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Description
According to the Municipal Revitalization Program for the Municipality of Wieniawa (Mazowieckie Voivodeship), the municipality is struggling with air pollution and improper waste management, including recycling. We would like to address these issues by convening a Youth Council in Wieniawa that will actively engage in creating a healthier environment and designing public spaces friendly to both citizens and the local nature. Engaging the local youth in that type of activism as well as into the local government governance is – in our opinion – an important part of building a civic society. We will organize a series of workshops focused on ecology, using art in civic projects, basics of civic knowledge, and taking a stand in a public debate on issues that we care for. We will also conduct interdisciplinary classes focused on local environment, relationship between the man and nature, and climate change. These meetings will include visits from experts and eco-activists, as well as Youth City Council from Poznań. Together with the young people, we will create a new, eco- and citizen-friendly spaces around Wieniawa – a hotel for insects, a honey meadow, and an eco-mural. We will also create and mount an informational board about different animals living in close proximity to men that will become a part of an educational walkway. Finally, we will publish a guidebook entitled “A Good Neighbor” about the best practices for civic engagement in small municipalities. The partners of the project are: The Jan Kochanowski Public Primary Schools with Sporting Sections, which will help us reach the interested youth, Municiaplity Office in Wieniawa, which will help us create the Municipality Youth Council, and the WWF Foundation, which will help us with the educational aspects of our project.
Summary of project results
According to the Gminny Program Rewitalizacji (Communal Revitalisation Program), the Wieniawa commune (Mazowieckie province) faces the problem of air pollution, low environmental awareness among its inhabitants and improper waste management and sorting. To address the above problems, we established the Youth Council in Wieniawa, involved in activities for the environment and in creating people- and nature-friendly space at the commune. We organised a meeting with the Youth Council of Poznan that told us about their initiatives. We run a host of workshops and educational events devoted to ecology, the use of art in social projects; we also taught the basics of civic knowledge and participation in public debate devoted to relevant topics from young people’s point of view.Together with young people, we established in Wieniawa new sites friendly for both inhabitants and the environment, namely an insect hotel, a bee-friendly meadow an an eco-mural. We prepared a nature educational path, installing boards informing on animal species living close to humans. We prepared the "Dobre Sąsiedztwo (Good Neighbourhood)" guide on useful social activity practices in small communes.The project partners included the Jan Kochanowski Public Primary School with Sports Classes (thanks to which we could reach youths interested in such initiatives), The Wieniawa Commune Office (which helped us establish the Youth Council) and the WWF Polska Foundation (that provided us with thought leadership in the topic of environmental education).So far there has not been any youth group in the Wieniawa commune engaged in civic activities, which has changed thanks to our project. We have shown to inhabitants how important it is in the local context to establish sites that are friendly to humans and nature. We also started a dialogue with local authorities – the head of the commune stressed that he hoped for the development of cooperation between the commune government and inhabitants in shaping common spaces. The biggest and most long-lasting effect of our work is the establishment of the Youth Council which continues to function and develop also after the completion of the project.
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