More information
Description
In this project we want to encourage the residents of the city of Glowno to co-create a friendly green city in cooperation with the managers of public areas. The city''s policy on green areas should be focused on sustainability. It should also take into account biodiversity and restrictions on the use of harmful chemicals. There will be a vote by the EU member states at the end of 2022 to extend the permission for glyphosate use for another 5 years. Pesticides (including glyphosate) are harmful to human health, e.g. they have a negative impact on the immune system, which is important especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our aim is to initiate a debate on the glyphosate ban in Glowno and to engage residents in civic activities to create policies for a friendly green city. We will publish a newspaper ''Civic Engagement''. We will conduct trainings on the principles of good greenery management. We will organize minimum 8 meetings with representatives of offices and institutions. We will conduct workshops for schools and a competition and picnic for students. Together with primary school students, we will create first flower meadows in Glowno. We will prepare a video summarizing the project activities. We will organize a debate with the participation of residents, officials and experts. We will elaborate an appeal to the authorities of Glowno with about 500 signatures. The recipients of the activities will be: the officials of the City Hall in Glowno, citizens of Glowno, including people active in the neighbourhood councils, NGOs, children, youth and the media (mainly local and professional). The activities will involve volunteers, 5 partner organisations and one foreign partner: ‘Change the World’ Foundation.
Summary of project results
When preparing and implementing the project as an organization rooted locally and familiar with the conditions of Głowno, we assumed increasing the participation of residents and mobilizing them to dialogue with decision-makers and officials to shape local policies for managing green areas, environmental protection and public health.
The second aspect was related to the involvement of adults and youth in practical activities – “taking matters into their own hands” by taking care of the immediate neighborhood, fieldwork and increasing grassroots influence on greenery management. The intention was also to stop using herbicides with carcinogenic glyphosate in public spaces (e.g. parks, school grounds, kindergartens) in Głowno.
We decided to initiate inter-sectoral and intergenerational cooperation and combine theory with practice, because Głowno has so far lacked a holistic and ecological view of the city and its surroundings.
In order for residents – both big and small – to understand the challenges and feel that the topic concerns everyone, an educational campaign was necessary, aimed at both primary school students and adults. Young people, inspired by participation in practical workshops on sowing meadows, were to feel the “mission” of citizenship for the first time in their lives and become advocates of positive change, and it mobilized older people to deal with the topic of protecting biodiversity in urban space. In order to broaden the horizons of adults, we prepared a petition and a free newspaper “Aktywność Obywatelska”, where we described in an accessible way the mistakes of pesticide policy at the local and national level. Thanks to our previous social experience in Głowno, we were aware of the rather limited perspectives of decision-makers and officials to deal with unconventional solutions in the field of nature protection and the implementation of residents’ ideas, hence the idea to actively involve these groups in the project activities.
Dialogue with decision-makers and representatives of the Głowno City Office departments, housing cooperatives, schools:
- we held approx. 15 meetings and worked together on local plans for the management of green areas in the city,
- we organized training on the principles of good greenery management for 10 people representing the above-mentioned groups,
- we prepared an appeal on www addressed to the Głowno authorities. We started with the collection of signatures, but after obtaining a declaration from the Mayor of Głowno to declare the city a glyphosate-free area, we changed the activity into conducting a survey on the creation of new flower meadows in Głowno and zones protecting biodiversity and limiting the phenomenon of drought in the city. The survey was completed by 111 people, and the results were forwarded to the City Office.
Field activities:
- we conducted workshops in 3 schools in Głowno (including with a foreign partner) - we jointly designed and sowed flower meadows. 52 children took part,
- we organised a picnic for young people, which took place in the Arboretum and the Museum of Forest and Wood in Rogów. 56 children took part.
Communication and educational activities:
- we organised a debate with the participation of approx. 30 residents, officials and experts and 4 speakers (the representative of the foreign partner was online). The debate in the hall was watched by 36 people. It was broadcast live via FB, and the report was posted on the YT channel,
- we published an issue of the Aktywność Obywatelska newspaper in the amount of 5 thousand copies,
- we published materials on the website and in social media,
- we organised a competition for young people. 31 works were submitted, in which young people presented their ideas for the location of new flower meadows in Głowno.
- we prepared 2 clips: a report from the completed workshops, training and planting of flower meadows and a video about flower meadows - why it is worth it and how to create them. In total, over 10 thousand views.
Cooperation with partners:
- we organised a study visit of a partner from Norway to Poland,
- we exchanged experiences and know-how.
The project has met with great interest from various groups: children, adult residents, institutions and officials responsible for green policy. As a result of inter-sectoral cooperation, an informal coalition was formed, which contributed to changes in the perception of the issue of nature in the city and simple ways to protect it for the benefit of the residents themselves.
Within a few months, visible changes occurred - 10 flower meadows were created, and thanks to the energy and enthusiasm of students (over 50 out of 3 schools participated in theoretical and field workshops, over 50 in the picnic, over 30 works submitted works to the competition on flower meadows!) and the City Office taking up the topic, it is planned to establish more areas in Głowno without human interference, additionally with hotels for pollinators.
The key to success was convincing the Mayor of Głowno, who saw great development and promotional potential for the city thanks to investing in the development of green and blue infrastructure. The effect is the official presentation of Głowno as a city-space free from carcinogenic glyphosate! A total of 18 such spaces were created, as the idea was accepted with approval by schools, kindergartens and cultural institutions.
We arranged a local public debate on the subject of excessive use of pesticides not only in agriculture, but also in open spaces such as forests, parks and playgrounds. The education of residents was made possible by texts published on the website and in social media, as well as the publication of a free paper newspaper "Aktywność Obywatelska" in the amount of 5,000 copies distributed in shops, at fairs, in institutions, schools, cultural events, etc.
The presence of an expert from abroad at the training for officials gave the event a higher rank, strengthened our relations with the Mayor of Głowno. The children participating in the workshops with Mauricio Deliz were delighted with the energy, pedagogical approach and the unconventional form of the classes, and for some "they were the best classes in their lives".
Summary of bilateral results
We chose the partner organization based on its many years of experience in animating civic participation, conducting multilateral dialogue for ecological infrastructure solutions and environmental protection in cities, as well as various workshops, fieldwork, or actions carried out with various social groups (adults, youth and children, excluded people, etc.) around the world. Mauricio Deliz, the director of this organization, was responsible for contact with us, and then came to Poland for a study visit, conducting training for officials and workshops for young people. Maurizio is an extremely experienced person with expert knowledge and soft skills. He is an open, empathetic person, which allowed him to win allies and attentive listeners among both young and older decision-making residents of Głowno. In his social activities, he has visited many countries of the world and most continents, where he cooperated with local communities, institutions and even politicians. Mauricio prepared himself very professionally for his tasks before coming to Poland. He absorbed information about the specificity of our country and small towns such as Głowno, which is why his lecture entitled "Good practices and engaging residents in caring for urban greenery" perfectly matched the specificity and climate of Głowno. He presented models of effective solutions in managing public space and green areas in cities around the world, examples of local community involvement, the impact of joint actions on social integration, building bonds, intergenerational cooperation, etc. He conveyed knowledge tailored to the recipients, inspirations and real-to-implement ideas for more sustainable greenery management - based on cities from other corners of the world. In turn, the young people participating in the workshops were delighted with the interactive form, education combined with fun, as well as the activities part.