"It's possible to learn in a playful way! We just need spaces safe enough to try!"
- Gabriel Figueiró
This is an educational project aimed at youth workers willing to deepen their skills and practices in education for regeneration. The training of technicians is implicit in the impact on the young people they reach, with the project thus serving as a disseminator of potential key skills for regenerative development and adaptation to the emerging needs of today's world.
The course took place during the month of April, in the Algarve - Portugal, organized by the New Discoveries Association and partners, at the Quinta Vale Da Lamaa regenerative organic farm.
Framework
This new discoveries project is designed to intervene in the proliferation of socio-environmental damage caused by human activity, the origins of which can be traced back to uncontrolled consumerism, as part of the "extract-produce-consume-throw away" paradigm of economic growth. This project amplifies the activities of deforestation, constant and intense use of fossil fuels (industry, transport, etc.) and related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, agricultural and forestry monoculture, water waste, high production and irregular treatment of waste, unsustainable food production, etc.
Needs
a) Reducing mortality/morbidity risks associated with environmental problems;
b) Reducing the risks associated with forced migration phenomena - displaced persons;
c) Maintenance and growth of social and economic activities;
d) Local development;
e) Increased territorial cohesion.
Objectives
Equip youth workers with:
a) Skills for action and socio-environmental/regenerative education;
b) Practices to train young people in entrepreneurship in the areas of ecosystem regeneration.
The partners
Local Partners
The learning community
This project resulted in the creation of a learning community of youth workers, facilitators and animators in different educational areas, with a regenerative and environmental focus.
The community continues to connect and collaborate, willing to grow experiences and share resources, insights and actions. We plan to meet online every six months, design upcoming opportunities for collective empowerment, we are visiting and acting on each other's projects, and we dream of the possibility of materializing a manual with the methodology, dynamics and games we share.
Methodology and results
DAILY REPORT
During the course, a daily record of the sessions, activities and resources was created collectively.
COLLABORATIVE PLATFORM
As a way of integrating the content and facilitating the learning process, we used the online tool Miro Board. In a collaborative way, participants and facilitators have access to the material through the platform and can check a summary of the activities, auxiliary images and enter comments according to the training timeline.
VISUAL TIMELINE
To pilot the potential of using the collaborative platform as a tool for creating documentation for community learning, dissemination and sharing purposes, the participants created the following booklet:
What the participants say about the experience
“This experience was the next step in my apprenticeship as a community animator. Designed and facilitated with heart by a team of people with years of experience and a serious commitment to helping young people and adults who want to play a closer and more active role in their community. A unique intercultural experience of sharing tools, projects and ideas in a safe and informal space, where respect for ourselves and for others makes us believe in a brighter future.“
Sara Gaspar
"Dreaming Big and Making It Happen was what it felt like to be part of an incredible group of adults inspired by wanting to do things differently and better. It was 10 days of immersion in leadership and regenerative education. New ways of being and being with others. Where love and connection were deeply felt, with smiles and lots of play for the Being to learn. I'm very grateful to have been part of the web."
Joana Feijó
“This experience completely changed my way of seeing the learning process! I got so many tools and inspiration to manifest my own projects and collaborations! A real life changing experience for me!“
Gabriel Figueiró
"This course gave me so many ideas, input and hope for a joyful and regenerative way of learning. I feel blessed to have had the possibility to receive this toolbox full of fun, deep knowledge and important skills on how to facilitate and co-create in a safe and honest space on this regenerative pathway into our future. Amazing, energizing experience!"
Jana
"The past is full of futures that never came to pass" Both in the past of a collective, global history and in the past of a personal history. For me, embarking on this Learning Community was an opportunity to sail past seas. To re-encounter them, to com-prehend them, to dive into them and to leave them, towards a future that is being built every day. A path that is searched for, discussed, created and reflected upon. The path of the praxis of Regenerative Education, which inexorably reflects and extends throughout the entirety of human experience. It's a journey that can be made in a boat where you feel the strength, security, welcome and mutual support of a collective, united in its values and guidelines for action, which through human relationships, in their affective, political and social dimensions, re-generates the desire to continue the journey. With love, joy, unity, determination and rootedness. For all that has passed, and for the future tides to come, Thank you!
Laura Green
"It's difficult to describe in words what I saw and tasted during my PND experience! I think that in order to really understand the air that is breathed in this learning community, it is necessary to walk and live, everyone, even just once in their life, should try this experience. To live in an alternative life context, away from the individualism that characterizes modern society, in order to truly discover oneself, perceive feelings and live out values that are now lost: ALTRUISM, taking care of others; COOPERATION, from the design to the management of educational activities, but also in the organization and management of everyday life; CONDIVISION, of personal knowledge and experiences in work and life; SELF-GESTION, no vertical position, no one leader, everyone is on the same piano, everything is decided together; FIDUCIA, incondizionata nel prossimo, nella persona che si ha al fianco, anche se conosciuta da poco; LIBERTÀ, di esprimere le proprie idee, di realizzare i propri progetti, di esprimere i propri sentimenti e di concretizzare le proprie scelte; AMORE, sentimento talmente presente che si tocca con le mani e che accompagna la quotidianità di questa comunità. Personally, after this experience (which will not end soon), I feel strengthened, both internally at an emotional and professional level, and externally, in relation to other people, to the next person, of whom I have been very sincerely faithful for a while. Not only have I centered the point of the discussion, I have only transported what I have inside into a fire!!! Thanks Patricia for everything!"
Danilo Lico
Reflections and thanks
The possibility of bringing this type of project to youth workers, educators and animators, plus the added value of funding, is an excellent opportunity for impact training in the area of Education for Regeneration. This is an area of non-formal education that is new and full of trails to be blazed, and these experiences pave the way among the pioneers of this concept.
This project has also taken a solid step towards the systematization of a methodology, which aims to standardize steps, dynamics and tools for a learning cycle in the area of animation and education for Regeneration, with a focus on creating groups and learning communities for this purpose.
We are especially grateful to the partners who have lined up, supported and facilitated this opportunity. We look forward to continuing our collaboration.
Thanks also go to the facilitation and coordination team for the time, dedication and creativity they invested.
Finally, we would like to thank the European Commission and the Erasmus+ National Agency for their funding and confidence in us. We hope to continue offering these opportunities with your support.
Co-funded by:
Partners:
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