These are the ewoca³ workcamps 2017:
Camp 1: Oulu/Finland, 17.07.-31.07.2017
All the Shades of Art
Project partners: SJD — Die Falken Leverkusen (Leverkusen/Germany), Oulun Nuoret Kotkat Piirijärjestö ry (Oulu/Finland), META Cooperativa Sociale ONLUS (Rom/Italy)
At the workcamp in the City of Oulu in Northern Finland, the participants take part in self-organised and professionally led workshops, dealing with overcoming cultural stereotypes. They will transform their experiences from the workshops into developing a Street Art collage, which is then realised on the walls of a public underpass in Oulu. The active youths further go on trips, among them to the polar circle and the island of Hailuoto. At each location, they will deal with the connections of culture and the environment.
Camp 2: Quart de Poblet/Spain, 01.08.-15.08.2017
Green Footprints in Europe — Organic Fields in the City
Project partners: Mediencooperative Steinfurt e.V. (Steinfurt/Germany), Youth Centre Telšiai (Telsiai/Lithuania), Asociación Opendoors (Quart de Poblet/Spain)
The youths live together at the grounds of a former school in the City of Quart de Poblet (26 000 inhabitants) near Valencia, and deal with the topic of sustainability in food production. Beyond this, they realise a practical ecological project: At the local riverbank, they will create two organic fields, in cooperation with the association „Horticultura ecologica l’Animeta“. For this, they will build containers for composting at a local workshop and prepare the necessary fences and water pipes. Beyond that, the participants will document their camp experiences in a newspaper, a blog, and videos.
Camp 3: Mugla/Turkey, 13.08.-27.08.2017
Nature is Culture
Project partners: SJD — Die Falken Hagen (Hagen/Germany), Mugla Genclik Merkesi (Mugla/Turkey)
The participants of the workcamp live at the guest house of the Centre for Watersports at Köycegiz in Mugla province, in the far Southwest of Turkey. There, they realise an ecologically orientated renovation of their accommodation, the sporting grounds, and the gardens, and beautify the building with a mural. The youths will deal with the topic of feedback between culture and nature, and how this relationship effects everyday action. Trips to many historical sites in the region are planned, in order to get to know this feedback at the location and to place it in a historical context.
Camp 5: Minsk/Belarus, 10.08.-23.08.2017
Green Classroom
Project partners: GrünBau (Dortmund/Germany), Nash Sled (Minsk/Belarus), Esplora (Itri/ Italy)
The workcamp takes place at the agro-biological centre „Selönje“, a place of learning and experimentation of the Pedagogical Maxim Tank University Minsk. The participants will create a green classroom together, and also build a place for composting experimentation, a mulch experiment, and an Alpine garden. Practical activities, workshops, and excursions create a space for dealing with the topics of climate change, environmental protection, and urbanisation. As part of intercultural activities, the youths will deal with their role within Europe. Over the complete duration of the workcamp, their work will be accompanied and guided by qualified professionals.
Camp 6: Bornheim/Germany, 15.07.-28.07.2017
Back to Nature
Project partners: Youth Academy Walberberg (Bornheim/Germany), Udruzenje gradana “Putevi mira„ (Kozarska Dubica/Bosnia and Herzegovina), Szubjektiv (Budapest/Hungary)
The participants deal with actually realisable possibilities of a lifestyle preserving resources. The focus will be on the tension between consumption and abstinence, waste prevention and recycling, as well as a comparison of experiences in the three countries. On trips matched to the topic, to the lignite surface mines in Hambach, and the waste incineration plant in Cologne, the active youths will be confronted with the problems due to contemporary use of resources. They will further practically experience these topics by building a bare-feet path from leftover materials and waste products, which in the future should complement the offers of Youth Academy Walberberg in experiential pedagogy.
Camp 7: Kaunas/Lithuania, 07.09.-20.9.2017
I-CARE — InterCulture Against Racism in Europe
Project partners: ROOTS & ROUTES Cologne e. V. (Cologne/Germany), Centro di Creazione e Cultura (Florence/Italy), Viesoji istaiga Kauno ivairiu tautu kulturu centras (Kaunas/Lithuania)
Kaunas is, after the capital Vilnius, the second-largest city in Lithuania. In this workcamp project, youths from the three countries take part in workshops dealing with the topics of discrimination and racism. Following the lead of professional coaches in the fields of music, dance, theatre, and media art, the participants develop shared forms of expressions, in order to deal with personal and general experiences of exclusion. The project will conclude with a trans-disciplinary public performance in the city centre public spaces. The participating youths document their working process themselves using video, words, and images. The video documentation will be published online. Furthermore, a printed brochure should be developed, in order to make the methods and experiences of the workcamp accessible for all.
