best practice booklet by pal peter

Best

practices booklet

Content Introduction to Good Practices National Examples Belgium 1. Greening the Landscape 2. Making Tasteful Organic Jams and Syrup 3. The Toad Trek: Helping Clients and Toads! Lithuania 1.Preservation of Natural Fields’ Habitats and Pravirsulio Wetland by Promoting the Development of Sustainable Agricultural Activities 2. Protection and Sustainable Use of Mires and Fens in Žuvintas Biosphere Reserve 3. Growing of Medical Herbs and Use of the Solar Energy in Protected Area Slovenia 1. Agriculture Market 2. Training for Herbs Experts Bulgaria 1. LEARN-SEE-DO Project 2. Giant Farm Italy 1. E-learning Training Course “BIOENERGIES” – Wood, Biogas and Biofuels 2. Strategies in the Agro-Food Sector 3. Training Course in a Lifelong Education Centre CTP “Bocchi” Adria Romania 1. Eco-agrotourism in Homorod Valley – formal training

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Introduction to good practices

or a long time now education is recognized as important, as one of the integral elements of modern society. It has even been consider as an element of competitive advantage in business, politics and other societal spheres of our everyday lives, which is (if nothing else!) very well proven by the most obvious European political declaration – the Lisbon strategy. In EU, education holds a very strong note not only in providing new knowledge in itself but to offer a new experience which inﬂuences one’s mentality, its way of seeing the world around us and of course, its way of answering to the challenges we’re confronted with when dealing with different people, places and other novelties. To be educated does not anymore present an opportunity as it is a necessity. The importance of this fact is even more emphasized in the era of great demographic changes, economic crisis, endangered environment and other perils that seem to be hovering over us more than ever. Knowledge creating and sharing is at the focal point of Innovative Adult Education for Sustainable

Rural Development project as well. In the following booklet we have prepared twelve examples of good practices, showing that education is not always bind within universities walls and great business networks. It can be traced in the middle of our fields, next to the village community centre, within school-children and their parents and at our neighbour’s garden house. Although diverse and planted deep in rural areas of Belgium, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovenia, the practices described offer several examples of using the traditional knowledge within new contexts and thus producing a favourable platform for creating new knowledge and to produce added value for local economy. All good practices, presented in this publication present cases of educational initiatives that are oriented to preserving environment, either by directly concentrating to activities that contribute to sustainability of environment such as sustainable agriculture or by concentrating to finding new alternative renewable sources of energy. Good examples of such cases are Lithuanian projects „Preservation of natural fields’ habitats and Pravirsulio wetland by

promoting the development of sustainable agricultural activities and traditional cattle« and »Protection and sustainable use of mires and fens in Zuvintas Biosphere Reserve«. Further, the presented good practices emphasize the importance of cooperation between organizations, local authorities and communities. Thus, Belgian projects »Greening the landscape« and »The Toad Trek: helping clients and toads« provide an excellent example of this kind of cooperation that proves crucial because of its contribution to preservation and protection of environment as well as other impacts that reﬂect in local economy, employment market etc. In fact, the latter is something that is also often emphasized within good practices in the publication, along with the positive impact on the growth of local economy. By engaging different employment groups in the project, additional jobs are created, thus contributing also to solving problems with employment of speciﬁc employment groups. In the Belgium project “Making tasteful organic jams and syrups« for example, unskilled workers are included in the production of organic jams and syrups and in Lithuanian »Growing of medical herbs and use of the solar

energy in protected area« project a drug abusers’ community is included. Finally, education is something that is increasingly gaining importance in local communities as well as within individual companies. The project such as Italian “A training course in a lifelong education centre« and »E-learning training course »Bioenergies« - wood, biogas and biofuel« and Slovenian »Training for herbs experts« prove that the implementation of knowledge in specific, especially agricultural communities bring immense benefits to learners and their social and natural environment. By participating in different educational events, people learn about the importance and methods of the environmental protection and preservation, which consequently influences their mentality and relation-

ship towards environmental issues. Additionally, by including experts into this kind of events, the transfer of knowledge is actually two-sided. The Italian »Strategies in agro-food sector« or Bulgarian »Learn-to-do« are a superb example of organization utilizing a bottom-up approach in gaining new knowledge. To summarize, these practices offer a set of experience that enhances our knowledge on teaching and learning within different learning groups and thus helps us to even expand future activities of this kind. Above all, observing and participating in such practices broadens our way of thinking and living and takes us to situations we have never known. Where else are we allowed to make mistakes and laugh about

it if not in our hometown seminar on herbs? And where else do we have the opportunity to learn about new countries if not in the visited tour that our local agency set fourth for us? For this purpose, we invite you to join us in our quest: in the following pages you will hear about our friends and colleagues, their activities and read about everything they have learnt and done. After all ... who said, we couldn’t change the world!

BELLG

GREENING THE LANDSCAPE

De Groene Kans D ans vzw Background

Main Activities

Our part of Belgium has lost many of its wildﬂowers, hedgerows, bushes and trees because of highly mechanised farming, motorways and increasing urbanisation. To counteract these losses, De Groene Kans formed a ‘Landscape Guard’ which works closely with government and regional agencies and farmers to replant trees, bushes and plants.

