New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Initiative category

Identify the award category for which this initiative is being submitted
Reconnecting with nature

Email user
ana.mhm10@gmail.com

Basic information
Initiative title
GreenU

Full initiative Title
Green the Space around You

Please provide a short, catchy description of your initiative to be used in communication towards the public.
A learning-by-doing outdoor workshop will be organised for children, youngsters & other stakeholders in a farmers city, Lushnje.
Based on our ancestors’ model as committed farmers, the initiative will try to educate the younger generation as well-informed future farmers, focusing on seafer food and cleaner enviroment.
For this reason, our park will be transformed into a farm where children will connect with nature by planting flowers/vegetables in recycled pots and plantcare for months.

What was the geographical scope of your intiative?
Local

Where was your intiative implemented?
Member State(s) and Western Balkans
Albania

If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
Lushnje, Divjake Municipality

Does your initiative address mainly urban or rural issues?
It addresses urban-rural linkages

Does your initiative refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Has your initiative benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
No

Has your initiative won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

Does your initiative has a minimum level of maturity? The minimum level of maturity is exemplified by stakeholder/ initiative promoter commitment to implement the initiative in practice and a clear methodology /approach.
Yes

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As an individual in partnership with other persons
Please provide the contact details for the intiative promoter (the individual or representative of the organisation authorised to represent the intiative).
- First name: Tanushe
  Last name: Muhametaj
  Gender: Female
  Nationality: Albania
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Albania
  Town: Tirana
  Postal code: 1001
  Country: Albania
  Direct Tel: +355 69 721 4102
  E-mail: ana.mhm10@gmail.com
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanushe-muhametaj-b00039192/
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): Tanushe Muhametaj
- URL: https://www.instagram.com/anna_muhametaj/
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): anna_muhametaj
In case my initiative is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my initiative in the channels of the European Commission.
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
Social Media

Description of the initiative
Please provide a summary of your initiative
Albania as many other countries is living in critical times, facing emigration and a low living standard. While most of the population is moving toward Tirana the capital, the rest of the cities are being abandoned. Lushnje is a small town located in the SouthWest of Albania where fewer people are seen day by day.
This town lies on the biggest agricultural land in the country, the Myzeqeja field also known as the "barn of Albania''. Agriculture is 20% of Albania's GDP and the declining interest in it is a concern not only for towns like Lushnje, whose population is mostly employed in this sector. That is why it is essential for the younger generation to understand the importance of contributing to their local communities, in this case, by cultivating the land.
GreenU is an initiative aiming to inspire and revive the art of cultivating and seeding new lives. Based on the ancestors’ model as committed farmers, the initiative will try to educate the younger generation as well informed future farmers.
The GreenU will use a learning-by-doing methodology. More concretely, an outdoor and engaging workshop will be organised for children, youngsters and other stakeholders.
To carry out this activity the neighbourhood park will be transformed into a "laboratory" equipped with flower/vegetables/tree seeds, wooden crates, tote bags, and old glass vessels and other needed materials.
There will be 3 stations:
Right place, right seed. At this station children will choose a pot and their favourite seed.
Prepare the soil. The participants will fill their pots with soil and dig a hole depending on what will be planted.
Planting. Everyone will plant their seed/seedling and water it.
During this process, the participants will be informed about the plant life cycle and how to plant care.
Months after the first workshop, there will be a regathering for children to present their now-grown plants, where 3 winners will be announced.

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with 5 key words.
Reconnection with nature

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Raising Awareness on climate change

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Cooperation between generations

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Investing in Skills

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Decreasing emigration

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of sustainability and how these have been/will be met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
As mentioned, most of the Lushnje population consists of small farmers. They may be great producers on one hand but on the other they are the greatest polluters as well.
As a result, GreenU will focus firstly on the importance of agriculture and why investing in it is worthy for the local community and wider.
The need for healthier food increases hand by hand with the world population,isn't this reason enough?
Secondly, the new farmers must understand their role in the ecosystem and try by any means to protect it. That is why the main children’s responsibility in this initiative will be the plant care. Well educated generation means first of all local development, then safer food and cleaner environment.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
Colourful flowers will be planted in different objects such as old glass containers, single use plastic containers, tote bags, wooden crates and wherever children imagine. All these vases/containers will be coloured during the workshop with watercolours or painted with ecological paint. Considering the European Year of Skills 2023, this will also be a great opportunity for children and young people to explore new skills and passions like gardening, painting etc. Beside the positive emotions during the creative activity often people feel more responsible during such activities.
When people create, they feel owners and as a result they tend to be more responsible.
That is why the planted seed will be taken home by everyone, not only to make it more beautiful but also to remind that nature is fragile and needs them daily.
The fact that there will be three winners (one of which will go for the most beautiful pot) on the second regathering will initiate a healthy competition between the participants and keep them engaged almost all the time.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
Even though GreenU’s targeted audience is children, this doesn't mean others are excluded.
On the contrary, children will be accompanied by their teachers or parents/relatives which makes this a comprehensive initiative.
The main reason why this workshop location is the park in the centre of the neighbourhood is so that everyone notices the activities and joins. Except for the residents, different stakeholders like representatives from Lushnja municipality, youth NGOs as well as Environmental NGOs are invited.
On another note during the activity the working groups will be diverse so that everyone cooperates with the people they know less.
Community works like this one are not common in small towns. We hope that GreenU breaks the ice and ignites a thread of hope among people, showing that EU values and initiatives as such are not for big cities only.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the initiative and civil society have been/will be involved in the initiative and what has been/will be the impact of this involvement on the initiative
Firstly, part of the workshop will be people of all ages. While parents will be encouraged to help their children, the elderly will be asked to share good practices on how to be a successful farmer.
Secondly, every material will be provided by local services in order to support small businesses. For example the seeds and soil will be bought in the nearby shops, the children's aprons will be produced by pressed recycled cotton from new businesses run by women etc.
Last but not least, this initiative will be a voice trying to convince the younger generation to plan their future in this country, because ensuring the continuity of life is what Albania is suffering lately.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the initiative.
At present different stakeholders have been approached to support this initiative and everyone is onboard.
The Lushnja municipality mayor was very positive and supportive when she heard the idea of the GreenU. During the first meeting we could brainstorm on how to reach as many citizens as we could, so she assisted in sharing contacts of different NGOs. We also got the events permit to use the park and other spaces if needed.
The GreenU is supported by a youth NGO as well, whose volunteers will join to set up the scene, gather the needed materials etc.
The initiative has been presented to one of the elementary school directors as well and she agreed to cooperate and helped in choosing the classes that will participate. The added value of GreenU is initiating the cooperation between the state institutions, NGOs and citizens who rarely join forces under the same goal.

