Comunidade Intergeracional de Aprendizagem Ser'Água
Ser'Água is an education and cultural association providing support and opportunities to learn for children from 3 years old to a 100. Located in the agricultural village of Vairão, Portugal, it is rehabilitating the historical building of the parish council. The idillic landscape is an inspiring setting for the development of a new generation fascinated by Nature, learning the tools to heal the Earth. A community that thrives thanks to the involvement of it's members and local partners.
Regional
Portugal
Vila do Conde, Junta de Freguesia de Vairão e Fornelo
Mainly rural
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
As individual(s) in partnership with organisation(s)
First name: Flora Gabrielle pia di Martino Last name: Thibaut Gender: Female Please describe the type of organization(s) you work in partnership with: The organization Ser'Água is a learning project advocating for the relevance of integating Nature in the life of young children, as well as developing and engaging the community and older generations in the process. The NGO is supported economically by its members in the form of quotas and its daily activity of Kindergarten and Homeschooling support. In the portuguese legal context it is called an Association and it is not benefiting from any state or regional supports. The work I do at the organization is voluntary work. Nationality: France Function: Member Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Rua de 25 de Abril, 481 Town: Labruge Postal code: 4485-304 Country: Portugal Direct Tel:+351 919 269 193 E-mail:floradimartino@gmail.com Website:https://instagram.com/limiar_
It is increasingly clear that there are strong benefits in promoting the contact between different generations. Providing the younger ones with a deeper comprehension of old knowledge as well as helping the older to understand the changes in society. By promoting this interaction, we contribute to the construction of truly cohesive communities. Our biggest motivation is to provide a green space that can become the center for reflection and education; a place that allows the time to rebuild a relationship with Nature and traditional practices, still evident in the Portuguese countryside. With the support of parents, the pedagogical team and an increasingly wide network of partners, we are showing our children the relevance of human resilience. With this objective in mind, our educational project is focused on providing kindergartners and primary school children a space where they can explore natural toys and learn in a creative manner, in both indoor and outdoor contexts We invite experts, for example in the fields of Biology, the Arts and Forest Schooling to enrich their experience and to learn from credible, real-life sources.
At Ser'Água we believe that it's possible to share a common mission, one that forms a strong sense of belonging to this beautiful village within which, as an organization, we have been actively engaged. A village that now benefits from the long-term, positive impact which children have in giving a new life to the Earth.
Our ultimate goal is to grow together with the population of Vairão, establishing ourselves in an independent space, where we can continue satisfying the needs of the community: To offer events, workshops and after-school activities that through a network of people from a wide range of backgrounds and ages enrich the lives of children and involved adults alike; to be able to employ more people to enable us to meet the needs which such growth demands, so that we can reach and connect with other villages in the area.
Education
Intergenerational Learning
Biodiversity rehabilitation
Community building
Rural Development
The project has followed a conscious policy regarding sustainability, opting for local procurement and activities based around circular economy. Through these activities, we show our surrounding community how to think differently about consumption whilst also being cost-effective, an essential practice in the infancy of the project
Sustainability has been paramount on the choice of our headquarters. It was important for us to be able to have a positive impact in the infrastructure of the village by rehabilitating a building that had been ignored. Therefore, we chose to refurbish and repair two floors of the historical building where we hold our activities, transforming it into a wonderful learning space, with two classrooms, a library, a dormitory, children’s and staff bathrooms as well as a kitchen where the meals are served. The playground is the area in which we have invested the keenest of our efforts, building an engaging obstacle course and mud kitchen for the children to explore and develop their creative and physical abilities. Two of our members are architects and in close collaboration with the children, designed a tree house platform, integrating the existing orange trees and flowerbeds. Through donations and fund raising we were able to secure the construction materials necessary, which were whenever possible sourced from local businesses. Using wooden pallets and repurposed wood scraps, we were able to create an engaging setting for children to build, create and play autonomously. In September 2022 we were awarded a prize from a local competition that will help us finance building more flowerbeds to grow seasonal fruits and vegetables, working together with the children, that will be served in our own kitchen. This project will start in March 2023 and is part of our strategy of workshops on sustainability.