The main activities of the Land Guard are: • collecting and sorting seeds; • delivery of seeds to market gardens; • assisting market gardeners; • planting seeds and seedlings on farms; • protecting young plants with specially buily protective fences; • monitoring the growth of different species of plants, bushes and trees.

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Lessons Learnt

Results

In 2008, the Landscape Guard planted 52,990 bushes and hedges, 1161 trees and 5,500 protective fences. The Guard are highly regarded by the farmers, regional and government organisations. Members of the Guard have acquired expertise in planting, cultivation of plants and trees and in designing and building appropriate protective fences. They have acquired practical skills, increased their knowledge of nature and learnt to work in teams. Both the environment and our workers have beneďŹ tted from this workbased learning project.

Close cooperation between organisation such as De Groene Kans, government bodies and farmers can improve the environment and help teams of hitherto unemployed workers to develop their expertise, increase their knowledge and thus improve their employability. De Groene Kans is a non-governmental organisation in Diksmuide, Belgium, which provides training and employment to long term and lowâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;skilled people.

www.degroenekans.be

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BELLGIUM

MAKING TASTEFUL ORGANIC JAMSS

De Groene Kans D ns vzw

AND SYRUPS Background Our organisation, De Groene Kans, is located in a rural area where we have opportunities to buy and grow fruit from which we then make jams and syrups for sale to local population.

Main Activities

There are three main activities of our teams: fruit growing, jam/syrup manufacture and its distribution. We grow some fruit ourselves and we buy the rest from local farmers and thus support the local economy. Some of our workers assist the farmers in fruit cultivation and picking. Fruit growing involves planting, nurturing, weeding and occasionally collection of fruits. Producing jams and syrups requires careful attention to sorting fruits, cooking diabetic and non diabetic jams and syrups. These products then have to be packaged, delivered to wholesalers and retail outlets. These activities require the development and application of core skills for workers in rural communities.

LGIU UM

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Results

The main activities have resulted in a modest, thriving enterprise which employs about 27 people who might not normally obtain employment. It helps the local economy and by its use of Fair Trade ingredients helps the economy of developing countries as well. The enterprise provides a unique range of jams and syrups for the local population. The workers beneﬁt from being gainfully employed. They acquire and develop many basic skills, their self-conﬁdence is increased and they gain a stronger sense of identity through their work.

Lessons learnt The most important lessons learnt from this project are: • the use of natural resources available within a region; • design and plan tasks based on the resources which will help low-skilled people to develop, acquire new knowledge and increase their employability; • recognise that some sheltered employment will always be necessary.

De Groene Kans is a non-governmental organisation in Diksmuide, Belgium, which provides training and employment to long term and low–skilled people.

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B BEL

THE TOAD TREK: HELPING CLIENTS

De Groene Kans vzw D

AND TOADS! Background A problem facing our area of Belgium is the demise of toads due to changes in agricultural management, increasing trafďŹ c and urbanisation. De Groene Kans in conjunction with the municipalities of Ieper and Heuvelland developed a scheme to reduce the loss of toads which at the same time helped low skilled workers to develop and be employed

Main Activities

The scheme involved workers from De Groene Kans in building fences alongside busy roads and traps for the toads; rescuing the toads; transporting them safely across the roads so they could continue their journeys to their birthplaces, their breeding grounds. The number of toads collected were counted, checked and reported to the municipalities who published the ďŹ ndings.

BELGIU UM

Results

The scheme is highly successful. It has been good for toads and good for the workers of De Groene Kans. The loss of toads has been reduced considerably. The workers have had opportunities to learn how to design measure and build fences; to practise and gain conďŹ dence in basic skills and to increase their knowledge of nature and the environment.

Lessons learnt Organisations, such as De Groene Kans, who work closely with municipalities can contribute to rural development and at the same time, through on the job training, develop individual, low skilled workers and thereby increase their employability.

De Groene Kans is a non-governmental organisation in Diksmuide, Belgium, which provides training and employment to long term and lowâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; skilled people. www.degroenekans.be

A toad trap

LITH

PRESERVATION OF NATURAL FIELDS’ HABITATS AND PRAVIRSULIO WETLAND BY PROMOTING THE

DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES AND TRADITIONAL CATTLE Background The Pravirsulis wetland is one of the larger conservation areas in Lithuania included into EU Natura 2000 network. The wetland meadows became unused after collective farming has collapsed, and meadows degradation process has begun. The meadows are degrading also due to the water level decrease. Local people have been feeling the need to ﬁght with poverty and to better engage into the preservation of local natural values in order to gain access to greater diversity of economic activities such as rural tourism and eco-tourism.

