A park, a village - Community and participatory development in Vale Domingos
Vale Domingos (VD) was an extremely stigmatized area. In 2011 there was a rumor that the vacant lot would give way to yet another social neighborhood; the population, disagreeing, presented a community project together with the political decision-makers, with the objective of creating a botanical park (PBVD) and thus breaking the pejorative image of VD and inhibiting the adoption of behaviors. The community, through the power of volunteering, in building the PBVD, boosted the feeling of belongin
Local
Portugal
Municipality: Águeda
District: Aveiro
Mainly rural
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
2021-04-20
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Associação de Vale Domingos Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Ricardo Last name of representative: Pereira Gender: Male Nationality: Portugal Function: PBVD Social Entrepreneur; President of the Association Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Rua Principal - Vale Domingos Town: Águeda Postal code: 3750-321 Águeda Country: Portugal Direct Tel:+351 913 172 076 E-mail:a.c.r.valedomingos@gmail.com Website:https://www.valedomingos.pt/
The construction of the PBVD is the “turning point” (Gonzalez et al., 2010), the crucial point that catalyzed action to respond to the various problems identified (stigma, criminality, prejudice, racism within the community and exclusion) , the first task carried out by the community was the genesis of the idea, which was stimulated by the population's humility and disoriented will, a stimulus captured by social entrepreneurs with a deep empathetic responsibility. The idea of the PBVD comes up at the men's dinner, with the RV community achieving another important step: the partnership with public entities. In terms of community development, having ensured the principle of felt needs, translated essentially by changing lives and changing the image of the place, ensuring the principle of cooperation, the next challenge would be to work on the principle of participation. Community mobilization began with the men's dinner, associated with the strategy of mobilizing the strongest families. The invitation was an essential ingredient because no one is invisible and for the project to be successful and bring about transformations, it would be essential to mobilize and involve everyone. The construction of a collective identity begins, fueled by the construction of a park, significant human relationships begin in the community, also through the act of dining, having lunch with... This birth of the new Vale Domingos, driven by the collective dream, sees the power of participatory budgets (PB) as a way to finance part of the project, raising 1 million euros.
From a land full of brambles and debris, the people of VD organized their personal and family dynamics, since Saturdays were the days to go and clean and level the land, build the necessary structures for planting trees, having been the magnolias and the maples the two great choices, then it was necessary to take care so that the PBVD could grow. Today, there is physical work materialized in the PBVD.
Community development
Social innovation
Social inclusion
Participatory budgeting
Sense of belonging
The Botanical Park of Vale Domingos (PBVD) was built on a vacant lot, its economic sustainability is guaranteed by volunteering and the principle of cooperation between the Association of Vale Domingos and public entities.
In terms of environmental sustainability, we highlight the 84 magnolias, 74 maples and several trees in the world (eg: Brachychiton rupestres, brachychiton nacerifolius, cinnamomum camphora, corymbia ficifolia, erythrina crista-galli). This diversity of flora gave rise to a variety of fauna in Vale Domingos (eg papillo machaon, erythomma lindenii, lampapyris noctiluca, aphaenogaster senilis, apis mellifera, bombus terrestris, lucanus cervus, hyla arborea, salamandra salamandra, bufo spinosus, natrix maura, timon lepidus , podarcis carbonelli, ciconia ciconia, corvus corone, sturnus unicolor, pica pica, garrulus glandarius, phoenicurus ochruros, erithacus rubecula, hirundo rustica, buteo buteo, falco tinnunculus, erinaceus europaeus, sorex minutes, vulpes vulpes, scirus vulgaris, genetta genetta, rhinolophus ferrumequinum, rhinolophus hipposideros).
This transformative physical work (PBVD, Magnólias Interpretation Center, children's playground, picnic area, community gardens) carried out by volunteering, built a human work, translated into the development of personal and social skills that promoted self-esteem and tolerance. The results of the descriptive analysis of the questionnaires indicated that the personal benefits attributable to the PBVD activities, most valued by the total sample, were greater respect for people and public spaces (M=3.53; SD=1.16), cooperation ( M=3.38; SD=1.08), a more positive attitude (M=3.37; SD=1.10), optimism (M=3.36; SD=1.09) and sharing ( M=3.35; SD=1.07). This human work had an impact on entering the labor market, reducing crime levels and reducing regular school attendance.
