Partnership Meetings and Study Visits

In the period 19-22 April 2022 we held the project kick-off meeting in Dubova, Romania. Each partner took part with 4 representatives - 2 staff members and 2 young people.

The aim of the meeting was to review and agree upon the project main activities, sign the Activity Agreements among partners, divide tasks and responsibilities, plan the next steps and strengthen the project partnership.

Each partner presented the environmental projects they have been involved in so far, sharing best practices and exchanging ideas for future projects.

We discussed and agreed upon the format of the local research each partner has to do about local environmental projects, national parks and biodiversity in them.

In interactive sessions partners learned about the World Environmental dates around which they can plan and implement future environmental activities.

The "Sakura" NGO shred with us their educational tool developed under their previous KA2 project - the "Planetise" environmental board game through which the young people learn about environment and get sensitized about global environmental issues.

In the period 23-26 June 2022 we held the study visit in Litochoro, Greece.

First day activities of our Study visit in Greece included:

- visit to Olympos National Park Info Centre learning about the biodiversity in the park;

- ecotrip to Enipea River Canyon ecopath;

- strengthening the partnership with intercultural evening;

During second day of our study visit:

- partners exchanged best practices about environmental activities each partner did for World Environment Day(5June);

-discussed next project steps;

-cleaned the beach area of the campsite giving good example to tourists and visitors;

- had a creativity workshop promoting the use of textile bags rather than plastic ones to celebrate No Plastic Bag Day(30 June);

In the period 11-14 August 2022 we hosted the Study Visit in Bulgaria celebrating together with the partners the International Youth Day and showing the beautiful nature of the Rose Valley and Central Balkan National Park.

We started our study visit in Bulgaria by playing "the Planetise" environmental awareness raising board game on the main square of Karlovo. Partners learned about environmental problems, projects and activities in an interactive way. Then we visited "The Waterfall" park in Karlovo with the Suchurum waterfall at the foot of the "Central Balkan" National park.

In the afternoon of 12 August we celebrated International Youth Day on the stadium in Karlovo with a big event with the 180 French volunteers who brought 6 tons of donation for the children of Karlovo. We played some friendship games together, raising awareness on importance of keeping clean the environment during such big events by using a special trash bin with sign "Place without Rubbish".

In the morning of Day 2 from the Study visit in Karlovo we visited the pine forest above the town of Sopot and the cable lift taking visitors and paragliders to the mountains...

In the afternoon each partner presented their research about national parks and environmental projects in their local communities or countries.

With group leaders we planned the next steps, agreed on tasks, deadlines and responsibilities.

In the period 22-25 September 2022 we had our project study visit in Serbia. It was intentionally planned around Car Free Day and Mobility Week so we could promote these European Initiatives for green mobility. We had the visit in Vrnjacka Banja, one of the biggest spa resorts in Serbia which was full of tourists so we promoted the project among a larger audience.

We started our Study Visit with a bike ride around Vrnjacka Banja to promote green mobility.

During Day 2 of our Study visit in Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia we:

- had a walk around Vrnjacka Banja parks exploring the Japanese garden, the Green Labyrinth and the beautiful flower gardens.

-organised an eco-activity in the main park with an exhibition of the textile bags we have created and also inviting children and local people to make their own bag encouraging them to use textile bags instead of plastic ones;

- shared what each partner has organized or is planning for Mobility Week 2022;

- tested the board games created by the Serbian partner NGO Iuventa under their other KA 2 project about storytelling.In mixed teams we had to create stories on different environmental topics this further raising participants awareness and encouraging their creative thinking, writing and solution finding.

- found out Vrnjacka Banja is a very clean and green town with no rubbish in the streets or parks although it was full of people-locals and tourists;

-found out cars still have more privilege than green mobility as we couldn't visit Mountain "Goc" for the planned hiking trip as the road to the mountain was closed for the 55th Serbia Rally;

In the period 20-23 October we held our final project evaluation meeting and study visit in Cyprus celebrating together Global Climate Change Week.

During the first day we visited the Akrotiri Environmental Education Centre, learning about the wildlife and biodiversity of the Akrotiri marshlands, the Salt Lake and the Nature protected areas around the lake.

In the afternoon we organised the Partnership Bike Ride along Limassol coast line promoting green mobility, healthy lifestyle, the project and the funding programme.

We also promoted the "Time to Move" Eurodesk campaign and our green initiative "Time to move together to a greener future" spreading the campaign promotional textile bags to foster use of less plastic bags thus helping stop pollution.

Day 2 of our project was dedicated to project evaluation meeting, sharing eco-initiatives each partner organised for Car Free Day2022, planning of future partnership projects and a final common eco-activity in Limassol.

We "fed" the fish-shaped container with plastic bottles we gathered to raise awareness on importance of recycling and keeping beaches, oceans and seas clean of plastic.