Alzira, 7 May 2026.
The Consorci de la Ribera, comprising the Ribera Alta and Ribera Baixa associations of municipalities, has hosted a transnational meeting of the RISE Resilient Communities project, part of the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme. Representatives from Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Turkey and Ireland have worked together with the aim of preparing citizens for natural disasters through adult education, digital learning and innovation. Toni Barea, president of the Consorci de la Ribera, and the departments of environmental education and economic development took part in the event.
RISE promotes proactive post-disaster recovery and long-term community resilience. The project is developing a training programme aimed at more than 80 educators and community leaders and will involve more than 250 adult learners in affected areas. It covers scenarios such as earthquakes, forest fires, floods, storms and wars. Indeed, the analysis of lessons learnt from the 2024 DANA was one of the key topics discussed during the meeting.
The initiative aims to achieve a series of objectives through the exchange of knowledge across Europe, addressing a range of challenges. These include researching, identifying and compiling best practices in the field of recovery through a guide to good practice, a digital database of strategies and the analysis of case studies.
Knowledge, skills and tools will also be provided to improve the resilience and sustainable recovery capacity of communities. To achieve this, a transnational curriculum is being developed, which includes measures such as training modules with digital tools, a pilot training programme, environmental workshops and an online learning portal.
In addition, collaborative and technology-based innovation for post-disaster recovery will be promoted, with the aim of developing scalable, community-driven solutions to foster resilience. The results will be channelled through a virtual innovation lab.
“The DANA storm confirmed that we need to be better prepared for flooding and climate-related risks that may affect our region. The RISE project gives us the opportunity to exchange experiences with other European countries and strengthen our resilience to disasters,” says Toni Barea.
RISE Resilient Communities is coordinated by the Consorci de la Ribera. The other partners are EXO Società Consortile (Italy), Building Ukraine Together (Ukraine), Antalya Bilim University (Turkey) and two organisations from Ireland: Momentum Educate + Innovate and Gairmeach Training Limited.