Main activities

The project aimed to preserve the Pravirsulio wetland and buffer zone meadows and species by educating rural people, promoting sustainable agricultural activities among the local community and by developing the breeding of traditional rare genes cattle. During the project, the local community have consulted with scientists and have - with the help of local authorities - dammedup one of the Pravirsulio wetland irrigation canals with the aim of heightening the water level in order to improve the wetland habitats. 21 milk cattle and 5 horses of traditional Lithuanian breed have been purchased and given to local poor rural families to help them ﬁght poverty and to ensure the breeding capacity of rare cattle. It is expected that livestock will grow to around 60-50 units in few years. Agricultural machinery for mowing and pastoral will be purchased

Social activities of Sargeliai community during the project

LITHUAN NIA A

as well to help farmers with producing hey for the cattle and to manage critical meadow habitats in accordance with the notion of sustainable development. Project also involves capacity training workshops for local community, including visits to similar project sites of other communities and summer training-camps for local people on sustainable agriculture, application of the agro-environmental measures, traditional breeding and cooperation. Project involves active project results up-scaling by dissemination of the information on project results and experiences to the neighbouring communities and other interested institutions and individuals: community web site, informative stand, project results presentations, individual consulting, book on project innovation and reached results.

Results During the project 320 ha of the wetland and its buffer zone meadows were managed and better preserved. The level of Pravirsulio wetland will rise up to 10 cm. The project will generate about 26000 Lt (7536 Euro) of income for 50-60 families in 5 year period. During 25 training events about 600 local people received intensive focused adult education in the ďŹ eld of sustainable agriculture, biodiversity preservation and civic engagement. Sargeliai community became more active and managed to prepare three new projects, two of which received ďŹ nancing to continue their sustainable rural development and environmental activities. Their community leader started a career as a local politician.

LITH HUANIA A

Lessons learnt

Local endangered house breed »Zemaitukas«

Project implementer: Sargelių bendruomenės centras (“Sargeliai Community Center”) Project duration: 01.2007 – 09.2008 Address: Sargelių bendruomenės centras, Sargeliai, Raseinių raj., Lithuania LT 60443 daiva@sargeliai.org http://www.sargeliai.org/

Project was based on local community’s partnership with the local authorities (Raseiniai and Radviliskis districts municipalities, protected area administration and scientiﬁc institutions). Good partnership management and strong motivation of local community and especially, a project leader, very respected by local people, were the key to success of the project. One of the reason why the project is still sustainable is a good combination of educational activities for local people with material values (material and technical assistance) received. Educational activities on how to handle rare cattle, on how to implement the sustainable agriculture and nature protection measures were successfully coupled with the ﬁnancial and economic motivation of community members as well as social life enhancement in the rural area.

LITHUAN NIA A

PROTECTION AND SUSTAINABLE USE OF MIRES AND FENS IN ZUVINTAS BIOSPHERE RESERVE Background

Žuvintas Biosphere Reserve is the only protected area of this kind in Lithuania. It is famous by a variety of rare birds, but the quality of its habitats’ living is decreasing due to lack of sustainable extensive farming practices that were popular in this area some decades ago. Motivated by the local power plant and the biosphere reserve administrations, the local NGO decided to mediate in helping to solve the nature protection problem along with enhancing social and economic conditions of the Simnas town community.

Main activities The aim of the project is to reactivate extensive land use and to manage Žuvintas Biosphere Reserve for protection of endangered habitats and species as well as to creating possibilities for sustainable use of local energy resources and decreasing of climate pollution. With the help of purchased equipment (the tractor and the cutting machine) the area of special ecological importance (190 ha) have been mowed, willow shrubs have been cut while implementing agro-environmental measures. The reeds, which are overgrowing the lakes and mires, are being cut and used as bio-fuel in the local power plant of Simnas town. All these activities contributed to a better conservation status of the nature reserve - the biotopes, which are used by globally threatened bird species such as Aquatic Warbler, Great Snipe were enhanced and increased. The NGO managed to attract

LITH HUANIA A

co-ďŹ nancing of the local municipality, which has been used to implement the energy saving measures at the local school by changing the poor quality windows. The Simnas power plan producing heat from cut reeds mixed with wood chips ensured the lower cost of heating energy for local community and social institutions in the town. This way 148300KWh of energy is saved every year. During the project one of the major activities were adult education and awareness rising during the training courses, workshops, summer camps, and through issuing a special local newspaper. The course focused on agro-environmental schemes, nature management methods and eco-farming. High quality training was ensured by including famous trainers and experts to participate in the project. Local farmers got very much interested in eco-farming, increasing the number of registered eco-farms in the area.

AN NIA

Res Re esults lt reeds appeared to be nd high caloriﬁc value lonative source of energy, y chips can be used in medium power plants. By s fuel the heating price 4 KWh per year of alternagy produced) for Simnas ts did no not increase while whole territory of Lithuheating prices have risen during the project implen. This way the project project’ss es to positive economic for the local community, onsisting of 1666 mem-

ng 18 training evens 250 ople have increased their knowledge about sustainal farming and became ive in applying agro-envial measures and local soMany children gained new ile working in summer f nature protection and uenced on their parents’’ ge. This project initiated opment of other projects rea and had many other

Lessons learned The project was very difﬁcult to implement due to its innovation and never before tested new heating source (reeds). The collection from the biosphere reserve was to a large extent dependant on weather conditions in winter (need to have a frozen ground). Local community members at the beginning were very passive and sceptic about the project activities, but with time and local leader energy got involved. This especially applies to eco-farmers and school children. Local trainings were very well divided into clear topics that were of direct interest for the community, combined with personal consultations and other projects’ site seeing.

