Smart Villages LEADER Training: Expression of Interest now open

North Tipperary Development Company (NTDC)—in collaboration with Technological University of the Shannon (TUS)—have announced the roll-out of a pilot suite of Smart Villages Rural Development LEADER training during April/May 2022.

The training will be awarded to two communities in the Thurles region and NTDC is now accepting Expressions of Interest from Community Groups in this area.

Operating at both a national and EU level, the Smart Villages initiative aims to enable rural communities to use innovative and technical solutions to improve their resilience by developing an overall strategic plan that builds upon local strengths, assets and opportunities; it will allow for tailored interpretation and response based on local needs.

Smart citizen communities, businesses and public administrations are needed for long-term development through investment in networking and co-operation between all stakeholders.

The training programme presents the core concepts of the EU Smart Villages methodology: Leveraging Local Assets, Communication Strategies, Valuing Local Human Resources, Community Planning and Regional Collaboration.

It will be delivered over 4 weeks and will look at thematic areas such as:

• Intro to Smart Villages Concepts
• Local Assets/Stakeholder Profiling & Plan Co-creation
• Goal Setting & Project Scheduling
• Metrics, Data and Digital Tools
• Communications, Co-creation, Collaboration & Volunteer Coordination
• Smart Villages Plan

Interested Community Groups can request an Expression of Interest form from NTDC by emailing lmckeogh@ntdc.ie or by calling (067) 56676.

The closing date for return of completed Expression of Interest forms is March 31, 2022.

Further information is available at https://www.ntdc.ie/news/

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