Seminar date: 5 / 12 September 2016Venue: Seclì, Italy (Lecce, Apulia region) Participant countries: Greece, Cyprus, France, Portugal, Spain, Romania, ItalyWho?The seminar wants to gather together participants from 2 different types of organizations: on one hand, the ones that are actually working on a project of social and rural innovation to share their knowledge/experiences, and on the other hand, participants that are not working in this context but are willing to open their activities to this field.The idea behind OPEN RURALITY is to share some days in a rural area in order to explore and analyze rural social innovation related topics. Ideally, during the first stage, we will establish common definitions, analyze current models and best practices all around Europe, expecially in the participant countries; then, in the second step, we will split into different mixed groups and meet the local community and some rural project around the venue area, connecting work from previuos days (more focused on studying and defining ideas and concepsts) with local stories, faces and players with a rural social innovation attitude, in order to map them and purpose them their further improvement for international and local community development.Objectives - Increase awareness on rural soc inn and its high potential for impact and social change;- Trigger a process of peer-to-peer learning and using methodology NFE / L by sharing best practices, experiences and projects of rural social innovation, with particular reference to the participating countries;- Establish a "common understanding" on rural soc inn;- Compare the "common understanding" with direct experience in the field, through meeting local rural projects, potentially rural social innovation projects, locate near the venue of the seminar;- Follow a co-designed strategy for sharing and disseminate the project results, like an "open database" containing all the information and datas co-generated in the seminar.Apart from the theoretical part that the seminar team will carry out, we will work on the participants´experience: through non formal education, we will create a learning environment where participants can share and learn from new and different experiences.OPEN RURALITY offers a day of exploring into the field: it will be encouraged personal and group empowerment; participants will be activated on personal attitudes and on group problem solving skills, in order to enhance life skills and improve intercultural awareness.