The CO-GREEN project:
The CO-GREEN project, which commenced on December 1, 2022, and concluded in November 2024, focused on engaging local communities in the co-design and implementation of sustainable practices aligned with the European Green Deal.
Central to the project was the active involvement of people and communities, whose commitment was essential for fostering sustainable, practical, and replicable ‘green’ measures. This grassroots approach aimed to stimulate local territories and ensured that current and future sustainability strategies were successful by making community engagement a prerequisite for effective implementation.
Throughout its duration, CO-GREEN promoted a variety of local events, transnational exchanges, and training opportunities that involved diverse stakeholders including local authorities, NGOs, businesses, and civil society organizations. With the support of local “community activators,” the project enhanced participatory processes in communities across Poland, Italy, Greece, and Croatia. Significant achievements included organizing together with the Municipality of Karditsa 13 events that attracted around 300 participants from Karditsa, eager to tackle climate change challenges.
The project emphasized public participation and aimed to empower residents to initiate practical green initiatives, reinforcing the belief that community involvement was crucial for sustainable development.
CO-GREEN objectives
1) Support the paradigm shift towards sustainable development, promoting the ideas of empowerment and self-sufficiency , interconnection , responsibility and accountability , as alternative solutions to the concepts of demand, production, consumption and closed borders.
2) Promote, in peripheral communities, the development of community awareness on the key themes and issues proposed by the Green Deal and, in the background, by the SDGs . By peripheral communities we mean those communities that are not located in urban centers and that are not directly involved in local/regional decision-making processes on green policies. Because of this peripheral position, they tend to be passive recipients rather than active participants in green policies.
3) Encourage participants (organizations and individuals) to become active actors in the social innovation processes implemented in their communities , strengthening relationships between individuals and organizations as equalscollaborating on those green issues that are common to all. The method involves actors exchanging context-specific experiences, understandings and projects that strengthen ties with the territory and the environment in general as a source of life.
4) Refinement of the methodologies used in the communities . One of the objectives of the project is to negotiate, support and improve existing methods and approaches practiced in community development. The project focuses on connecting durable institutions and local actors and on contemporary challenges related to the Sustainable Development Goals. This requires new and challenging approaches that connect local leaders and address the specificities and constraints of local communities in specific regions.
The project was developed taking into account a number of general and context-specific needs, which consider the involvement of local communities as a prerequisite for the success of current and future green and sustainable strategies.
EVENT | CALENDAR |
1. ONLINE SEMINARS TO START THE PATH OF ACTIVATION OF COMMUNITIES FOR THE CO-PLANNING OF LOCAL ACTIVITIES | December 2022 – January 2023 |
WHICH “GREEN” ISSUES DO WE WANT TO WORK ON? 2. MEETINGS AND PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS IN THE TERRITORIES. INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH SEMINAR (Warsaw, January 2023) | From February to May 2023 |
LET’S KEEP CONTACT WITH OTHER COMMUNITIES! 3. ONLINE SEMINAR FOR THE MEETING OF COMMUNITIES AND THE EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCES CARRIED OUT IN THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE PROJECT | June 2023 |
4. ACTIVITIES IN THE TERRITORIES: MAPPING OF KEY ACTORS, MEETINGS AND PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS, SELECTION OF “TRAINERS AND ACTIVATORS OF CO-GREEN COMMUNITIES” | From May 2023 to November 2024 |
WHAT “GREEN” AND SUSTAINABLE VISIONS DO WE HAVE IN OUR TERRITORIES? 5. ACTIVITIES IN THE TERRITORIES: INTERVIEWS, FOCUS GROUPS AND SEMINARS TO UNDERSTAND WHICH “VISIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY” THE COMMUNITIES EXPRESS | From July to October 2023 |
LET’S KEEP CONTACT WITH OTHER COMMUNITIES! 6. ONLINE SEMINAR FOR THE MEETING OF COMMUNITIES AND THE EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCES CARRIED OUT IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE PROJECT | November 2023 |
WHICH SKILLS TO SUPPORT PARTICIPATORY AND CO-PLANNING PROCESSES IN COMMUNITIES? 7. TRAINING COURSE DESIGN: THE CO-GREEN CURRICULUM FOR COMMUNITY ACTIVATORS (Rome) | From July to November 2023 |
WE TRAIN TRAINERS IN COMMUNITIES! 8. THE INTERNATIONAL CO-GREEN SCHOOL (Karditsa, Greece) | From November to December 2023 |
9. LOCAL AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS FOR THE IDENTIFICATION AND MOBILIZATION OF FUTURE CO-GREEN ACTIVATORS | From August to December 2023 |
WE TRAIN COMMUNITY ACTIVATORS! 10. TRAINING COURSES FOR CO-GREEN COMMUNITY ACTIVATORS | From January to April 2024 |
11. COMMUNITIES MOBILIZE THEMSELVES IN THE CO-PLANNING PROCESSES WITH THE SUPPORT OF COMMUNITY ACTIVATORS: CITIZEN WORKSHOPS, SEMINARS, EXCHANGES AND LOCAL MEETINGS | From April to September 2024 |
LET’S KEEP CONTACT WITH OTHER COMMUNITIES! 12. SEMINAR FOR THE MEETING OF COMMUNITIES AND THE EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCES CARRIED OUT WITHIN THE PROJECT (Rijeka, Croatia) | September 2024 |
WHAT IMPACTS IN EACH OF THE CO-GREEN COMMUNITIES? 13. PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT IN THE TERRITORIES | From August 2023 to November 2024 |
14. ONLINE SEMINAR FOR A PARTICIPATORY AND COMPARATIVE EVALUATION | November 2024 |
WE SPREAD THE MESSAGES AND VISIONS OF SUSTAINABILITY FROM THE CO-GREEN COMMUNITIES! 15. COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGNS ON LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL SCALE | From December 2022 to November 2024 |
LET’S VALUE THE RESULTS ACHIEVED AND IMAGINE THE NEXT STEPS FOR THE CO-GREEN COMMUNITIES! 16. THE FINAL CONFERENCE (Torun, Poland) | 2024 |
The Co-green project is part of the CERV funding program – ” Citizens, equality, rights and values ” -, launched by the European Commission in 2021 and active until 2027.The project is funded by the European Commission .