Please explain which disciplines and/ or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and implementation of your initiative. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was
GreenU is concepted by two young professionals, Romario an agronomist, graduated in agricultural engineering and Tanushe graduated in Philosophy, working partly as a lecture assistant at Tirana University and full time in communication and project management.
While Romario was taking care of the content, Tanushe could draft an event plan and how to approach different stakeholders. The working methodology differs from one sector to another especially when we have to do with the plant medical science on one side and social science on the other. But having the same goal made the cooperation easier and we could both broaden our way of thinking while trying to synthesise the idea. We could also broaden our network of people, which can help us in the near future.

Please highlight the innovative character of the initiative, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the initiative
Environmental NGOs are doing a good job around Albania, by planting trees, cleaning beaches etc, but almost none of them focus firstly in raising awareness on these issues. Young people and children volunteer in these activities but they don't often understand why they are doing such activities. GreenU beside being a fun outdoor initiative it will be an educational one as well. Children will understand at the moment of choosing the pot for their plant, how important it is to reuse and not to waste.They will have full responsibility in taking care of their plant and do to so they will be informed about processes and concepts like: photosynthesis, humidity, temperature, fertilisers etc. These activities will also improve children's self-esteem because they will understand that great things can be achieved with a little effort.

Please describe which elements of your initiative could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and contexts. This may involve, for example, aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings, etc.
Being an educational initiative, GreenU can be replicated and transferred everywhere around Albania and wider. Depending on the climacteric conditions every region is famous for producing certain vegetables or fruits. Since there are youth NGOs all over the country, with a little support from the local institutions this initiative can be easily replicated. On the positive side, beside Tirana, people in other small towns of Albania are very interested in such initiatives, they are curious to learn and develop in every aspect, meaning this activities are welcomed.
In short, GreenU is suitable for every place and every audience.

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your initiative.
Firstly it was made sure that such an initiative was supported by the community. Then discussions were made and brainstormed with local institutions and the citizens were informed and invited to participate.
GreenU will be carried out based on the learning by doing. Every participant will have the “hands on” materials during the workshop. Children will have to complete every step by themselves, and since for most of them, these activities are new, they are probably exciting as well. Some fact sheets will be given to children in order to follow all the steps precisely and get informed in a fun way. Attractive activities as such make learning easier and are the first step to the green switch.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the initiative addresses by providing local solutions
As the world population increases so does the need for healthier and safer food. For this reason more people are needed to be employed in agriculture since plants are a great safe food source. If more people invest in agriculture in towns like Lushnje, there will be no need for Albania to import products for the neighbouring countries. The customer demand will be met by local products as a result there would be less pollution from all the transportation between countries.
This means also more vacancies in the agricultural sector, leading to a decrase of emigration.

Please detail the scope of progress in the implementation of the initiative. This can include already demonstrated results/outputs related to the chosen Prizes category, and the already achieved benefits from the initiative for direct and indirect beneficiaries. This can also include a development plan of the initiative, with a particular attention to the steps envisaged in the year following the application, and including envisaged results and benefits from the initiative
Firstly, the initiative will be explained to local stakeholders (municipality representatives, teachers, youth NGO) and they will be asked to support. (Events permits to use our neighboorhooh park and the support of the school teachers are already done at this phase). An informative session will be done with school children days before the workshop, they will be asked to bring containers/ pots. The park will be "transformed" into a Laburatory. There will be paper banners and flags to promote the initiative. Our team will provide, seeds, wooden crates, ceramic pots, soil, gardening tools, water colors and other needed materials. The school is just next to the park, so the pupils will walk accompained to the park. A 30 minute lecture will be held by the agronomist who will explain the whole process.
The children will be equped with aprons and will be guided to follow all the steps. During the whole process they will learn about the life cycle of plants. After the planting the seed, children will take home their plant in order to take care until it grows. Depending on what seeds children will choose to plant, a date will be set to gather and bring back to the park the blommed flower or vegetable.

Please provide documents that demonstrate the maturity level of the initiative and commitment to implement the initiative in practice (e.g.: evaluation report, final or mid-term initiative report, certification, publications, building permit, grant agreement, letter of support, partnership agreement, etc.)
PDF
PDF
- pdf-1-14281.pdf
- pdf-1-14281_0.pdf
If relevant, please describe how your initiative contributes to developing new competences, especially in the context of the European competence framework on sustainability.
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Please attach at least 6 high resolution images or visual representations of your initiative to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below.
By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed initiative has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the initiative and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their initiatives, initiative, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted initiative, initiative is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes