The neighborhood in which I live, as my own shared space.

The Youth and the Neighborhood project focuses on the involvement of youth communities and groups living in the Chataldja area of ​​Varna. The aim is for them to look at the neighborhood in which they live as their own shared space to which they are responsible, as an urban environment that must be protected and as a living area to which they can contribute with ideas and active participation.

A challenge

The aim of the project is to involve young people from the Chataldja region in the philosophy of sharing an urban environment and to engage them in the development of their own neighborhood – sharing common space, resources, environment, responsibility, time, ideas, interests and activities.

The project has two main types of activities to engage young people in the desired direction – on the one hand, conceptual meetings for analysis, planning and development of ideas for the neighborhood environment, its protection and development, including organizing a neighborhood event, and on the other – thematic meetings to discuss topics for urban development, screenings of films for environmental protection in urban spaces and practical workshops that will give to young people environmental skills for environmental protection. All these activities bring participants together to teach them practically the culture of sharing through knowledge, skills and ideas. Most of the activities are carried out in the new shared neighborhood space “Atelier 14”, part of the office of the Public Environmental Center for Sustainable Development (14 Sava Radulov Street in the area of ​​the flower market of “Chataldja”), and the rest are held outdoors in the neighborhood and in the eco-camp of the Public Environmental Center for Sustainable Development in the village of Ezerets. At the end of the project, young people must generate a series of ideas for intervention in the urban environment of their neighborhood in order to preserve and ennoble it, by promoting a culture of sharing – of spaces, ideas and activities. The Public Environmental Center for Sustainable Development will support the development and implementation of these ideas as projects. The aim is to seek support for their implementation as a follow-up through funding programs or support from local businesses.

Actions

  1. Communication campaign – it aims to attract participants in the project and public attention to its implementation, covering the entire period from the beginning to the end of the project. It includes: building a comprehensive vision of the project and promotional materials for its promotion – a vision of promotional materials for participants and information materials for the community; PR campaign – a series of press releases to the media, articles on the website of the Public Environmental Center for Sustainable Development, information publications in the social profiles of the organization, a series of posters and information materials for distribution in the neighborhood of special stands; special edition of the organizational bulletin “List”, dedicated to the project.
  2. Thematic meetings-discussions – holding three thematic meetings-discussions (one in July, August and September) lasting 4 hours each, aimed at presenting the topic of intervention in the urban environment and environmental protection in urban conditions in different prism: the shared economy and culture in cities; the problem of waste, overconsumption and alternative solutions; creative ideas for environmentally friendly intervention in the urban and neighborhood environment.
  3. Conceptual meetings – after each of the thematic meetings-discussions will be held conceptual meetings with a tour of the neighborhood (one in July, August and September), which will end with work on a large-scale map of the neighborhood, designed specifically for the project. to mark areas and ideas for improvement and development.
  4. Screenings – once per month (July, August and September) an evening screening is organized in the office of OCOSUR, where will be presented one film from the official video library of the organization, related to environmental protection, nature management urban spaces, tackling overconsumption and other urban environmental problems.
  5. Workshops – in three consecutive months will be held three practical eco-workshops to build environmental skills in the participants and introduce them to the idea of ​​different ways of consuming resources and protecting the environment: Workshop for biosoaps, Workshop for household chemicals, Recycling workshop “Out of nowhere”.
  6. Eco-camp – in order for the formed group of young people in the neighborhood to get even closer and form a team spirit, as well as to get acquainted in depth with the opportunities for environmental protection, they will spend four days together in the eco-camp of Public Environmental Center for Sustainable Development in the village of Ezerets, where they will have the opportunity to deal with construction with natural materials, workshops for preparing healthy food and natural cosmetics with natural materials.
  7. Quarterly event – after the middle of the project, when the participants have gone through enough and varied project activities to inspire them how to intervene healthily in the neighborhood space, they will have to invent and implement a small neighborhood event based on the concept of shared urban space and the culture of sharing.
  8. Development of conceptual projects – during the last two weeks of the project, based on everything experienced by the participants, they will have to structure their ideas for the development of the neighborhood and develop deeper ideas for its development as a shared living space. The team of the Public Center for Environment and Sustainable Development will support the development of these ideas at the level of draft proposals that can be submitted for funding under various programs.

Results

Expected result 1 – At least 15 young people are included in the project, of which at least 10 to be formed as a permanent circle of active young people in the neighborhood, with whom the Public Environmental Center for Sustainable Development will work. Expected impact – Awakening and increasing the commitment of young people to the protection and development of the Chataldja region. Launch of a real practice on the territory of Varna for engaging the community in the maintenance of a shared urban area.

Expected result 2 – Held over 10 meetings and events in the new space to promote it and make it recognizable to young people in the neighborhood as an area that gives them space for development. Expected impact – The development and promotion of a shared space open to the community on the territory of a wide center in Varna, outside the standard urban areas.

Expected result 3 – Developed at least three project ideas; Submitted at least one of them for funding under a program or to a corporate sponsor. Expected impact – Direct involvement of the youth community in the long-term development of the idea of ​​shaping the Chataldja region as a shared living space and promoting the culture of sharing. Expected result – Three literacy meetings were held on the topic, materials and publications were developed to promote the concept , submitted at least one micro-project in this direction. Expected impact – Promotion of the culture for sharing in the urban environment and development of the neighborhoods by engaging the community in Varna.

Partners: