The ROOT Rural project, funded through Erasmus+, has held its third training workshop in Spain, entitled “How can I make it sustainable over time? Economic and financial strategy and planning”, a session focused on providing practical tools to improve the viability of social, business and associative projects in rural areas.
This training programme is being carried out jointly between Spain and Portugal, thus strengthening the exchange of experiences, learning and tools between both rural territories.
The call for this third workshop was very well received, with a total of 21 registered participants. Finally, 15 people attended, of whom 9 participated in person at the Business Incubator of the Chamber of Commerce in San Esteban de Gormaz and 6 joined online.
The session helped participants work on key concepts to understand and address the economic sustainability of any initiative in the medium and long term. During the workshop, topics such as the identification of sources of income, cost structure, the difference between expenses and investments, the preparation of budgets, and the importance of cash flow in the day-to-day management of a project were covered.
One of the most valued aspects of the training was its practical and accessible approach. Through real examples and shared exercises, participants were able to reflect on the economic functioning of associations and entrepreneurial initiatives, while also applying basic financial planning and control tools in Excel.
During the session, participants also worked on a simplified project operating model, analysing key activities, required resources, strategic partners and possible income streams. In addition, very specific issues were addressed, such as the difference between economic structure and financial structure, VAT management, cash flow control, and the anticipation of treasury tensions, especially in projects with seasonal activity.
The workshop also included a practical working space based on real cases, which made it possible to share needs, doubts and lessons learned regarding the economic management of ongoing initiatives. This practical work reinforced one of the main aims of the training: to help participants make economic decisions with greater clarity and confidence, even when they do not have a prior background in finance.
In addition, information was shared during the meeting about the project’s upcoming activities linked to the European exchange with Portugal, including visits, participatory labs and networking spaces around tourism, leisure, culture and rural entrepreneurship.
With this third workshop, ROOT Rural continues to move forward in its training pathway, offering useful resources to strengthen projects in the area and support entrepreneurs, associations and local stakeholders in developing more sustainable initiatives that are better connected to rural environments.
Across the workshops held so far, the project has already reached a total of 64 registrations. Of these, more than half of the participants have attended the training sessions regularly, while new participants continue to join this training process.
The programme in Spain will continue with a fourth workshop and three personalised mentoring sessions for participating projects. The next workshop will take place on 15 June. Interested people can check all the dates for the training in Spain in a previous news item published on the website, while updates about the training in Portugal will be shared soon.
People who could not attend, or those interested in this training, can still register through the workshop registration form. This way, they will receive the connection details and all the necessary information to follow the sessions and watch them from home:
Roots and Horizons: Cultivating a Culture of Opportunities in the Territory
Funded by: European Union through the Erasmus+ (2025-1-ES01-KA210-ADU-000353379), in collaboration with the Spanish National Agency SEPIE.
The “ROOT RURAL” project is co-funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors, Asociación Tierras Sorianas del Cid and Rural Move, and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Spanish Service for the Internationalization of Education (SEPIE). Neither the European Union nor the SEPIE National Agency can be held responsible for them.