We are keen to contribute towards the Circular Economy movement and have put these practices at the heart of many of our fundraising events.
The project is concerned with creating an impact in the local community of Vairão. Therefore, the decision of rehabilitating two floors of an historical building in the village seemed to be the most senseful. We intend to make it possible that spaces that have been forgotten and unused for decades can breathe life once again, inspired by children. This building is part of the municipality's infrastructure and hosts other NGO's. From our point of view, this was a very important moment for the project. It has provided opportunities for us to interact with the local administration and made it possible to show the value we could provide, our organizational skills and motivation.
On the inside, we have transformed small spaces with no natural light, into bigger rooms that host the kindergarten and kitchen of the community. These spaces are also multi-purposed as their characteristics allow them to be used for other activities such as music classes, capoeira, yoga, theater workshops and other after-school activities. In our exterior space, architects Pedro Jervel and Flora di Martino, (also members of the association), have built several structures in sustainable materials for the children's physical exploration. Our playground has become a focal point characterizing our impact on the space, as it has created a dedicated area for play, which previously didn't exist in the surroundings. It is also still under development by our associates who have the intention of building more flower beds so that it is possible to study and explore permaculture with all who are interested. This space creates a cross-generational learning opportunity and multi-sensorial experience in what used to be a barely-utilized and bland space.
Developing a strong sense of Community is very important for us. It's been a constant that we are as integrative as we can be, following the guidelines of the pedagogical team while building trust between all participants. Ser'Água has so far been able to accept families from very different backgrounds and cultures, which makes it an international oasis in such a small population. Families with low incomes, can contribute with a smaller fee and by exchanging services such as teaching after-school classes, supporting the every-day tasks in the education project, administrative tasks or cleaning the rooms. This makes it possible to use our limited human resources in a fair way. These decisions are taken upon consent of all the members of the organization. Ser'Água has adopted the method of Sociocracy, where participation is key. It helps us to listen to every concern while analyzing their impact on the personal level and coming up with a solution that works for everyone. So far it has proven to be a method that empowers the individual as much as the group, resulting in the creation of strong bonds between us.
To keep the community informed and engaged we have adopted Child Diary, a platform for communication and pedagogical tracking, centralizing all the communication between the pedagogical team and strategic decisions for the growth of the project. It makes it possible that the parents are able to track which subjects their children have been studying and other relevant information. Using Child Diary has allowed us to keep a low impact in terms of administrative documents and bureaucracy because all information is easily accessible, transparent and motivates the engagement of the community through a system of comments.
Our unique educational context, in which nature and regular contact with the outdoors are central, enables those children access to quality learning and social experiences, for whom sadly the conventional educational setting is often unable.
The most observable impact Ser'Água is having in its surroundings is the cultural offer it brings to the village. Local residents and families from the greater Porto region have been invited to discover a part of the region which would otherwise go undiscovered or under valued through participation in workshops and guided tours of significant historical monuments, fostering a deep sense of belonging to Vairão. Giving a renewed relevance to the village will, in our point of view, make it more interesting for families who are looking for alternatives to living in the cities, conscious education projects and a healthier environment in general. Long-term, we hope that the project will contribute to the regeneration of this area, as more young families embrace this alternative to education and decision-making, motivating them to rethink their lifestyle, to find new ways to realize themselves.
Furthermore, our ultimate goal is that Ser'Água becomes a reference in terms of intergenerational learning. Our core members come from backgrounds of Nursery, Physical Education & Theater and their contributions will further support the development of meaningful interaction with senior citizens in the area, providing activities and events designed to mix the two age groups. Our view is that such interaction will have a positive impact on the health and life quality of seniors, whilst also benefiting the children and adults through contact with ‘old knowledge’ that will otherwise disappear in a matter of years. It is our strong belief that our role in Vairão is to keep alive what makes it such a special place and we nurture this through empathy, through engagement with an otherwise very ignored and lonely layer of our civil society.
