Learning Log of the ULG from Nea Propontida
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Learning log of the ULG from Nea Propontida Written by Fani Hatjina, ULG coordinator in Nea Propontida 1 The BeePathNet journey started: In fact, the journey started with the kick off meeting in Budapest- Hegyvidek, in February 2019. But during this trip, only the project coordinator and the ULG coordinator had the chance to meet the other city teams and get an insight of the project. The challenge was to transfer this first-hand knowledge to the ULG members, once they started forming the group, which happened immediately after. With a full luggage of ideas as well as tasks, the road ahead of us was looked like ..... We started to take steps at a time, and convert the straight line in a step like line in order to be able to first learn and then implement, revise, implement, learn, and go forward. Our progress and experience gained were like small square boxes added together and forming a big ladder. Lots of expectations and high ambitions, not only from the project coordinator and the ULG coordinatopr but also from all ULG members. What was very interesting was that the PC had no knowledge at all about bees, still she initiated this adventure! The rest of us, were somehow close to the bees' world, myself a bee-scientists, others beekeepers, some teachers but working sometimes on subjects with bees. Therefore, the enthusiasm was really great as we found in this project the opportunity to DO THINGS FOR BEES IN THE MUNICIPALITY! Therefore, one cannot say that as individuals we started from 'the basics'. No, not all; in fact, some of us already had some experience in Educational courses (like the one from the Environmental Center of Arnaia) or running workshops and giving lectures for the importance of bees and pollinators in our environment as well as participating in awareness raising campaign against the pesticides (meaning myself and my Institution). However, nothing was happening at the Municipality level, no movement, no initiatives to increase the green in the city and educate the citizens to care for and protect the environment. Therefore, we started from the ground level! A second interesting point in our bee story was the recruitment of our lovely lady journalist! That was a surprise for us, but also for her, who knowing nothing about bees, but respecting the environment she turned to be best ambassador for BeePathNet! in Greece! 2 Time line for BeePathNet projet in Nea Propontida 3 The st year of transferring the good practice The first ULG meetings were a chaos, lots of members (great for us indeed), but difficult to manage. And at the beginning the people did not know what to except. Either we!!!! The Boot Camp in Ljubljana, was an explosion! We heard, we saw, we learn, we imagined, we felt jealous, we got more ambitions! It was critical that we were five of us travelling and experiencing and networking, and not only 2 or 3! Among them our journalist. And that was the moment when the light in front of us appeard, in order to guide us though the whole process! Boot Camp was an enlightenment! And this experience continued with the work in the ULG as well as during the URBACT Campus organized in Athens a bit later! Group work and participatory approach was a profit for all! Who knew what the vox pops and the polls, and the SWOT analysis and the games could be part of a learning procedure??? "What was this BeePathNet journey? An open door to new adventures! 4 World Bee Day celebrations of 2019 arrived as the 'Absolute bee events', something like everybody was awaiting, although all had different expectations! Awareness, selling, education, participation, collaboration, friendship, biodiversity, all appearing together in one little square!!! Did the people of the city were thirsty for something like that? for something different, relaxing, and educating, and pleasant at the same time? Perhaps YES! We prepared leaflets, website, videos, exhibitions! We planted hundreds of plants, we gave beekeeping demonstrations, we mobile the schools, the beekeepers, even the Mayer. We reached our first goal!!!! I am quoting from our ULG members' diaries: "Wonderful to see the little pupils happy and active around plants and bee products"- Katerina K. "Rejoice children, the wondrous world of honey bees Is visiting your schools"- Nikos T. "WBD celebrations are an opportunity to show to the whole world that the bees are the major providers for our food"- Nikos K. & Giorgos L. "The bees can unite us. By protecting the bees, we protect the planet"- Evaggelia B 5 After WBD celebrations the difficulties started to appears! The summer found us not so busy...... The ULG meetings were mostly concentrated in Spring and Autumn, almost nothing in the summer! The tourism people were not there, we did not manage to mobilize and activate them. The Municipality, as a ruling force, did not have a fully conclusive idea of the whole project! We did not manage to find sponsors and private sector members to make them more active and start their own initiatives. Bureaucracy and legal procedures concerning the economics of the project were slowing us down. Beekeepers were a bit disappointed, when they realized that this is was a project to directly increase their profit, but it is for all to understand and take care of the environment, the bees, etc. Numbers of ULG members in the meetings were slowly declining. But ....... at the end of Summer 2019, the Full Moon event came and the Honey festivals (!) and the ULG gathered again and optimism and enthusiasm went up! The poster presentation during APIMONDIA was another success considering also that this was a surprise opportunity to see and experience Urban agriculture and urban beekeeping in practice and learn how a voluntary group could be very effective! Later in the Autumn 2019, the back to back meeting in Hegyvidek and in Bydgoszcz, added an incredible amount of ambitions to our initial ones, as we did have the chance to see what the other cities did, do and will do! 6 Needless to say, that the visit of the Lead Partner, gave another flavor to the understanding of the whole process by the Mayor and the Municipality staff, as well as credit to what we had been doing for almost a year, or for what we were aiming in the year to come! In one year, we had: 12 ULG official meetings (with agenda and invitation and signatures), other 3 non official (the core group got together to solve issues), 2 broadcasts in the radio, and several events including an awareness campaign, the WBD, the honey festivals, the aromatic plants planting in schools, honey tasting etc! we published letters, newsletters we created a website and a fb page and we were quite active populating these social media pages with information we prepared leaflets we visited several schools! In fact, this first year it was amazing!!! a. we learned a lot b. we generated new ideas c. we came to know each other d. we manage to reach out to citizens, and pupils e. we made BeePathNet project (as well as Nea Moudania and Nea Propontida) known to the whole country! f. we identified antagonism within the ULG (still is!) g. we did manage to transfer some of the good practice of other cities! We had an explosion of BEE smilies, and the municipality was full of them!!!! The two info-graphics below, do express well what the ULG members gained during the 1st year and what were, still are the obstacles 7 The nd year of transferring the good practice The end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 was a very busy time for the ULG in Nea Propontida. Several meetings took place discussing biodiversity issues, the pant to make the Municipality greener, how to incorporate our initiatives in to the Municipality's planning, to implement the ideas we created during the past time. We faced many challenges: - work and tasks overload - abilities on graphics and designing - dealing with financial issues and synergy demands - reaching out to policy makers - convincing some people to fear not the bees! we were not going to populate the city with honey bee colonies! How did they got this idea? - frustration with people starting a task and not delivering what they promised! - having the Mayer participating in our events! - there were not any 'structures' or already started activities to build on, all activities had to start almost from the scratch - trying to implement not one, not two, not even three, but several ideas at the same time, in parallel! - trying to convert the obstacles in opportunities! COVID-19 situation was the main obstacles. ULG members were could not really actively participate. Virtual meetings were not their favorite way of communication. We had a few steps backwards in the progress. 8 Our main concern was what to do and how to do it, during lockdown. The idea of the BBB = Best Bee Balcony came up! The History articles were written! The work for the education posters for the Museum started to be created! The designs for the wooden structures and the games around the Museum were created! The city game "Bind the hidden bee', or 'the hidden bee treasure' was also started to take form. Slowly -slowly the most active members of the ULG, a small group really was still active and very productive! The stewardship idea was adopted by the Municipality and the 1st team was interested to adopt a small park. And on top of all the actual BeePath in the city of Nea Moudania as well as in Chalkidiki region was forming! We learn how to work remotely; we were still productive! And that was an extra achievement of the ULG! The WBD celebrations were very different that year,