Tochar Valley Rural Community Network was established in1999, when fourteen Irish villages decided to come together instead of working independently in order to empower local communities to “tackle for themselves the problems they face and consider to be important,” to stem the present decline in rural communities (e.g. rural depopulation, changing trends in agriculture and out migration of young people), to promote and encourage income generating activities (e.g. rural community tourism, craft productions, small food companies, etc.), to include in these developments, small farmers, rural dwellers, rural women and youth, and to respect, create, and develop an awareness of the natural environment.