Project implementer: NGO “For Making Lithuania Beautiful, Simnas Department” Project duration: 07.2005-06.2007 Address: Ateities 14-4, Simnas, Alytaus. Raj. LT-64310 linasimnas@one.lt

Background

Lithuania

The main goal of the project was to establish a nursery for medical herbs, to promote ideas of the environment friendly farming among local communities and to test sun energy for drying herbs in big amounts so as to

Local people growing and collecting medical herbs in Panara

The Community “Pilnu namu bendruomene” (“Full House Community”) is an organization providing rehabilitation services for drug addicts and former prisoners. Its center is established in Dzukija National Park, which is considered a protected area. The community was looking for the environment friendly income-generating activities that would also involve its inhabitants into labor therapy. Ecological growing of medical herbs was chosen as one of the options for this purpose. In 2005 the NGO had received grant of the GEF Small Grants Programme for the implementation of the project “Medical Herbs’ Nursery in Panara Village as an Example of the Environment Friendly Farming and in Dzukija National Park”. The community had attracted many other sponsors of the project as well.

Main activities

LITH HU

GROWING OF MEDICAL HERBS AND USE OF THE SOLAR ENERGY Panara village, IN PROTECTED AREA Varena district,

LITHUAN NIA A

promote alternative energy sources. During the project 1,3 ha of medical herbs nursery with 13 pants was planted, and special irrigation system was installed. A nursery was certiďŹ ed as an ecological farm. 19 members of the drug addictsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; community were actively involved in the project activities along with many neighboring local families, school children and even visitors from the cities. A special solar drying facility for processing of medical herbs was designed in close cooperation with scientists from Agricultural University of Lithuania. A special building was constructed, and its roof was covered with solar collector panels, covering a surface of 131 m2. The facility is capable of processing 10,500 kg of green mass during the season (MayOctober). The community had many consultations with various specialists during the project, and its members had over 74 hours of trainings on various subjects such as eco-farming, herb growing and processing, social inclusion, biodiversity preservation and many other topics. The community was sharing its experiences with others very intensively: during two years of project implementation there were over 1350 visitors willing to see the nursery and solar herbs drying facility. The community published a book on its practical experiences.

Two in one - herbs drying facility and rural tourism house powered by sun in Panara

During the project 24 educational activities (training courses, lectures) were held and 345 people participated within these activities. With the help of installed modern automated sun powered heating facilities (10640 KWh /year of energy produced) medical herbs became a signiﬁcant source of income for the community. They started selling products in the markets, in the sanatoriums and eco-shops. The site of Panara became famous all over the country and even wider.

Lessons learned

LITH

Results

The community was very proactive in engaging experts and specialists from different areas: botanists, experts of ecological farming and herbs processing professionals. This group of specialist gave valuable advises on the construction of the drying facility. All this was followed by training of community members, which offered a good foundation for further operation of the farm. In fact, the strong ownership of the project was a key factor of its success: the community was motivated to establish a stable and reliable source of its income, and designed and implemented project in the way that ensured sustainability and further developments begun.

Projecty implementer: Community “Pilnu namu bendruomene” (“Full House Community”). Project duration: 11.2007-05.2008 Adress: Panara, Merkines seniunija., Varenos raj., Lithuania LT-65320 info@pnb.lt www.pnb.lt

SSLOVENIJ IJA

AGRICULTURE MARKET Background

The Local Action Group of the Society for Rural Development in the area between Snežnik and Nanos (the Society) is active in the area of the municipalities of Pivka, Postojna and Ilirska Bistrica. The area spreads on 972 km2 with 3.471 inhabitants. It is characterized by greatly preserved environment and an extensive offer of natural and cultural values. It is predominately rural area with a long-hold tradition of agriculture and forestry. It is thus not

unlikely that the project “Organized agricultural market appearance and the assurance of appropriate infrastructure for agriculture products” is among priority projects of the Society. This project was established based on principles of LEADER with bottom-up approach and in cooperation with local community and representatives of economy and public administration. The objectives of the projects are: to stimulate rural development with the establishment of conditions for successful sale of agriculture products and services and to enhance the orga-

nization of marketing, uniﬁed appearance on the market and to establish cooperation among farmers. The activities within the project demonstrated that the area holds potential for the development of agriculture market. Nevertheless, the providers of agriculture products in most cases are not fulﬁlling legal demands for agriculture market sales. In addition, there is no suitable support environment directed to consultancy, training, information and promotion. A suitable infrastructure for these activities are also absent.