Regarding the importance of the PBVD for the community, respondents reveal a positive perception of the contribution of the PBVD to the local community, namely in terms of a sense of belonging (81.5%), building a local identity (90.9%), increased of their well-being (90.3%) and appreciation of the place and community (100%). About 66.9% of the sample also mentioned that PBVD has contributed positively to changing the way respondents see themselves and how others see them.
The PBVD was the way to humanize development, increasing the well-being of the population, promoting social cohesion and the consequent reduction of exclusion. When the community felt that it had rights and potential, it activated citizenship related to participation. And this participatory process that starts from the center, from the people, enhances socialization. The foundations were created for the development of a sense of community, a sense of belonging to a collective and attachment, esteem, pride in the place. With the PBVD, the central objective of binding participatory assumptions was ensured: to empower people and communities. The PBVD assumes a central role in building communitas (Turner, 2012).
According to the perspective of the interviewees, another of the main social problems before the PBVD is related to prejudice and racism within the community, that is, in addition to the external “labels”, there was the perception “of prejudice and racism, the communities themselves they were not diluted with each other and this was one of the major problems of the community” (E.2), since “there was not that interconnection between a gypsy and a non-gypsy” (E.3), because there was “that fear and not connected, gypsy and non-gypsy people lived apart. They were afraid” (E.3) With the invitation strategy, the “redundant” (Bauman (2005, p.20)) to humanize development, involving people, promoting their effective participation in all phases of the project. web of relationships, the interviewees emphasize the importance of having dinner and lunch with... “every Saturday they had dinner or lunch in each of their houses, that's when I felt, the first time I went to a house, they want me here among them, seriously, it's true. But very embarrassed, going into people's houses every Saturday is what opened my mind more. There was something about sitting at the table with them" (E.3). working to build the PBVD "when there was volunteering there was always a snack, there was always food" (E.1). It could be "an unconscious process, (...) the act of eating with you is much more important than the act of you working with. And I think that space where people stopped to eat and, therefore, to In order to be in that conversation space and, therefore, people put themselves on an equal footing at that moment, it made me realize that after a very short time at the men's dinner, there were also elements of the gypsy community and that happened very naturally.” (E.1) .
The community of Vale Domingos became involved in the project through the felt need for change and the construction of the idea of building the Botanical Park of Vale Domingos. According to the interviewees, the men's dinner was the starting point for community mobilization, however, it was essential to include the gypsy communities, "Ricardo was very close to the gypsy community and, therefore, he saw the possibility of those people can come and help” (E.1). The involvement of all - stronger families - was the central point, as well as the invitation. Community mobilization was also achieved by participatory budgets, “the ability of the gypsy community to mobilize to ensure that participatory budgets were won, which was very much the gypsy community, does not mean that it was not the entire community of Vale Domingos, but there was a mobilization here because they realized that it was important” (E.1).
The experience of cleaning and building is identified by the interviewees as a contribution to community mobilization. The fact that the community had the experience of having cleared the land, where today the PBVD is located, the experience of building the park stone by stone, the sidewalks, may have contributed to a different look and feel. “There was a lot of vandalism between Águeda and Vale Domingos there wasn't a foot sign, but as people now realize that in public space, as in any space, they have the experience of cleaning, of building makes them also respect and even defend everything that is built around” (E.2).
Civil society got involved in the project through volunteering and participatory budgets. The seeds of participation were sown, of the construction of collective memory, the memory that allows the pillars of the social unit that encompasses all, interconnecting affective ties, socially sharing values and objectives common.
