Mission
Novas Descobertas Association delivers transformative, nature-connected learning experiences that promote personal development, create community connections, and encourage active citizenship, for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Vision
An inclusive society working to create a balanced relationship between humanity and nature for a more resilient future.
Values
Our action is inspired by values of social inclusion, diversity, regeneration, and innovation, placing the ethics of caring, nurturing, and regenerating people, society, and nature, across all that we do.
Strategic goals
These goals support the realization of our vision and mission, guiding our ongoing planning and daily efforts.
Deliver educational activities and programs
Create a sustained impact model
Implement a sustainable business model and scale for growth
The value we bring
Novas Descobertas Association helps people grow and transform personally while engaging with nature and helping their local ecosystem. We believe in the need for people and nature to work together to create a world that supports and balances the needs of both. We offer education and programs that do more than just teach tactical skills focused on ecosystem regeneration. We nurture spaces where everyone can be authentic and where people can create regenerative bonds between the individual and themselves, their community, and the landscape.
When participants finish our programs, they have a greater sense of self-understanding and self-worth, are better able to communicate and work with fellow members of their community and society, and will also have gained valuable hands-on knowledge and skills in the area of natural ecosystems regeneration.
Programs are offered to a wide range of audiences, from youth who just want to enjoy nature, to young adults who have started taking an interest in regenerative-focused education, to adults who are fully vested and active in sharing, implementing, and living the critical knowledge and practices in the area of eco-social regeneration.
Novas Descobertas Association actively works to bring our programs to socially and financially disadvantaged learners in our local area, so that everyone has access to our offerings.
Impact
We measure the output of our efforts so that we can understand the impact we are having and how successful we are at meeting our goals and objectives. This reporting helps us further refine and improve our current offerings, and aids us in defining new programs for the future.
Team
Our team consists of staff members with deep backgrounds and experience in creating and presenting educational activities and programs that advance the cause of social, ecological and economic regeneration and inclusion.
Location
Our living classroom, Campo do Vale, is located within the Vale da Lama farm, near Lagos, Portugal. An evolving, collaboratively designed learning space, it is the location of most of our activities. Our beautiful and tranquil location near the estuary and ocean brings us together with nature, and features both indoor and outdoor facilities that support our work.
History
Novas Descobertas Association was founded in 1994 with the dream of social inclusion. Our first activities were summer camps that brought together young people from all walks of life, in which they learned to value their differences and work together. Now, 30 years later, we are a membership-based non-profit that offers educational and recreational programs year-round to a diverse public, including the most educationally and financially vulnerable elements of society.
See the Association's main documents and policies
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Português