CROSSING GENERATIONS, CROSSING MOUNTAINS PILOTTitle SITE of the BERKOBITZA Presentation Sub-title Vanina Stoyanova Conference "Local Developmen​t through Intergener​ational Learning' - Committee of the Regions - Brussels 1 www.bigfootwww.bigfoot-project.eu-project.eu CROSSING GENERATIONS, CROSSING MOUNTAINS Map of Bulgaria www.bigfoot-project.eu Districts of Bulgaria www.bigfoot-project.eu Berkovitza Municipality • Located Northwestern Bulgaria, in the area of ​​the so called Fore-Balkan. • The highest point is Mount Kom 2016 m and the lowest point in the village of Borovtsi - 250m. • Named after its administrative centre - the town of Berkovitsa and includes also 19 villages. • Embraces a territory of 470 km ² out of which 57% are agricultural lands, 43 percent forest land, and settlements - 3.32%. • The population consists of 18,503 inhabitants, as of February 2012. There is a negative natural growth (-46%) and mechanical growth (-79%). The unemployment rate is around 18.12%, double the median unemployment for the country. www.bigfoot-project.eu Municipality of Berkovitza • Balûvica • Kotenovci • Berkovica • Leskovec • Bistrilica • Mezdreâ • Bokilovci • Pesočnica • Borovci • Parlicevo • Barzia • Rašovica • Gaganica • Slatina • Zamfirovo • Tsvetkova bara • Komarevo • Čerešovica • Kostenci • Iagodovo www.bigfoot-project.eu Berkovitza and Intergenerational Learning Threats Opportunities 1.Demographic decline, about half of the 1.Use of Structural Funds and the population Berkovica Municipality - 46% is European Agricultural Fund for Rural over working age. Thus, our region has the Development area highest old-age dependency ratios, 2. Exchange of best practices, due to negative natural growth and high regional and international through Migration, in the European Community and the forecasts for 2060 is to double forming partnerships in the sphere of these indicators. culture, education and social policy 2. Lack of continuity between 3. Preservation and restoration of generations – the collapse of value system local crafts; promotion of the local 3. Lack of opportunities for meaningful natural, cultural, historical sites activities for children and young people – 4. Sustainable use of natural sports, camps, green schools, and resources - herbs, fruits, opportunities for spiritual growth. mushrooms, trees, game and creation of natural parks www.bigfoot-project.eu- Berkovitza and Intergenerational Learning Threats Opportunities 4. Social exclusion of senior citizens -as 5.Using the “Intergenerational the average pension in Bulgaria is 102 Community Service Learning” to Euro, which makes the seniors not able to turn the senior’s experiences into cover even for basic necessities, let alone relevant and transmissible have left over money for extrusions and knowledge through an interactive education. 5.Lack of communication , and access to collaborative dialogue with the information – Internet, and ICT training to young members of the local Seniors community in order to: 6.Lack of activities aimed at preservation, -Provide senior citizens with tools for storage and reproduction the cultural transmitting their skills heritage and intergenerational learning - Promote an intergenerational 8. Lack of tourist attractions and shared dialogue vision on how the population could - Use the knowledge of the seniors participate if the tourist development of the and the newly developed skills of the region as a supplier youth to create economic value www.bigfoot-project.eu Community Consultation Start –up Public Evening 21/01/2012 Consultation with our target-students from third and seven grades at the middle school “Ivan Vazov”, May 29th , 2012 Lazarus Day in the village of Borovtzi Workshop 27/03/2012 www.bigfoot-project.eu Community Consultation Consultation meeting Folk Festival "Svidnia”, with stakeholders, at June17th, 2012 local community center , July 3rd, 2012 Consultation at the Community Ceneter- village of Beli Mel, 21/12/2012 Consultation at a loacal workshop for wood sculpturing – village of Meliane, 11/26/2011 www.bigfoot-project.eu BIG FOOT QUALITY BIG FOOT partnership defined as the overall goal of the project the development of high quality products and services The Quality Plan’s (QP) with objectives on: - working methodology and integration of the consortium - activities implementation - coherence and consistency among expected and achieved results - validation of results through the experimentation - degree of dissemination and sustainability/use of results BIG FOOT Quality Observatory- supervises the technical and scientific progress of the project from its start-up phase to completion BIG FOOT Steering Committee- which monitored the project status and the achievement of the outcomes of the BIG FOOT project The following tools were adopted: - Internal Evaluation Questionnaire - Barriers, Drivers, Activities, and Risks Questionnaire - Monitoring Questionnaire for Project Meetings The Quality Project Evaluation Report- produced by April, 2012 www.bigfoot-project.eu BIG FOOT QUALITY External Evaluation - Project Failure Prevention Analysis - Review from critical friends - Participant Feedback Sheet - User Self Administered Questionnaire – Seniors - User Self Administered Questionnaire – Young - Key Informant Interview Schedule - User Focus Group www.bigfoot-project.eu CDNWB Interventions: excursions to most popular touristic & historical landmarks in the Montana Region Outing to peak “Zdravchenitza” Outing to Lopushna Outing to Todorini Dolls Outing to Kom Outing to Kom Outing to Kom www.bigfoot-project.eu My unique Berkovska Mountain – where past, present and future meet www.bigfoot-project.eu Intergenerational Learning in Action - The seniors took the students to each destination, shared historical facts, legends, poetry and their experience about them, thought them what they know about the local herbs and trees, such as chestnuts, and the typical for our region wild raspberry and blueberries. - Between the seniors there are people who are former mountain rescuers, skiers, and republican champions of the sport of orienteering and ski orienteering, former school teachers and directors and avid mountain lovers, who also educated the children how to use topographical map and compass, and the basic techniques in surviving in the mountain - Each excursion had the duration of one to two days, during which we familiarized the children with the local surroundings and engaged them in learning, while developing their appreciation and love for the nature. The technology used during the outings would include GPS navigation, video camera and digital camera. -According to risk analysis we did under the guidance of our partners from MENON, -we had thoroughly instructed all participants about the dangers in a mountain, obtained all necessary declarations from the parents of the minors, purchased mountain insurance for each outing, as well as distributing list of mandatory items to bring with. www.bigfoot-project.eu BIG FOOT Experiments in Berkovitza • Much research was done in preparation for the trips: books were selected about the landscape, history and associated legends, in order to select the best places to visit. • The knowledge of the elderly participants was complemented with an extensive literature search, including the local papers dating back to 1939, where we found a unique poem named “The Child of Kom” about peak Kom (2116m), which we climbed. •The book ”The Legends of the Berkovitsa Region,” was a special discovery, rather difficult to find, as it is no longer in print. The younger participants were so impressed with the historical publication, that their plan, as a follow-up to the project, is to re-edit and reprint the book, with all the information they learned during the Big Foot activities. Other books used are: www.bigfoot-project.eu BIG FOOT Experiments in Berkovitza Building blocks for the past of Berkovitza, Velislav Kacarov, 1999 Songs from the Berrkovitza Region, Anka Apostolova, 2010 The Chiprovtzi Region- Legends and Truths, Slavko Grigorov, 2012 "Guidebook for Berkovitza", Milan Milanov, 1998 "About the Northwestern region", Yordan Radichkov, 2004 The Western Balkan, Guide, Dimitar Dimitrov, 1973 The Monastery "St. Archangel Michael " in the Chiprovtsi Mountain, M. Milanov, 2004 Memories from my childhood, Velichka Kamenova, 2012 An overview of the Western Stara Planina, Touristic Map, 1983 The Chiprovtsi Monastery "Saint Ivan Rilski", Milan Milanov, 1994 Chiprovtsi and the Monastery "Saint Ivan Rilski", Nikola Nikolov, 1998 The Chiprovtsi Region, Milan Milanov, 1988 Lopushanski Monastery 'St. John the Baptist", Milan Milanov, 2007 Berkovitza, a Guidebook, Marieta Dimitrova, 1985 A Chiprovtsi Legend about the Love, Kuna Boicheva, 2011 A manual for guiding tourist, Luibnomir Nedkov, 1986 A manual for the sport orienteering for children and adolescents, Stefan Zvetanov, 1971 www.bigfoot-project.eu The “BIG FOOT Society” The Youngsters The Elderly - Students from the third middle school - Club of the Veterans Tourists - “Ivan Vazov” Berkovitza - “Berkovitsa Patriotic Society “ - Students from the first middle school “ - “Philanthropist” Association Nikola Y.Vapcarov”, Berkovitza - Students from the local high school - “National Leader “ – an association of the “MD Ivan Panov”, Berkovitza, that now offers retired teachers education in “Tourism” - “The club of the retired citizens ” in - Students from the Vocational School of Berkovitza; Forestry, Berkovitza - “Club Friends of Radichkov” - Youth from the Community