Changing production patterns through training for decent jobs in local projects

Asociación Somos Vega Somos Tierra

Summary

One-year theoretical and practical training course held,covering competences related to the holistic integral management of gardens (understanding the entire agricultural cycle, plant varieties, composting, crop programming. In this educative programs, environmental education dimension is cross-cutting implicit in all the training, since training in ecological values is adapted to each of the trainings.

1. Organisation hosting the activity

Name

Asociación Somos Vega Somos Tierra

Legal status

Association

Year of establishment

2015

Location

Detailed Adress is C/ Virgen Blanca (Granada, Spain) 18004, but the association activity takes place in the Vega of Granada territory Granada city and metropolitan area.

Asociación Somos Vega Somos Tierra arises as a response to the defence, protection and dynamisation of La Vega de Granada territory. It started from the premise that la Vega and the its territory need new agricultural patterns and aterritorial and human development to make it places socially and environmentally sustainable, boosting the creation of fair and dignified employment, and adopting agroecology as a tool for the protection of the natural and cultural heritage and the people who live there.

Activities: Community engagement, Raising awareness

2. Activity detailed description

This is a one-year programme of theoretical and practical training courses in which knowledge and skills are acquired to cover all the needs for the design and management of agro-ecological gardens.

It includes the thematic training necessary to tackle an agro-ecological garden project and specialised training for the agro-ecological management of the garden (crop varieties, composting, crop programming, etc.).

In this activity, the educational dimension in environmental matters is implicit in the design of the materials themselves but also in their practice, since the resources and energy sources come from the garden itself, promoting values of sustainability, ecology, recycling, reuse and exploitation in a cross-cutting way.

This activity aims to achieve the following objectives:

To promote organic production
To revalue agriculture and turn it into a feasible employment option; and
Contribute to boosting the local economy in a sustainable way.
To support the multi-functionality of agriculture
To disseminate the need for commitment to sustainable values.

Trainer competences:

Experience in agroecology with social awareness and attachment to the territory. Capacity for moderation and linking with the community…

Acquired competences:

Agro-ecological management of gardens, sustainable use of resources, territory-based agricultural skills, professionalisation of agricultural activity, solidarity economy, agro-ecological marketing.

Example of modules and target groups:

Moving towards agroecology	Professional farmers
Becoming farmers	Unemployed people
Cultivating our food	School pupils, eldery, disadvantaged people, nature lovers,
Cooperative associating in agriculture
Sustainable & ecological municipalities	Educational centres, associations and civil society
Learning sustainability from institutions: developing sustainable policies.	Policy makers, city council workers

Implementation steps

In order to develop the activity you will need:

Access to a multifunctional garden in an urban or peri-urban environment.
Land banks for agricultural use
Quality water resources without polluting discharges and preferably from traditional infrastructures.
infrastructures
Educational and audio-visual materials for knowledge of the environment and agroecology
Coordinated organisational structure. A horizontal group of organised people who develop and dynamise the project. There must be a project coordination team and a monitoring team.
Resources for the training staff (especially if the territory covered by the project is large and requires travel and subsistence).
Support from the municipality in cases where access to public infrastructures is needed.
Support from volunteers (field experts, professionals, teachers, technicians) to teach the modules.

Steps:

Study on the needs of the community and the territory in which the garden is located to which the activities are linked in order to adapt the content to the required competences.
Design of the training programme and selection of modules
Selection of training staff

3. Gallery

4. Conclusions

‘Training to change the model. Proposing territorial transformation projects from argoecological perspectives, hand in hand with local communities’.

The idea of this activity is that, through training, the gardens are set up as laboratories to put sustainable strategies and climate change mitigation into practice, while at the same time becoming spaces for personal and professional development from which to achieve an integral development of the area in which they are located.

Advice / Recommendation

"Actively involve and collaborate with the community to develop truly changing, innovative and transformatory projects".