Description
Through this project, 100 inmates from 2 penitentiaries and 20 volunteers amongst the local community will be selected and 5 environmental volunteering programmes in prisons will be developed with their support. These programmes will foster environmental volunteering initiatives for the benefit of Isalnita’s inhabitants, with their direct involvement and also with the involvement of the inmates. Prison’s material resources will be properly used, by setting up a recreation infrastructure for the benefit of 1505 inmates and 600 employees, and sustainable environmental practices will be implemented in prisons. A forestation activity carried out with the local community and for its benefit, with the engagement of 200 inmates and 100 members of the local community will not only facilitate the dialogue between those two groups but also will lead to lessening the environmental problems of 3885 Isalnita’s inhabitants. A supporting network of 5 local NGOs will be set up; it will facilitate the dialogue and the cooperation with the public local authority in the purpose of vulnerable group’s future involving in volunteering activities.
Summary of project results
The project promoted environmental volunteering activities among incarcerated men and women in prisons and among the communities of Craiova and Isalnita. Its goal was to address social and environmental issues such as the lack of volunteering programmes that could improve the negative public perception towards the inmates, the lack of sustainable environmental practices in prisons and the industrial pollution. Having been trained in the field of environmental volunteering, 100 inmates and 20 community volunteers carried out 5 volunteering programmes. They set up a recreational facility in the benefit of 1505 inmates and of 600 members of correctional staff including a football field, a nursery and a park, built up a solar panel and implemented a waste management system. A coalition of 5 local NGOs to facilitate the cooperation between the inmates and the local authorities was created. This coalition subsequently mounted an information campaign to raise public awareness of the framework for the provision of community-based services. A planting activity in the benefit of 4,100 inhabitants of Isalnita was carried out by members of the community working together with inmates on a 3 acres land provided by the township of Isalnita where 15,000 saplings were planted. The inmates' community based volunteering was thus promoted, by showcasing a successful example of partnership between the inmates and a public authority. Moreover, the promoter proved the inmates can be a key resource for tackling some of the community problems and created a tree cover in a polluted area. The project has laid the ground work not only for improving the dialogue and cooperation between the inmates and local community but also for initiating sustainable environmental practices in prisons that can reduce the carbon footprint.
Summary of bilateral results