Erasmus+ Mobility of Youth Workers

Dates: 17 - 26 September 2022

Location: Eco-project AgroEcológico do Soajo, Soajo, Portugal

This training aims to
- connect our personal health and awareness with the health of the ecosystems we inhabit, exploring personal and ecological solutions and to work as a collective.
-inspire all participants to apply the acquired knowledge and the# experiences in their daily life and professional activities, multiplying its impact in every community you are coming from.
This training journey will go from micro to macro, from the individual, to the collective to the planet dimensions.

The training will cover the following topics and be enriched by theoretical and practical activities as well as reflection and sharing sessions focused on:

● The individual: The relation of our health with the health of our soils
Yoga, Tai Chi Chuan, Meditation, Self-Awareness, Chinese Medicine, Nutrition, Phytotherapy, Natural Cosmetics.

● The Collective: We are the Ones we’ve been waiting for
Activities of team building, group decisions, group sharings, community build such as Dragon Dreaming, Sociocracy and Non-Violent Communication.

● The Ecosystem: Ecological Restoration
Activities related to environmental regeneration, using in particular Permaculture, Agroforestry and Reforestation

About the organisers

Reflorestar Portugal was born in 2017 to promote the regeneration of ecosystems and rural
communities. We have been developing our interventions on 2 main pillars: the regeneration of ecosystems / soils and education / social impact.
With partners from north to south of the country, Reflorestar Portugal has trained regenerative agents with the goal of multiplying and accelerating the restoration of degraded areas, with a special focus on the recovery of soils, the water cycle and biodiversity.
Together with partners, we are developing hubs for research, teaching and practical experience in the regenerative techniques we practice. Successional Agroforestry, Accelerated Natural Regeneration, Agroecology, Syntropic Agriculture and Permaculture are the technical pillars of the actions developed. We design systems that respect the natural stratification of forest systems and the succession over time, to generate a positive impact on the ecosystem in the long term, contributing to exponentiate natural succession and ecological recovery in the intervention sites, always having in consideration human needs and integration.
Every 2 years we organize a national convergence called “Gathering for the Forests”.
For more info about us
Check our website at Reflorestar.pt

Funding

This course is co-funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ framework.
We are deeply grateful for this and we thank the Greek National agency for their great support and their work.

About the venue

Eco-project AgroEcológico do Soajo (at Soajo Village, close to Arcos de Valdevez) is based in an organic family farm, started in 2013, with a group of friends with the dream to create a sustainable community aligned with Nature. Since 2015, the young families have been dedicated to create an agroecological space where practical experiences based on Permaculture Principles are possible. Here you can walk the talk.
Since 2018 that Reflorestar Portugal has been developing at this place its north hub, promoting syntropic farming research, organizing trainings and investing on the local reforestation and Agroforestry development. On terraced land, where traditional agriculture was practiced for centuries, growing monoculture crops such as corn and rye monocultures was done in the past) we are creating Agroforestries, now containing different fruit trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants and vegetable gardens.
Workshops are run here frequently and volunteers are following their learning path through practical exploration and implementation of techniques and practices like ecobuilding, permaculture design, natural farming, agroforestry, healthy nutrition, zero waste lifestyle, renewable energy.
Want to know more? Check it on fb:
www.facebook.com/Projecto-Agroecológico-Do-Soajo

For who this is

4 participants will be selected from Greece by the end of July.
The profile of the participants is preferably of people active in the areas of social impact and/or environmental activism and/or dedicated to the engagement of populations in local projects regarding agriculture, reforestation, protection of water and other natural resources. Participants already are or intend to become support technicians in Youth projects, are developing or already working on regenerative projects and/or Communities, etc, that relate human health to the health of ecosystems.
Nevertheless we are open to other participants' profiles.
Greek participants' contribution is 50% discounted, at 75 euros for covering the host organization's activities.

Important Info for Participants

Info Pack

Partner organizations

Reflorestar - Porrtugal
The Southernlights - Greece
ELU - Netherlands
Regen - Italy
LITDEA - Lithuania
NUH - Estonia
Sol Nascente - Portugal