Ser'Água has been created by people with a proven experience in NGO management therefore we collaborate wherever possible with these associations, such as Tais Iguais. Their contribution is mainly evident in consulting, since they have been operating for a longer period and share some of the core values of Ser'Água. Bosque dos Pirilampos has been responsible for training three of our members in the Forest Schooling method and has guided us with the hosting of children who are Homeschooled. We share communication channels and give each other feedback that will help us grow our projects and reach our goals.
The biggest contribution and stakeholder is in fact the municipal administration, which has been tireless in providing human resource to help with the rehabilitation of the building. For them, we have become a new source of cultural offer and education infrastructure in the village.
At the present moment, the knowledge fields that motivated us to create Ser'Água and its missions are focused on education. The last months have produced a strong collaboration between the members who are architects, responsible for the rehabilitation of the building and the pedagogical team. This made it possible to design a space which is profoundly loved by all and original. Inspired by Waldorf and Montessori pedagogics, the rooms are designed with the logic of making activities accessible, using environmentally friendly and wherever possible, natural materials which promote a sense of responsibility and awareness among the students and other users of the space. The collaboration of these two teams has made it possible to improve our learning spaces and build environments are optimized for student engagement.
The two pedagogical methods concern themselves with sustainability and respect for Nature and this has also been manifested in the playground. The architects developed solutions that motivate children to explore themselves physically, while developing their self-awareness. The two teams have drawn a project that considers child safety and the respect for the existing natural life while being cost-effective.
This collaboration and interdisciplinary learning has led to a more innovative and well-rounded educational experience for students.
Ser'Água is an initiative that motivates us to learn throughout life. It is an approach to education that requires us to see beyond ‘gradeable’ achievements and provides learning through real life experiences rather than text books. Its main difference from institutionalized approaches to education is that it requires the community to guide it and inspire it. It takes in consideration the needs of the people who are involved and adapts to it through the collaboration and empathy of its members. In practice that means that the involvement of parents in their children's life, becomes a more fruitful one, as they are often present and contribute to the environment the children can learn from and get inspired by.
We believe that the project is part of a movement that empowers children to live fulfilled, happy lives and adults to be inspired by their thirst for discovery. Therefore, it provides a differential offer in education, not alike any other in the region. By providing the right tools, educators and a designed environment, we are able to support children in Homeschooling in their learning and social interaction. We create an opportunity for all participants to grow in the community, with a sense of belonging and empathy. Ser'Água allows the children to engage with their own interests and apply what they have learned in the development of new proposals, games or portfolio. This is all made possible by a cohesive group of engaged parents and educators who learn to work and listen to each other, echoing their own cooperative mindset in the children.
The NGO has been growing outside its doors and creating real impact in the village, increasing its cultural offer and identity through events. We promote the increase of active population in the village and the educational offer for different age groups. All this is guided by a strong belief in the mission of healing the planet through raising awareness about the environment while helping to mitigate human impact.
Our model emphasizes the importance of collective decision-making, transparency, and community participation. By incorporating these values, other communities can foster a sense of ownership and accountability among their members, leading to more effective and efficient decision-making as well as problem-solving processes. Additionally, the self-organization aspect of this model could inspire other communities to explore decentralized and horizontal forms of organization, rather than relying on hierarchical structures.
Moreover, Ser'Água's offer of educational opportunities is a relevant way to diversify the outcomes and activities of the aging-workforce. Ser'Água's offer is one that is concerned with having a positive impact in the rural context, organizing events and facilitating the engagement of the aging population, contributing to happier lives. Replications of the model could provide solutions for villages where human resources are scarce.
Ser'Água is focusing on its educational aspect in the first years of existence. The methodology is one that takes inspiration from democratic schools. It encourages self-directed learning so students are given the freedom to pursue their own interests and passions. This can encourage them to think broadly about the world around them and develop their own opinions. There's an emphasis on collaboration and problem-solving: as a learning community we encourage collaboration and teamwork, which will in the end help all involved to develop critical thinking skills, working together to solve problems and make decisions. Creativity is a huge element of our program encouraging innovation, which will help students to think outside the box by exploring new and unconventional ideas. This is also true for the older members of the community.