Camp 8: Hiiumaa/Estonia, 15.07.-29.07.2017
Europe — The Way of Cultural Adventure
Project partners: Children and Youth Centre ParkHaus (Oberhausen/Germany), MTÜ Noored Toredate Mötetega (Tartu/Estonia), Outward Bound Romania (Tigru Mures/Romania)
The youths from the three countries travel to the island Hiiumaa in Estonia together, and, on trips and during workshops, explore the cultural specificity of the island. In this context, they support the preparations and realisation of a local folk festival. In working and discussion groups, they connect their interaction with the local culture with the cultural experiences they brought from home. Furthermore, they closely collaborate with the local youth centre Emaste, in order to renovate the centre’s playground and sport facilities.
Camp 9: Jaworzno and Olkusz/Poland, 18.07. -01.08.2017
Together for the environment — Taking responsibility and sustainable action
Project partners: Gustav-Stresemann-Institut e.V. (Bonn/Germany), Centre d’Education et de For-mation Interculturel Rencontre (CEFIR) (Dunkerque/France), Instytut Regionalny w Katowicach (Katowice/Poland)
The youths spend two weeks in the Southern part of Poland, a region characterised by heavy industry for decades. Structural changes, recultivation, and revitalisation of former industrial estates increasingly bring a new character to the region. Through visits and tours, the participants of the workcamp will get to know this process, and transform their experiences in ecological workshops. And their practical work at the workcamp also deals with re-fashioning and upgrading: At the ground of a local special school, at which the Polish participants are pupils, a garden of flowers and vegetables, as well as seating areas are created, enabling the pupils to spend their time in green spaces. In both the theoretical and the practical part of the workcamp, the active youths will learn about their talents and abilities, and reflect on how they can use them to shape their lives in a conscious and responsible way.
Camp 10: Innerleithen/Scotland (United Kingdom), 07.08.-21.08.2017
Environmental Protection Work and Outdoor Training
Project partners: Natur bewegt e.V. (Köln/Germany), AdventuraScotland (Rossendale/United Kingdom), Asociación Experientia (Moncada/Spain)
The workcamp takes place at the Glenlude Estate, a trust land of the Scottish environmental organisation John Muir Trust. Led by organisation employees, the participants will work in environmental protection and the maintenance and repair of hiking paths. As further elements of the camp, activities in nature, such as hillwalking and outdoor training, take place. Through these experiences, the participants further develop their relationship towards nature, which forms the basis for their work on the topics of sustainability, environmental protection, and global warming.
Camp 11: Donji Vakuf/Bosnia and Herzegovina, 04.08.-17.08.2017
ewoca³ Demo Playground
Project partners: Department of Youth, City of Bochum (Bochum/Germany), DVOC Youth Organization (Donji Vakuf/Bosnia and Herzegovina), Green Civril Youth Group (Civril/Turkey)
During the workcamp, the participants will deal with possibilities of active citizenship. Commencing the camp, they will visit Sarajevo, in order to get to know the local living conditions and meet the people who lived there during the siege of the city from 1992 to 1995. But the main location of the workcamp project is the small town of Donji Vakuf in Central Bosnia. Here, the active youths will get into contact with people from the municipality and local politicians, in order to exchange ideas on the concepts of citizen rights and duties. In this process, the participants develop a performance, presenting the principles of democracy and participation in a model state. The performance will be enacted in the municipality.
Camp 12: Schwerte/Germany, 18.07.-31.07.2017
Re:Make — Back to Nature
Project partners: Werkstatt Unna (Unna/Germany), Risorsa Europa
(Latina/Italy), Fundacja Krzyżowa (Grodziszcze/Poland)
The youths plan a leisure garden with a herb spiral and seating areas together, which they will then build on the grounds of Naturfreunde Schwerte, working with professional guidance. After completion, the small park will be officially opened, and can then be used for youth projects of the Naturfreunde organisation. In order to transport a sense of Europeanness, a number of group-strengthening activities (sporting events, evening activities planned together) will take place. On excursions to different locations in the Ruhr area, the active youths will deal with topics of structural change and sustainability.