Youth

Expressions of interest to attend this year's Rural Youth Project Ideas Festival are now open.

Starting on Friday 29 November and concluding Sunday 1 December, the Rural Youth Project Ideas Festival residential weekend will be a mixture of workshops, inspiring speakers, fun outdoor and indoor activities, evening functions and networking with young people across the world that will leave delegates empowered to make real and lasting change in their rural communities.

This month's GrowBiz Xchange networking meeting will be a chance to find out more about the Rural Youth Project.

Rural enterprise support organisation GrowBiz holds its XChange networking events every month at various locations throughout rural Perthshire. Perthshire residents who are starting or growing their own business are invited to the October meeting on Thursday 31 October from 6 to 8:30pm at the Madoch Centre in St Madoes.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has announced £20,000 of funding for projects to engage young people with nature.

The Future Routes Fund aims to help young people aged 11-26 to improve their local environment, increase their knowledge and understanding of Scottish biodiversity and provide more opportunities to connect with nature.

A recent event focused on the contributions of younger islanders in renewing island life and contributing to sustainable island communities.

Fifty people from Scottish and Irish islands gathered in Grimsay, North Uist from 30 September to 4 October as part of the "Smart Islands in Scotland and Ireland: Supporting Enterprises and Young People" project, funded by LEADER in the Outer Hebrides and Ireland. The week week was hosted by local organisation CoDel (Community Development Lens) and the Scottish Islands Federation.

The first ever National Islands Plan for Scotland has been laid before the Scottish Parliament for consideration.

The proposed National Islands Plan provides a framework for action in order to meaningfully improve outcomes for Scotland's island communities.

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing has launched a new land matching service for the farming industry.

The Scottish Land Matching Service will initiate discussions between new entrants to farming and landowners. The service will provide unbiased guidance and support to both parties and is aimed at tackling the issues of an ageing farming population and lack of access to land for new entrants.

Are you a young entrepreneur in rural Scotland? Want to improve your business skills?

If so, register for the Scottish Agricultural and Rural Youth Pre-Accelerator Programme Ignition event to be held on Tuesday 22 October at 10am at the Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston.

The Rural Youth Project has been awarded funding from five LEADER Local Action Groups across Scotland.

Support of £191,170 has been awarded by LEADER in Angus, Lanarkshire, Outer Hebrides, Rural Perth and Kinross, and the Scottish Borders.

Funding is available to help develop and grow community-based youth work provision in rural areas of Scotland.

After a successful first year, the Youth Scotland Rural Action Fund is back for a second year, with support again from The Robertson Trust and joined this year by the Gannochy Trust.

The Gatehouse Development Initiative has been working with Forestry and Land Scotland to develop apprentices’ dyking skills as part of an Erasmus+ project to transfer traditional rural skills.