With “Soup Community Stage”, we aimed at four goals: 1) To facilitate a physical and digital space that creates a network of local problem-solvers and value-creators, especially by those facing discrimination and social exclusion 2) To recruit and train a group of around 10 citizens in Denmark and Spain, who want to become more effective in ideating, planning and communicating their project ideas. These citizens are facing social problems (such as isolation, lack of integration, chronic unemployment, etc.), but want to overcome these obstacles by making their own projects 3) To create a learning space for future European adopters of Soup by producing a high-quality guidebook, website and training framework. 4) To enable a testing experience for AMICS, in order to do later dissemination of Soup using two real cases (Denmark & Spain) as concrete examples. We can confidently say that Soup Community Stage intended to crystalize the basic framework of an existing project (Aarhus Soup) so that other European actors could learn and implement it in their own communities.
Originally, our motivations for Soup Community Stage were to: . Promote and strengthen local networks of proactive citizens, who come together to support each other to build local projects that address relevant problems . Design a training program that promotes citizen-to-citizen learning by increasing their communication skills, their digital competences, and their capacity to plan their project ideas effectively . Produce a guidebook and website that creates a clear pathway for other European communities and actors interested in implementing their own Soup training In terms of needs, we knew that: . Our target group lacked specific tools and knowledge to implement their ideas more effectively and address local problems. With Soup’s support, more citizens could act on their ideas and create local value more effectively. . For AMICS and C-Cube, it was clear that their local communities lacked a safe space where important problems and emerging ideas could be discussed openly, while creating opportunities for collaboration. By transferring C-Cube’s experience hosting Soups to AMICS, we would learn invaluable lessons on how the space enables specific possibilities to local project-makers.