Rural Shaker Impact Stories
An Online Series of Inspirational Success Stories
as snapchat of what was Rural Shakers Stories #1
December 2-3, 2020
10 Speakers
10 minutes x story
5 English & 5 Spanish-speaking inspiring success stories of positive local impact told first-hand by Rural Shakers from around the globe
2 Days
Wed. December 2nd 3-5pm GMT +01
· English-speaking rural shaker talks
Thurs. December 3rd 5-7pm GMT +01
· Spanish-speaking rural shaker talks
Networking
Take part in the final discussion, ask direct questions to experienced Rural Shakers, and get the shortcuts you need to make your rural shaking project thrive
co-organized with ❤️by / for Rural Shakers
¿Who are the Rural Shakers?
Rural coliving and coworking spaces, incubators, local action groups, forward thinking government teams, intentional communities, artists and creative collectives, networks and NGOs energizing rural regions. They are rural collaborators of PANDORAHUB gLocal network with whom we share cause and values: Reversing rural depopulation by leveraging local positive transformation.
¿What are the Rural Shaker Impact Stories?
We are starting a series of online talk by worldwide inspiring impact stories and stored knowledge of mature and consolidated Rural Shakers so they can transfer their skills, learnings, and best practices to newly created Rural Shakers.
We are envisioning the first steps as the creation, identification, dissemination of knowledge and success stories, offering mentorship, support, resources and guidance (inspiration, tools, short-cuts, online training, community development, fundraising ...) for Rural Shakers.
The first initiatives proposed for and by the Rural Shakers is a series of online inspirational talks, workshops, and an online congress co-created with a worldwide working group of rural coliving and coworking spaces, and rural activation initiatives such as Coconat (Germany), Ruralízate (Spain), La Iera artisan Collective (Olot, Spain), Goodfather and Olive Tree (Oliete, Spain), and BrainCo (Extremadura, Spain).
Rural Shakers with whom we share our impact-driven values and mission, and a certain level of experience and measurable KPIs of experience; including reversal of rural depopulation by attracting and consolidating impact-driven creative, innovative, and entrepreneurial people to rural areas.
Program
Rural Shakers Stories #1
December 2nd & 3rd, 2020
DAY 1 - Wednesday December 2nd
English-Speaking Rural Shaker Impact Story #1
Queer Rural Cultural Center Alto das Fadas
Wed. December 2nd 3-5pm GMT +01
Founded in 2019 in central rural Portugal by a the global community of the Radical Faeries (a queer community established in US in 1979 as a counter to the mainstream gay culture and the concrete world with +100.000 associates), ADF is aiming to provide a safe space for the LGBTQI community to gather and connect to nature. ADF in Portugal is the latest addition to 12 of these sanctuaries around the world, is the second in Europe and already hosted 20+ retreats since 2019.
Rural Shaker: Yoav Goldwein (Co-founder at, urbanist with years of experience in social innovation, entrepreneurships, community building, coliving and sustainability).
3 main indicators:
· 50+ queer Portuguese (who never heard about the radical faeries before) got to know the community, visited the space and got engaged in facilitating content
· 300+ visitants of the space from many countries as far as Australia, New Zealand and Chile.
· 2 people moved to the region so far from the EU
Founded in 2016 in rural Brandenburg (Germany), Netzwerk Zukunftsorte is a network of rural spaces for experimentation that convert vacancies into impactful locations - creating full residences with digital work culture.
Rural Shaker: Uleshka Asher (Communications and new formats at Netzwerk Zukunftsorte)
3 main indicators:
· 1,588 network members
· Created 2 paid jobs as full time employees for the network
· Connected with 10+ regional networks in Germany
English-Speaking Rural Shaker Impact Story #3
Raumpioniere Oberlausitz
Wed. December 2nd 3-5pm GMT +01
From 2015, Raumpioniere is aimed at hosting, welcoming and guiding a diversity of people who are thinking about to migrate to a rural area by connecting them with other people, organizations and opportunities in a huge network which spans over the so called" “new federal states“ in East Germany.
Rural Shaker: Jan Hufenbach (Co-founder at Raumpioniere new formats at Netzwerk Zukunftsorte).
3 main indicators:
· 200 people contacted and/or interviewed willing to move to rural Germany.
· +20 million people reached by Media (print, tv, internet etc.).
· +39 rural pioneers involved with the initiative.
