Pictures © Barbara Knowles and Demeter László

Ecology, landscape and conservation

Ecotourism

• Train a guide. Ecotourism is an important way to boost the rural economy while enabling locals to continue their traditional culture and farming. Visiting this region is a much more enriching experience if you are accompanied by an experienced local guide, who can tell you about the culture, history, landscape and natural treasures of the area, and introduce you to its villages and people. We aim to train local people as tourist guides, which will provide employment, improve the professionalism of our tourism offer, and help us to share the natural and cultural treasures of the region. Sponsor a guide at £45 per person per training course.
• Nature trails. There is much to learn about the wildlife, plants, geology, traditional farming, habitats and landscapes of the region. We plan to develop at least one trail during 2010, with information panels and a leaflet to help the visitor interpret the site. This will benefit tourists, local people and school parties; and help us to share the natural and cultural treasures of the region. Sponsor an information panel at £300 each, or fund the development of a trail at £100**

Local enterprise and agriculture

• Study tours. Each year we organise one or more study tours to give local farmers, young entrepreneurs and village mayors an opportunity to learn from communities outside Romania how to set up and run successful activities and businesses to provide new employment and business opportunities, revitalise their communities or gain grants for new projects. Recent tours gave delegates the opportunity to learn about a quality milk production project in Hungary, a family owned meat processing company in Slovakia and how to develop a successful B&B in Austria. In 2010 we are planning a study tour to the North Yorks Moors and Peak District National Parks in England, where delegates will learn about a wide range of rural enterprises that allow hill farmers to make a living in a protected landscape. Many of these enterprises could be replicated in our region of Transylvania. Sponsor a delegate on the study tour, at £350 per person.
• Milk processing facility. The rural economy is dominated by milk production, since milk and cheese are the main or only cash items sold by traditional farmers here. EU food hygiene regulations and falling milk prices mean that this way of life, that has sustained the communities for generations, will become impossible without adoption of modern methods and facilities. Without an income from milk, farmers must sell their cows, and the productive hay meadows - sustained by traditional methods for centuries and full of flowers and animals rare or extinct in Western Europe - will be abandoned to scrub or ploughed up. Working on a successful model pioneered by the ADEPT Foundation, we will set up a milk processing facility in the region to provide practical support for the rural economy. This social enterprise will buy milk from local farmers at a fair price, train and employ local staff, and produce new high value milk products that comply with the new regulations. It will share the benefits between the employees and investors. A full five-year business plan is available to potential investors and donors on request.
• Training courses in cheese making, for staff in the milk processing facility or for local food producers. We have already run a very popular pilot cheese making course to introduce local cheese makers to methods and ideas that will help them to develop distinctive local mature cheeses for this region. The traditional cheeses are fresh, and only keep for a week or two so are not easy to market. Mature cheeses can be made in bulk when there is a glut of milk, allow more efficient stock control and marketing, and will add value to the high quality milk from this region for which the market currently offers no premium. Sponsor training at £60 per person per course.

Children/education

• Outdoor environmental education for local schools. We are developing a range of activities to teach children about the wildlife and ecology of their region, and why it is important to conserve these special habitats and species. Outdoor activities are a good way to forge a positive emotional connection in children towards their environment and its natural treasures. We already run some very popular outdoor lessons on the life of ponds and streams, and are developing new education resources on hay meadows. Sponsor an outdoor lesson for a class at £25 per group, or the development of new activities at £75 per activity **
• Holidays for children from local children’s homes at Lake Balaton (Hungary) or North Yorks Moors (UK). Several excellent children’s homes operate in our region, run by the St Francis Foundation and the Csibész Foundation. Friends in Hungary and Yorkshire have offered free accommodation for children from these homes to enjoy a holiday. We are seeking sponsorship for transport, activities and excursions to make these holidays possible. Sponsor a participant to Hungary for £150 or a participant to England for £400. **
• Work opportunities for young adults leaving children’s homes aged 18. Several excellent children’s homes operate in our region, run by the St Francis Foundation and the Csibész Foundation. It’s a problem for some of the youngsters after leaving the homes to find a proper job and make a living. At the same time there are more and more farms without a farmer because the young generation doesn’t continue the family farms. We want to create a bridge between the need and the opportunity by training farmers, and helping to find them a farm to work on. This would also ensure that the land continues to be managed. Sponsor a young person to learn farming skills for £500.
  

© Barbara Knowles