate foresight tools into local planning processes. Together, these components ensure a participatory, data-driven, and context-sensitive approach to rural youth foresight.