From 24th to 28th of March 2023 we held our joint-staff-meeting in Thessaloniki (Greece) in the frame of our project „Emerging communities“
After a short winter break, we have held our next joint-staff-meeting in Thessaloniki at the End of March 2023. Meeting was hosted by our dear friends from the association Ethos – Thessaloniki and Pervolarides of Thessaloniki.
Project „Emerging Communities: Empowerment for social engagement, self-organization and development of local solutions“ gathers 8 partners from 6 European countries: INWOLE (Potsdam, Germany), Im Wandel (Berlin, Germany), Ethos NGO (Odensee, Denmark), Communitism (Athens, Greece), GKP (Novi Sad, Serbia), Italia che Cambia (Torino, Italy), Open cultural center (Barcelona, Spain) and Ethos – Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki, Greece).
At the core of our project is empowerment for social engagement and citizens participation in relation to the development of sustainable communities, neighborhood initiatives and local spaces and networks. This includes the ability to take active roles in the political, social and urban-development processes relevant for the local community, develop cooperative models of social welfare and housing and solidary economy designs that generate income and financial sustainability, as well as to find solutions relevant in the sense of ecological sustainability.
Within 4 days of programme in Thessaloniki, we had an opportunity to be introduced with the work of Ethosand Pervolarides– their topics, goals and problems they are facing, target groups and methods, as well as solutions they developed, their partnerships and networks.
ETHOS is an independent and voluntary association of individuals and groups that are actively involved in social changes and challenges in different parts of our world. It´s an organisational platform, open to all individuals and groups who wish to bring positive social change with honest intentions and peaceful actions in any part of our world. Its beginnings are in Denmark in 2010, but since 2017 has been active in Greece as well.
Pervolarides („Gardeners“) is the association of volunteers dedicated to diverse concepts of sustainability, which includes food reclamation, cooking and distribution of the meals to the homeless people in the city, as well as growing the food, beekeeping and educational activities in this regard.
Especially appreciated were many opportunities to discuss everything in detail with other participants and members of the host organization, compare experiences and good practices, and possibilities for further development of our concepts and their impact on other stakeholders, both in civil society and beyond.
We have used network of Ethos and Pervolarides to visit some of their local partners, such as the Restaurant Epomeni Stasi, which employs „disadvantaged people“, social and employment project Naomi, and local social initiative for „micro-park“ Parko Tsepis.
Meeting in Thessaloniki was a great opportunity to learn so much new, as well as to have one more very intensive exchange and transfer of knowledge, skills and good practices. It was also excellent opportunity to expand our networks in the city and (already!) arrange further cooperation with them.
Everyone´s feeling, we´re witnessing one true „organic development“ of our partnership, once more became very obvious during this meeting!
Last but not least, Meeting in Thessaloniki was an excellent opportunity for all of us to celebrate submiting of an application for our follow-up project – Emerging communities 2! Fingers crossed!
Project activities continue in June 2023: Next time we meet in Potsdam, Germany!
Photos: Clara Florensa, Lorena di Maria, Slobodan Stosic, Branka Curcic
Project „Emerging communities“ is funded through Erasmus+ Program for adult education of European Union.