Main activities An extensive training has been organized for potential providers of agriculture products, offering different knowledge and information for market sales and including contents such as direct selling, marketing, the protection of specific agriculture products and eatables, legal requirements for agriculture market sales and registration of activities. It included also subjects in the areas of communication, conflict solving, marketplace decoration, characterization and products design. A visit to Idrija has been organized as a conclusion event of the training, which lasted for six months. An example of good practice in Idrija included a visit to agriculture market in Idrija, additional activities of bread and pastry baking as well as cheese-making. Thus, the participants had the opportunity to upgrade the knowledge they attained at training courses with the observation of actual practices. Parallel to training, the animation of local inhabitants and public information and notification on project’s activities took place, using the Society’s website, regular and internet notices and invitations, articles in local newspapers and announcements on TV and radio. Before starting regular agriculture market activities, the Society’s members participated at several events, where they acquired experiences with sales. In this period the Society offered guidance for potential providers at the markets and purchased the necessary equipment for market activities (stands, hats, T-shirts, aprons).

SSLOVENIJ IJA

Results

The main result of which the Society is especially proud is the beginning of regular market activity in May 2009, which started operating in all three municipalities. In addition to regular market activity, three Saturdays in a month, the market operates also in the season of agriculture products, on the days of local fairs. The market offer is extremely diverse and includes dairy products (cheese, cottage-cheese, cream-cheese), honey and honey products, fruit and fruit products (apples, pears, strawberries, dry fruit, vinegar, fruit spirits and liqueur), garden crops, herbs, wine, olive oil, bread, pastry, crepe ﬂowers, crochet and clay products and dry meat products. At the moment there are 37 providers, cooperating at the market, deriving from all three municipalities and some even from areas outside the area the Society operates at. The participation of individual providers at the actual market is related to the season, so approximately ten providers regularly attend the agriculture markets. At the same time the invitation of new providers takes place, along with the encouragement to establish legal documentation, necessary for market activities, to those who have not yet done so. In comparison to May 2009, the number of providers has increased to eight new providers. In the period of market activity four more providers have registered additional activity and another more is in the phase of establishing the necessary documentation.

Društvo za razvoj podeželja med Snežnikom in Nanosom Bazoviška 14, 6250 Ilirska Bistrica, Slovenija tel: 031 688 621, fax: 05 714 12 84 email: info@razvoj-podezelja.si http://www.razvoj-podezelja.si

TRAINING FOR HERBS EXPERTS Background Society for Rural Development in the area between Snežnik and Nanos covers the area that is imbedded between two plateaus – Snežnik and Nanos. The untouched nature that the area can be praised for is hiding many particularities of fauna and ﬂora. Among them herbs are particularly common, used by humans to maintain and enhance our health, which is more and more becoming difﬁcult to attain. To prolong life to somebody, to make his pain and suffering easier, to turn the sorrow of illness to smile of health – these are the wisdoms that paters and monks have nurtured in their distant rooms and convent gardens for centuries. This knowledge, enriched with the latest scientific discoveries, are presented in a simple, user friendly manner by the Society.

Main activities Training covered theoretical part (lecture and workshops) and practical part (the preparation of tinctures and ointments, the observation of field botanic and a view of herb farm. Within seven workshops the participants have gained basic knowledge on herb plants, they learned what is useful in herbs and which parts are to be gathered in a particular period. They also learned how to prepare the herbs for drying, where and how to dry them, feed them, fertilize them, where can we gather them and which plants are protected. The lecturers have presented healing with herbs as a way of life, where the medicine is food and where food is medicine. This is a foundation of traditional medicine. The participants have encountered natural fitotherapy, the procedure of clay healing and the basics of massage. The participants used the knowledge they gained during training also in practical situation. They manufactured tinctures, ointments and syrups with a traditional method. They also got to know herbs in the field. In order to gain the necessary effect, it is imperative that we get to know the herbs in the nature with absolute certainty. If the opposite applies it might happen that a similar herb gets picked, causing poisoning instead of healing.

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Results

86 participants have participated at training, which was somewhat a surprise for the Society. Thus, we have gained a group of people in our area, familiar with important knowledge of herb use and willing to distribute this knowledge even further. Some of the participants will use their acquired knowledge also as additional source of income. The training has offered them a solid foundation for starting an additional activity of gathering, cultivating and manufacturing herbs in farms.

Lessons learned We have distributed a questionnaire among the participants of the training. This survey showed that training was planned efﬁciently, which enabled the stimulation of actual knowledge. Participants favoured the fact that the majority of training took place in nature, with practical activities. Thus they were able to experience all phases with the help of a mentor. First they tried to recognize and gather the appropriate herb plants and later they used them to produce tinctures and ointments themselves. This very knowledge was appraised as the most effective.

Background „Learn, see, do” project was ﬁnanced by the Joint Small Project Fund Bulgaria –Turkey, involving the following partners: Kirklareli Chamber of Agriculture and Greener Bourgas Foundation. The project presented a continuation of an already completed Giant Farm Project. The main goal of the project was to explore the possibilities for organic farming development in cross-border regions. The project is directed to farmers from pilot municipalities in both, Kirklareli and Burgas regions. The project aimed to: • improving knowledge, skills and motivation of farmers from the region of Strandzha Mountain for organic farming methods application; • facilitating the process of transforming from conventional to organic production; • to improve the cooperation between farmers from cross border regions.

