Ede Teinbas from LAG Western-Harju Partnership and Tiina Sergo from LAG East-Harju Partnership attended the second seminar of the international cooperation project FOCUS “Stimulating new forms of active civic participation through focus on Social and Solidarity Economy.”
The seminar took place in Agia, Greece on 2 – 7th of July 2016.
The project was funded by Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) program “Europe for Citizens” and it includes 14 partners from EU countries (Greece, Portugal, Croatia, France, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Estonia).
The leading partner of the project was Agia municipality in Greece.
The goal of the seminar was to exchange best practices in the field of social entrepreneurship and citizens’ activity. Just as important was also sharing ideas between participants from different EU countries, exchanging contacts and finding new possible project partners.
From Estonian side, Tiina and Ede both made a presentation on the seminar where they introduced their areas and organizations, projects related to social entrepreneurship carried out in their areas and also project examples about supporting citizens’ participation.
The participants of the seminar had wonderful opportunity to get aquainted with Larissa area and Agia municipality (including local Leader Action Group in Larissa area) and learn about their experiences with using EU funds, examples about local initiatives and also some local sights.
The region has varied tourism potential – there are sea, mountains, archaelogical sites and strong cultural traditions. The Agia municipality itself consideres active local community as their most important resource. The goal for the running year is to clean and mark local hiking trails, make photos of the trails and create maps for tourists. This is all planned with the help of local and international volunteers.
More information about the project can be found:
https://www.focusproject.gr/index.php/en/
Project information FOCUS
Project FOCUS final conclusion / report