In 2012, the initial idea to use digitisation to create an idyllic place of work in the green was firstly developed by its co--founders. After two successful test runs, Coconat opened permanently in May 2017 in the Klein Glien estate. Coconat Space is a rural coliving and coworking space near Berlin hosting newcomers, neighbors and networks to be inspired, concentrate, work, and play in the countryside with a clear focus on the local development, local cooperation, and collaboration of local businesses and partners who are also coworkers and use the space for local events and festivities.
Rural Shaker: Julianne Becker (Co-founder and CEO at Coconat Space).
3 main indicators:
· 3,000+ visitors
· 15 new residents moved to region
· 6+ Million Euros granted by 7 regional and international awards
Holis is a place-based, interdisciplinary school that fosters social innovation through collaboration and collective intelligence. Every year they bring together students and professionals from a wide range of disciplines to work on social innovation projects mainly in rural regions around all Europe with the support of outstanding team facilitators.
Rural Shaker: Maxim Dedushkov (Founder and Director at Holis School)
3 main indicators:
· 70 participants
· 25 social innovation projects
· 7 years of running educational programs
DAY 2 - Thursday December 3rd
Spanish-Speaking Rural Shaker Impact Story #1
Folk & Celtic Music Festival El Magusto
Thursday December 3rd 5-7pm GMT +01
For 17 years, this festival in the village of Carbajo (Cáceres, Spain) has managed to put this small town on the national and international cultural agenda, and contribute to the promotion of the International Tagus Biosphere Reserve.
Rural Shaker: Laura Corchado (Agricultural Engineer, co-founder of Ruralízate and head of communication of the El Magusto Cultural Association)
3 Main indicators:
· 3,000 average visitors per edition
· 100% occupancy in tourist accommodation in the region
· 3,351,400 unique users of impact through the press and radio (XVI edition)
Spanish-Speaking Rural Shaker Impact Story #2
La Iera La Garrotxa Artisan Collective
Thursday December 3rd 5-7pm GMT +01
+4 years contributing to making art, crafts and creativity a way of life and a distinctive feature in La Garrotxa (Gerona, Spain), attracting and strengthening an artisan network community from / in that region.
Rural Shaker: Marta Sala (Responsible for strategy, creativity and innovation at La Iera and Cookie Box).
3 Main indicators:
· 27 active members.
· 4 underused basements shops (+ the 5th under construction), opened and renovated as craft workshops ("El taller dels Sastres") with the Olot Town Hall.
· 2 craftwork spaces openend (+ the 3rd under construction) in Olot linked to La Iera.
Spanish-Speaking Rural Shaker Impact Stor #3
Erasmus Rural Universidad de Zaragoza
Thursday December 3rd 5-7pm GMT +01
An initiative for the University of Zaragoza (Spain) to bring university students or graduates closer to the rural world, improve their employability and their possibilities of rural job insertion.
Rural Shaker: Nieves García (Coordinator of Rural Erasmus University of Zaragoza, Doctor in Economics and Director of the Orientation and Employment Service of the University of Zaragoza)
3 Main indicators:
· 38 internships carried out in just 2 years
· 9.11 / 10 average internship score by students
· 9.11 / 10 average internship score by companies and entities
+6 years recovering the olive grove of Oliete (Teruel, Spain) as a model of sustainable, transversal and scalable rural development, which values the endogenous resources of the territory incorporating high social impact and triple balance (environmental, social and rural development), technology , the ecological production of oil and derivatives and sustainable rural tourism.
Rural Shaker: Alberto Alfonso Pordomingo (Co-founder Apadrina un Olivo, Compliance Department Telefónica Spain)
3 Main indicators:
· 10 jobs created
· 4 new families registered in the town
· From 4 to new 13 children enrolled have avoided the closure of the Oliete school
Spanish-Speaking Rural Shaker Impact Story #5
Civichub, Pandorahub specialized accelerations
Thursday December 3rd 5-7pm GMT +01
At Pandorahub we have been reversing rural depopulation for more than 5 years through remote work, rural coliving and impact acceleration programs. Civichub 2018 program marked a before and after in our real local impact. This pre-acceleration program focused on a local strength in La Garrotxa (civic innovation) was co-created with Ouishare, Chapter#2 and Resilience Earth among others, annually brings together +30 professionals, cyberactivists and entrepreneurs, + 20 startups with impact, movements Social organizations, NGOs and government teams accelerate their initiatives and collaborate in their projects of civic innovation, distributed governance and decentralized technologies.