Main activities

BULLGA A

LEARN-SEE-DO PROJECT

SEE The farmers from pilot municipalities had the opportunity to visit organic farms and enterprises for organic production processing in partner country and also to share experience and knowledge on these subjects. LEARN Within the project training on organic farming was foreseen and directed to farmers of 10 selected settlements from Burgas and Kirklareli regions. Certificate was issued to those who finished the training course successfully. Handbook and brochure containing basic instructions for organic production cultivation were elaborated. DO The final stage of the project was the organization of a discussion panel entitled “Certification and marketing of organic production”. In the framework of the forum farmers from Burgas and Kirklareli region were given consultancy on organic production certification.

RIA A

Results

Training and motivation of farmers from target region on the subject of organic farming; increased number of farmers interested in organic farming and improved communication and cooperation between farmers from cross-border regions. On a long-term the project will contribute to the stabilization of economic growth in the cross-border region and its recognition as important organic products producer for the European market.

Lessons learned This project showed how important was to bring new knowledge to farmers and to provide new methods for their work. However, during the project there were some difficulties, especially at the beginning of the project’s activities. These difficulties relate to communicating in particular language and to communication with people from rural areas. Thus, finding suitable translators was considered a serious problem. Further, due to demanding subject discussed simplified language was not adequate for training activities within the project.

THE GREENER BOURGAS FOUNDATION 24 SHEYNOVO STR. 8000 BOURGAS (+359-56)842291, E-mail: greenbs@unacs.bg

GIANT FARM Background This project was developed in cooperation between Greener Bourgas Foundation and The Kirklareli Agriculture Development Society, Turkey. The project aimed to developing joint planning between Kirklareli and Bourgas Provinces and to penetration to European organic agriculture products market. The project consisted of: • market research of the product types that can be produced in the region, • identification of fields available for organic agriculture in short and long term (through satellite images, official records and site surveys), • conducting an ownership analysis to find out number and types of heterogeneous organizational structures.

Main activities

Greener Bourgas Foundation and Kirklareli Chamber of Agriculture were acting as lead organizations in their respective territories. One of the main goals of the project was to research how the mono cultural farming in both Regions should be replaced by multi-cultural farming that is casting alternative products over a year (short cycle) or better two years in order to protect/opti- mize the fertility of the soil naturally.

RIA A

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The main activities of the project were: • Recent low-resolution satellite images (5-6 m) were collected and processed to mark the physical limitations imposed by organic agriculture standards and to draw the boundaries of the ﬁelds available. • Ofﬁcial data regarding the production done in two regions in the past years were collected and analyzed. Each partner gathered the information for their own territories. • A market research for the organic product requirements of the European market was conducted and the availability and conditions of a long term connection with large European importers were set forth. • A common policy for the procurement and development of seeds and fertilizers was also one of the outcomes of the project.

THE GREENER BOURGAS FOUNDATION 24 SHEYNOVO STR. 8000 BOURGAS (+359-56)842291, E-mail: greenbs@unacs.bg

Results Within the project frame package digital satellite images of the region of interest have been purchased, processed to a certain extent and have been integrated into a computer data base of the region. Almost the whole region was covered by images from the French SPOT satellite. Images were corrected and individually classiﬁed. Maps were generated showing major land use/land cover classes. The information gathered in this way served as determination of areas suitable for organic farming. Information and motivation of farmers from target regions on organic farming application were enhanced, which lead to increased number of organic products farmers and improved communication and cooperation between farmers from cross-border regions. In a long-term perspective the project will contribute to the stabilization of economic growth in cross-border regions and their recognition as an important organic products producer for European market.

Lessons learned During the project participants from both sides of the Turkish – Bulgarian border learned how to communicate and how to cooperate in search for better solutions in their local development. Some smaller misunderstandings arose during the project, pertaining mainly to the way of thinking and to the differences in religion, which was reﬂected in different behavior of Turkish and Bulgarian partners. It was especially difﬁcult to involve more married women in their project plans. In some cases this turned out as impossible.

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ITA Y

E-LEARNING TRAINING COURSE „BIOENERGIES” – WOOD, BIOGAS AND BIOFUEL

Background The ongoing world energy crisis coupled with the worry over climate change caused by the increasing introduction of carbon dioxide (the main greenhouse gas) into the atmosphere, are drawing a lot of interest in renewable energy sources. In the sphere of agriculture bio-energy crops are seen as a partial solution to emerge from the international crisis linked to economic

globalization and also to problems that emerged after the end of the support given by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). By deﬁnition, bio-energy is renewable, deriving from agricultural and forest products or residues. Compared to other forms of renewable energy, bio-energy appears to be a better source of energy, kinder to environment. To meet the increasing demand for information and technical assistance, Veneto Agricoltura has set up a Bio Energy Strategy

Veneto Agricoltura

Policy. The conditions in the Veneto region are particularly favourable for all bio-energy chains: Wood-Energy - Biogas - Biofuels, biodiesel, bioethanol, vegetable oil as fuel. Veneto Agricultura organized the Training Course called “Bioenergies”: wood, biogas, biofuel “ that was delivered through “e-learning platform”, and same meetings in classroom and visits in ﬁeld. The ﬁrst course edition began on March 31st, 2008 and ended on May 19th, 2008.