We practice sociocratic principles, placing a high importance on the role of trust responsibility and in turn, its relationship with trust. We accept that this trust will be built over time, giving us the chance to create strong bonds between us. Ser'Água is ground for passing on democratic values, such as equality, respect, and free expression, which can help everyone to develop a strong sense of self-respect and while also giving the tools to engage in dialogue for finding common ground solutions when needed.
With its focus on creating a learning community for all ages, Ser'Água addresses a decrease in the active population in rural areas by creating long-term solutions for cultural activity and education. This is a way to react to the centralization observable in Portugal and it can lead to various benefits that can enrich the village as a whole.
The civic engagement required for the project to run allows people to become involved in community initiatives and volunteer work.
It increases economic activity, leading to a raise in the number of businesses and job opportunities, which can boost the local economy and improve the standard of living for residents. It diversifies the skills available in the area, which can help the village to develop and provide new services. The improvement in social and cultural dynamics through activities or workshops can lead to a more vibrant social and cultural scene, with more community events, festivals, and cultural exchanges taking place.
Ser'Água is strongly motivated to become an awareness center and advocate for ecology, offering training and inspiring new approaches to building and biodiversity conservation. Our NGO aims at inspiring a new generation, which is prepared and resilient to face the adversity of global climate change and is also able to build back a better environment to the following, consciously improving public health outcomes and reducing the burden of environmental diseases. Our work on Environmental Awareness can lead to a more informed and conscious population, which in turn can result in reduced environmental degradation and increased conservation efforts. By applying sustainable construction and motivating a circular economy in our fund-raising we contribute to the reduction of resource usage and suggest more sustainable economic models.
The SerÁgua project launched in September 2021, with 7 children across the pre-school and primary age groups and a pedagogical team consisting of 2 dedicated members. In September 2022, our school group has increased to 12 children, with school visits from prospective families occurring on average once a fortnight. Our current pedagogical team consists of 2 full-time members and we seek to recruit a further member of support staff to support the growing needs of our group by Easter 2023.
In April 2022 we met with the councilor for education and discussed our future involvement in the regional educational fair as an example of innovative educational practice and in 2023 were able to formalize links with the local state-run primary school. Our first joint event will take place at the end of February 2023 and will be the first of several occasions across the academic year, designed to foster greater integration and understanding between the two community groups, staff and children.
By September 2023 we aim to have a school population of 20 students, across both pre- and primary age groups. Within this group, we also aim to represent a broader section of our community, representing and celebrating ethnic, cultural, economic and educational difference. This of course will require the appropriate infrastructure to be in place in order to support that growth, (such as tertiary staff responsible for functional and administrative tasks, a full-time management team, catering support etc.).
Whilst our initial focus and energies have been placed at the school element of the project, we aim to have greater community and cross-generational involvement by September 2025, for example hosting story telling, traditional craft and knowledge-exchange activities, of interest to both the younger and older elements of our community.
By 2026, we aim to operate in independent premises, accessible to the local community, respectful of its environment in historical, environmental terms.
Ser'Água is an initiative with sustainability at its forefront. The intention of creating an intergenerational community for learning is product of the realization that the environment needs action and that current models of education are not giving the necessary tools to underline this urgency. Building an initiative through collective action, inspired by Nature, we are preparing the next generation to be engaged, critical thinking and solution-finding as we have been. It's our firm belief that by applying pedagogical methods such as Forest Schooling, we nurture the knowledge that humans are part of nature and that this entity deserves respect and care. We have observed first-hand the involvement children have developed with their surroundings and the personal values that this has built in them.
The spaces we have rehabilitated in our headquarters have followed the primary concern of being sustainable through material selection or procurement. By embodying these values of sustainability we are able to cascade them through the surrounding community in an affordable way, so in our view, we have democratized access to knowledge that can be impactful intergenerationally, while promoting equity and easy access.
People in Ser'Água are critical thinkers, willing to transform their consumption habits and find better solutions for a fairer and more sustainable future for all; a future of regeneration in a healthy environment. Our first steps towards creating this future have been taken through education and personal development.
