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Description
Garden(AKT)ivism is an advocacy project that seeks to empower and involve citizens and local civil society in advocacy and campaign in creating a model and implementation of the project of urban gardens and the first community garden in Pula at the very moment when the City of Pula has already announced the launch of a tender for urban gardens, while it is certain that without an urgent and intensive advocacy campaign the City will not involve citizens and civil society in the decision making process. Citizens have already expressed initial interest and there is already a Group for Urban Gardens of Green Istria that brings together citizens who want to get more involved, and civil society shows signals for cooperation. At the end of 2020, the City of Pula is planning a public consultation on the Draft Strategy with a plan for adaptation to climate change of the City of Pula, and on September 23. it announced an invitation to citizens to participate in creating the budget for next year. These are all procedures in which we want to actively participate and advocate the model of urban and community gardens with an emphasis on citizen participation in creating the model. The following activities are planned: A1. Strengthening CSOs / citizens / citizens'' advocacy initiatives to participate in the creation of the model and implementation of the project of urban gardens and the first community garden in Pula ; A2. Exploring the possibilities of cooperation and involvement of interested associations and actors in the project / campaign Garden (AKT)ivism and A3. Public campaign for the realization of the project of urban gardens and the first community garden in Pula. The project contributes to strengthening the capacity of CSOs/citizens/initiatives in Pula for their mutual cooperation and participation in creating the Pula model of urban gardens/community garden and for advocating and campaigning for the adoption of the model by the City of Pula.
Summary of project results
The main achievement of project is the tender for the implementation of the project of urban gardens and the first social garden in Gregovica, which was announced by the City of Pula based on the advocacy of citizens and civil society in Pula.
This achievement proves that with this project we have successfully mobilized the local community, developed advocacy potentials and activated citizens and local civil society for advocacy and campaign for the first community garden in Pula.
At the time of project application, it was known that the City was planning a tender for urban gardens, but the City did not plan a tender for a social garden, and thanks to the project, the City announced a call for the first Pula social garden. In addition, the City did not plan to involve citizens / civil society in the consideration of public call criteria for urban and community gardens. The project has achieved this.
One of the first steps in the campaign was a forum where good practices on urban and social gardens in Varaždin and Rijeka were presented, and a competition for urban and social gardens in Gregovica has already been announced at the forum!
With members of the Group for Urban Gardens of Green Istria went to the field - visited the future location of the social garden in Gregovica and two other locations where the citizens of Pula are traditionally engaged in urban gardening - Ferijalni and Vidikovac and made soil analysis (soil analysis, fertilization recommendation for crops based on soil analysis and recommendations for fertilizing orchards and vineyards in establishment) and water from nearby wells. Analyzes have indicated that the soil is suitable for agriculture, but that groundwater is not of sufficient quality for irrigation. Therefore, the announcement proposed that Ferijalni and Vidikovac become the locations of future Pula social gardens (except the one on Gregovica).
The Urban Gardens Group will continue to advocate for the preservation of existing urban gardens and the launch of new gardens in Pula, and this project is a unique example of civic engagement in Pula and successful advocacy.