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Main activities

The course lasted 88 hours in total (22 hours of training in classroom and in ﬁeld experience and 66 hours of individual e-learning) distributed in a 7-weeks course period. The classroom meetings took place in Legnaro (Padua), in the Regional Veneto Agriculture building. The visits have been held in Veneto region in the rural territory. Learners were requested: 1. to attend at least 16 hours in classroom/visits 2. to pass at least 50 % of the self assessment tests 3. to participate in at least 70 % of the proposed on-line activities: forum discussion, researches, simulations, etc).

Lessons learned The course especially addressed the experts and advisers/consultants who wanted to offer some proposals of investment in the bioenergetic sector to the agricultural and agro-industrial companies and to possible customers. The course was also opened to entrepreneurs and sectoral professionals and their business partners interested in agricultural or agro-industrial developments in order to understand the possibilities offered by new energetic resources of agricultural or forest origin.

Results

At the end of the course participants: • acquired an in-depth knowledge on general framework related to bioenergetic sources; • learned about fundamental elements of the three bioenergetic main threading (wood, biogas, biofuel); • were able to orient the entrepreneurial choices towards the most adequate threading in a speciﬁc context.

VENETO AGRICOLTURA Azienda Regionale per i settori Agricolo, Forestale e Agro-Alimentare Viale dell’Università, 14 - 35020 Legnaro (PD) Tel. 049/8293711 Fax. 049/8293815 e-mail: info@venetoagricoltura.org http://www.venetoagricoltura.org/basic. php?ID=2306

Background

Centre – Adult Education)

We had advertised through a banner a list of possible courses to be held at our venue during the academic year 2008-2009 and we had mentioned the possibility for new courses to be activated. On January a group of people applied to attend the course about herbs and herbalism. We have integrated this course into the activities foreseen by the Grundtvig Partnership Project – Sustainable Rural Development.

Main activities The course, 30 hour-duration, designed by dr. Salvatore Filella (CTP’s FS) and dr. Fabrizio Barbieri (teacher) and addressed to CTP adult learners, started in March and ended in May 2009. It was divided into 15 weekly meetings and two modules. The ﬁrst module was dedicated to the morphology of the aromatic and ofﬁcinal

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A TRAINING COURSE IN A LIFELONG Adria (CTP is EDUCATION CENTRE CTPfor„Bocchi” Permanent Territorial

plants, their recognition and their kitchen use.The second part was dedicated to history and phytotherapy, to the knowledge of some aspects of the human body sensible to the effects of the herbs and homely use of the ofﬁcinal plants. During the course two external lessons in the countryside were organized to improve the practical recognition: herbs collection and a visit to an herbalist’s laboratory to see

how ofﬁcinal plants are processed. At the end of the course a small courtyard fair was organized at the local psychiatric day centre and participants to the course were able to show plants, give explanations about them and sell pots for helping disadvantaged people. Courses took place at the “Badini” school building for the lessons and at “Corte Guazzo” for the fair.

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Results

The course took adult learners to explore the local rural area and gave a chance to know the herbs growing in the Po Delta area. A visit to an herbalistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s laboratory to see how ofďŹ cinal plants were processed has been organized for having awareness on how it is possible to promote an alternative development of the area through an innovative rural development of an economical activity, strictly connected to the territory

Lessons learned The course was intended to offer the participants the opportunity to learn and recognize a complete range of useful local herbs, their properties, how to process them and their use not only in cooking, but also in cosmetics and in their beneďŹ cent effects on health. The learners were able to recognize, to explain properties, to show use and preparation about the herbs growing in the area.

The CTP is a Lifelong Learning Centre for Adult Education The activities of the centre are open to all adults who have reached the age of 16 years: to adults who do not have a school-leaving certificate and want to take one; to foreigners who need how to learn reading and writing and can’t speak Italian at all or to foreigners who want certifications of knowledge at different levels about Italian language; to adults who have a school leaving certificate but intend to enroll for further educational training courses, so the Centre

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Short information about organization

provides different courses in different subjects: foreign languages (Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, German, English, French, Russian,…); Computer Science, Economy, Painting, Photography, Journalism, Puericulture, Caring, Entrepreneurship… Courses take place in the evenings usually from six to ten p.m. About 600 young adult and adult students attend the CTP courses in an academic year. At the CTP there is a group of ﬁve regular teachers and external teachers and trainers are called to give their additional support for curricular courses.