Rural Shaker: Diana Moret (Co-creator and director of Civichub, Founder of Pandorahub, rural shaker, mentor and facilitator of impact organizations)
3 Main indicators:
· 10 new companies and / or entities constituted and / or emerged from professional / business collaboration between rural and urban participants
· 3 entrepreneurs / professionals moved to the region
· 2 participants hired by participating projects / collaborators
Are you a Rural Shaker with an inspiring success story to share?
Give global visibility to your impactful Rural Shaker initiative becoming a speaker in our upcoming Online Series of Talks Rural Shaker Impact Stories #2 in 20201 (Dates TBA).
Rural is the New Black
¿Are you a Rural Shaker?
Are you running or starting a rural coliving and coworking, rural incubator, a rural artists and creative collective, a rural network, an open-minded intentional rural community, and/or an NGOs energizing rural regions.
Does you work somehow attract, consolidate and support creative professionals and entrepreneurs in the rural regions, whether based on a physical space, a consultancy, network, NGO, or social business?
And/or are you aimed at reversing rural depopulation by leveraging local positive transformation?
Great! we are looking for you!
Join Pandorahub gLocal network of Rural Shaker collaborators.
We are conscious and entrepreneurial rural shaker initiatives and communities from all around the globe, rural activators driven by a strong sense of empathy and sensitivity for the locals, who have the will to actively involve local communities.
¿Why now?
Rural Shakers are flourishing in Europe and the world. Every year more and more creative, entrepreneurial, professional, action-driven and impact-focused people and organizations are moving to rural municipalities, relocating their projects, starting businesses that in one way or another enhance the local economy, turning disused buildings and spaces in towns and rural areas into rural creative hubs, becoming rural pollinators.
We call ourselves Rural Shakers. Agitators, natural born dynamizers, who share the passion for nature, rural life, and positive impact.
At PANDORAHUB we have been collaborating for +5 years with a gLocal network of impact-driven Rural Shakers.
Now is the moment to turn a gLocal Rural Shaker Network into a tightened community.
¿What for?
We are now on a mission to turn a ‘gLocal Rural Shakers’ network into a supportive and tightened community.
We propose this Rural Shaker community to become a tool, co-created by and for Rural Shakers around the world, by which to claim our role in efficiently tackling the regeneration of rural regions.
We expect the Rural Shakers community to be able to provide support, specialised rural reactivation training, and global visibility, by fostering transregional strategic alliances, enabling partnerships to more easily access grants, and creating spaces for skill-sharing and knowledge exchange amongst the community.
Are you an impactful Rural Shaker?
These is the 1st but not the only one. Give global visibility to your Rural Shaker initiative becoming a speaker in our upcoming Online Series of Talks Rural Shaker Impact Stories in 20201 (Dates TBA).
Rural Shaker Impact Stories Submitted by you
We will curate a the inspiring stories we receive and invite small groups of RS to pitch them in 10 minutes in recurring Rural Shaker Impact Stories Online Talks. The first one will take place on December 2nd and 3r, 2020. We will also submit here the stories we find more aligned with the values, mission and vision pointed in the Rural Shakers initial manifesto.
IAN COLLINGWOOD, PROGRAM DIRECTOR at STARTUP BOOTCAMP BARCELONA & PANDORAHUB LEAN STARTUP MENTOR
I grew up in a small village in the UK and I really appreciate village life. I struggle with the idea of combining the modern way of digital life with something that is richer. I also struggle with the idea of businesses that only exist to make money. I want to try and fine some way of combining all of those things plus fun. I think we have to rebuild the airplane while we are flying.
JOSEP MARIA PIÑOL, EX-MANAGER OF ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT IN RIBA-ROJA CITY COUNCIL & Member of the depopulation commission tarragona Deputy
Thank to PANDORAHUB, we have started a local action group in Riba-roja, bringing together proactive locals who share an innovative orientation towards the future. People who are eager to excel a positive transformation in our village. This is now helping us with the design, facilitation and ignition of periodical community involvement participatory workshops. The action group goal is aimed at creating pilot initiatives amongst strategic topics to be launched beginning of next year.
ana castellví, entrepreneur and community builder in riba-roja d’Ebre VILLAGE
The mixture of being both a participant and a part of the team during the summer pilot experience, helped me to take the first steps towards my new life as an entrepreneur. I started with small actions that are now creating a huge impact on my new lifestyle as a rural entrepreneur. This has united people from around the world in a village that is literally starting to revive.
