«Gardening taught me about care, rhythm and balance.»
This is how İlayda Berceste Katırcı rated her experience in the first «Solidarity Gardens – Empowering Communities for Sustainable Futures» project.
The project strives to empower rural youth and communities affected by forest fires. And also to solve environmental problems and help people learn about sustainability and inclusion by creating community gardens.
The main goal is the regeneration of 3 hectares of space affected by fires and establishment of 4 community gardens. To make it possible, 252 people are engaged, 80% with fewer opportunities.
To achieve the goal, 80 volunteers are invited (64 of them are young people with fewer opportunities). The duration of every mobility is 56 days, including travel days.
They are divided into 4 teams:
- VT1: 05 March – 29 April 2025 (5 volunteers from each project country / 20 volunteers)
- VT2: 01 October – 25 November 2025 (5 volunteers from each project country / 20 volunteers)
- VT3: 05 March – 29 April 2026 (5 volunteers from each project country / 20 volunteers)
- VT4: 13 July – 06 September 2026 (5 volunteers from each project country / 20 volunteers)
The hosting organisation: The volunteers will be hosted in Galicia, Spain by Fundacion Condado de Taboada. Volunteers who will participate in Volunteering Teams mobilities will take part of following activities:
- Maintaining and preparing the land for cultivation,
- Helping out with the eco-garden and the domesticated animals on it,
- Assisting with marketing of their Fair Trade, organic products,
- Setting-up extra activities for community empowerment (planning, implementation and evulation of the community empowerment activities such as training, mentoring and pilot implementation)
- Bringing new ideas about how to improve the growing of regular products and new ones.
For more information follow the link: Solidarity Gardens