CTP-Liceo Classico Statale «C. Bocchi» Via Dante Alighieri, 4 – 45011 - ADRIA (RO) Tel.: - 042621107 -0426901260 e-mail: ctpbocchi-adria@libero. it; liceobocchictp@libero.it web: www.liceobocchiadria.it

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„„STRATEGIES IN THE AGRO-FOOD SECTOR” Background

Good nutrition is synonymous of well-being. The Agro-Food sector should protect consumers and promote their health. Veneto Agricoltura supports producers through the implementation of projects concerning food quality/safety as well as the protection and promotion of traditional regional products. Veneto Agricoltura’s policies cover all stages of the food chain, concerning both animal and agricultural products. Its involvement ranges from breeding to rearing, from sowing to harvesting and food processing. Veneto Agricoltura aims at improving applied technologies paying particular attention to organic production.

By Veneto Agricoltura Main activities Laboratories with experienced professionals and modern equipment provide a prompt analytic service, carry out research projects and food processing analysis in accordance to national and international standards and law requirements. Analyses are carried out in the following labs: • Milk Quality Laboratory • Chemical Laboratory • Microbiology Laboratory • Biotechnology Laboratory • Sensorial and Rheological Laboratory • Center for the Production of Microbial Cultures

• Safety and health: advanced technologies guarantee the improvement of food quality (biosafety, functional foods, probiotics, methods for implementing and monitoring hygienic standards). • Quality and tradition: the development of native original cultures contributes at safeguarding traditional characteristics of food products and maintaining their bond with the area in which they are produced. • Quality assessment: the optimization of agro-food products through the development of objective methods for evaluating their chemical, microbiological and sensorial properties were registered.

Lessons learned

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Results

The design and the implementation of innovative and environmentally friendly technologies together with the exploitation of new processing and preservation techniques were useful for increasing awareness about advantages in learning and using practises respectful of a sustainable rural development. Results of our research are revealed at meetings, technical conferences and through specialized journals.

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ECO-AGROTOURISM IN HOMOROD VALLEY (1) Background

Homorod Valley is a quite isolated place in Eastern Transylvania but due to this isolation the traditional lifestyle it’s well preserved; people are leaving in harmony with nature. It is also very diverse and interesting area from cultural, natural, agricul-

formal training tural point of view. One of the most important touristic attractions is the Varghis Gorge nature reserve, with several rare and endangered plant and animal species, spectacular geological formations and more then a hundred caves. The population’s main occupation is agriculture; we can ﬁnd traditional, small scale farms. The aver-

age number of cows kept is around 4, the size of the land is between 3 and 6 ha. The population is old, youth is leaving the villages, try to ﬁnd work in cities. The main income for the families is coming from the milk selling; they are organized in an animal husbandry association, which helps in selling the milk to processing companies. Varghis Gorge nature reserve

Main activities

The main activities of the project were: • analyzing the problems and opportunities of the region in the ﬁeld of tourism, • organizing meetings with members of the local community, • 720 hour educational and practical course for 31 local participants from Meresti and Craciunel, • study visit to a region, where rural tourism is the main activity of the local people, The ceremony for the reception of the certiﬁcates

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Green-Agora association had some biodiversity conservation projects in the area and we also had a sociological research, when we tried to find out the relation of the local community in Meresti with the natural values. The results were surprising: most of the people knew about the nature reserve, but only a few of them was a frequent visitor of it. One of the problem we found out was that farmers who own hayfield in the nature reserve gave up the cultivation of it, so the in the absence of the hay-making the agrobiodiversity loss has started. As the area has a huge potential in eco-agro tourism and many people from the village - most of them women – presented their intention to work on the field of tourism, our association analyzed the possibility of developing this sector. Together with local stakeholders we pointed as the main problem the lock of knowledge in tourism management. In 2008 we initiated an adult education course in partnership with Rika Microregional Association and the Hungarian Farmers Association from Romania, which ended by getting Tourism and Educational Ministries agreed certificate. The course was partly financed through Agora association with a GEF Small Grants Program; approximately 20% of the costs were covered by the participants.

Lessons learned

Results The main result was the knowledge gained by the participants but also the formal certificate received by 31 local people from Meresti and Craciunel. Without a certificate they were not allowed work on the field of tourism and now they were ready to start a small business in rural tourism. Already in the first year more than 50 tourists were brought by Green-Agora in the village, which offered a serious complementary income for the hosts and for the local economy. The Homorod Valley now is member of a LEADER program Local Action Group, which main objectives in the development strategy are tourism related, so for the community in Meresti and neighboring villages was a real opportunity in their development.

Lessons learned It is very important to know the possibilities and expectations and the plans of local people, before starting such a project; we can’t force them to accept our ideas. The success of this kind of – community supported – project is mainly dependent of the correct analyses of the area’s cultural and economic situation. Another important lesson was the importance of the partnership, which must be established between locals and specialists coming from outside the community. The program of the training has to be ﬂexible, so the participants were invited to follow the classes mainly in weekends, due to their speciﬁc activities in the households. In our opinion it is also important to push the participants to ”pay” the self-contribution for such trainings, because they will be much more motivated to graduate it.

AGORA – Working Group for Sustainable Development 535600 – Odorheiu Secuiesc, OP.1. – CP.56 tel: +40e-mail: ofﬁce@green-agora.ro web: www.green-agora.ro www.visitmeresti.ro The certiﬁcate

‘This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reﬂects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.’