The complexity of the global crisis becomes obvious in recent years through a variety of expressions in the social, political, economical and environmental field. Due to a global unsustainable lifestyle, there are growing social-economical inequalities, development of inhumane and undemocratic policies, climate changes, as well as underestimation of critical thinking, lack of appreciation for expertise and a general feeling of uncertainty and insecurity. There is a need to prevent such further developments and to promote a more sustainable lifestyle in every society. Such a comprehensive social challenge can be successfully mastered as a multidimensional task involving many actors and affecting simultaneously many different levels of our society. Our main objective is to stimulate social engagement and active citizens participation in relation to diverse social, political, economical and environmental problems and to empower grass-root institutions (projects, initiatives, communities and networks), which can provide sustainable local solutions. We want to emphasize the importance of local cooperation, solidary models of self-organization and social innovation in meeting diverse challenges, but especially the relevance of expertise and solutions developed through them and their applicability in wider and diverse social contexts. In this way we intend to underline the relevance and importance of civil society and its grass-root organizations for the overall development of our societies. Our project objectives are directly linked to our shared needs concerning improvement and development of knowledge, skills and capacities in relation to sustainable practices of self-organization, cooperation and commoning in the fields of citizens participation and decision making in social-political processes at the communal level, social housing and use of space, development of local solutions for social inclusion, welfare and self-employment, as well as innovative concepts tackling the growing social and environmental challenges. This transnational and multidimensional approach of our project enables a wider knowledge-transfer and exchange of good practice among participating organizations and empowers communities and many other relevant stakeholders at the local, regional, national and European level. Our project brings together organizations from Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Denmark and Serbia that are active in the fields of adult education, social engagement, empowerment, social inclusion, housing and commoning. Participants profile includes staff and associates of the participating groups – professionals in the fields of adult education, education for sustainable development, social workers, counselors, trainers, project managers etc. Overall, our project consists of 5 activities facilitating the transfer of skills and knowledge and the exchange of best practices in the form of joint staff meetings. Among the expected results are expansion of knowledge, improved understanding of the interrelationships of different concepts and approaches, and the relevance of social innovations. We expect appropriation of various didactic concepts, methods, skills and innovative ideas from other contexts. Increased motivation of participants is among the most important expected results, together with the development of long-lasting transnational cooperation. At the local level, we expect this project to empower participating organizations and their local partners and reinforce local networking, increase the number of new initiatives, ideas and project proposals on behalf of our associations, but also from the wider community, i.e. willingness of various local stakeholders to participate in the development and implementation of diverse projects and other activities. At the regional and national level, we expect further networking between various stakeholders and dissemination of best practices among diverse multipliers, both individuals and associations. In the long-term we expect emergence or development of diverse initiatives, committees, advisory bodies etc., which are well suited for lobbying decision-makers and institutions. In such a way our project could progressively supplement political reforms at regional and/or national level in the long term. In relation to European cooperation, we expect our project to have a positive impact through dissemination of best practices, further development of international partnerships and inclusion of additional partner groups, development of new transnational project activities, as well as establishment of contacts with other relevant transnational networks. Last but not least, we hope to influence the regeneration of community relations and the transformative processes of active citizens participation, social inclusion and cooperation through the development of knowledge and paradigms for sustainable social coexistence and cooperative designs.
Our main objective was to stimulate social engagement and active citizens participation in relation to diverse social, political, economical and environmental problems and to empower development of grass-root institutions which can provide sustainable local solutions. We want to emphasize the importance of local cooperation and solidary models of self-organization and social innovation in meeting diverse challenges, but especially the relevance of expertise and solutions developed trough them and their applicability in wider and diverse social contexts. In this way we intend to underline the relevance of civil society and its grass-root organizations for overall development of our society. Objectives of the project are linked to our needs of improvement and the development of our knowledge, skills and capacities in relation to a sustainable practices of self-organization, cooperation and commoning in the fields of citizens participation and decision making in social-political processes at the communal level, social housing and use of space in an urban surrounding, development of local solutions for social inclusion, welfare and self-employment, as well as innovative concepts for environmental and climate challenges.
At the core of our project is empowerment for social engagement and citizens participation in relation to the development of sustainable communities, neighborhood initiatives and local spaces and networks. This includes the ability to take active roles in the political, social and urban-development processes relevant for the local community, develop cooperative models of social welfare and housing and solidary economy designs that generate income and financial sustainability, as well as to find solutions relevant in the sense of ecological sustainability. Due to a global unsustainable lifestyle, there are growing social inequalities and economic instabilities, development of undemocratic tendencies and power structures, radical climate changes, as well as underestimation of critical thinking, lack of appreciation for expertise and a general feelings of uncertainty and insecurity. In this context the role of civil society appears more relevant than before: It’s endowed to meet complex challenges and with bottom-up approach develop innovative solutions in the process, as well as to enable communication and cooperation both among citizens and between them and various stakeholders from other fields and levels of social organization.