In designing the project:
- Parish Council was involved in the first years through the transfer of machines and the acquisition of some trees;
- Águeda City Council: transfer of land, municipal participatory budgets, social investor in the Botanical Park of Vale Domingos project – Social Innovation Village (2020-2022), partner in the implementation of the PB Feira das Lambarices, PB Sport for All, PB Aldeia Didactic and Fun, National Week on Invasive Species;
- Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests: managing entity of the Portugal Participatory Budget Centro Interpretativo das Magnólias (Finalist for Good Practice of Citizen Participation, International Observatory for Participatory Democracy (OIDP), 15th Edition
Project dynamics:
- Bela Vista – Integrated Education Center, through the Healthy Neighborhoods project;
- Águeda Youth Centre, through activities such as exchange programs, environmental volunteering and focus groups;
- Os Pioneiros – Association of Parents of Mourisca do Vouga, through activities with children and the elderly;
- Agit Lab - CIRCOagitado
With all partners, the principle of cooperation and resource optimization is ensured.
In the initial phase of the project there was the collaboration of a landscape architect, with the Centro Interpretativo das Magnólias project a partnership was established with the Botanical Garden of Coimbra – University of Coimbra and Mata do Bussaço. This partnership made it possible to train the Association's volunteers and employees responsible for maintaining the Park.
In 2017, the Association assumed the participation, which had the challenge of transforming the informal mobilization and organization, which began with the men's dinner, to a formal, associative dynamic. Its governing bodies include the first social entrepreneurs of Vale Domingos, members of the gypsy community, people with training in psychology, social work, law and journalism. The articulation is done in the meetings. With the project Parque Botânico de Vale Domingos – Aldeia de Inovação Social, an environmental engineer, a social service technician and a mediator were integrated into the association. The articulation and crossing of sabers took place in the meetings of the technical team and in meetings with the management.
A Botany teacher recently joined as a volunteer.
According to the surveys, the participants highlighted the increase in the feeling of belonging (81.5%), the construction of a local identity (90.9%) and the increase in their general well-being (90.3%). About 66.9% of respondents also mentioned that PBVD has contributed positively to changing the way they see themselves and how others see them, in an indicator of improved self-esteem, reduced stigma and increased perception that they are competent authors of their own lives.
According to the key informants, with the PBVD we have “a process of building a collective identity around something that belongs to everyone” (E.1), since “the power of that park was the ability to build a identity” (E.1).
According to the respondents, the PBVD has contributed to the appreciation of the place and the community (100%).
According to key informants, in the PBVD, local volunteering plays an extremely relevant role in valuing the community. Volunteering carried out by people outside the community is seen as an appreciation of the work carried out: “the achievement was also due to the fact that it brought many volunteers who are not from the village, this brings pride to all the people in the village” (E.2). According to the interviewees, the PBVD has contributed to solving social problems such as work, personal and social development, formal education and social exclusion. With impact “it has greatly minimized crime” (E.2) and becoming “one is
example that it is possible to change” (E.4).
the PBVD played and continues to play a very important role in valuing Vale Domingos by changing the image of the place, on the one hand, and on the other hand, through the mythologizing of some social problems. Indeed, the idea that the PBVD assumes the central point of the communitas (Turner, 2012, p.1) by building a local identity based on binding participatory assumptions that lead to the feeling of belonging and consequent social inclusion is highlighted.
It is an initiative conceived and promoted by the community and for the benefit of the community, having arisen from the desire to unite the inhabitants around a collective objective, namely that of transforming the paradigm of the place, stigmatized, underdeveloped and confluent of serious socioeconomic problems, into a place of
tourist attraction for the municipality of Águeda, promoter of sociability processes and diverse personal, cultural, social and educational skills;
- It is an ambitious public work, created and carried out by the community's own population, in partnership with several local entities that places the community at the center of the intervention, highlighting and valuing its contribution in the generation of social impacts and in the development and social recognition;
- It is an initiative that aims at the full inclusion of the inhabitants, encouraging the change of social behavior in children, young people, adults and the elderly in the community, stimulating positive feelings such as usefulness, belonging and social inclusion and promoting a new image for Vale Domingos, through the active involvement and hard work of the many community volunteers
site in the construction, maintenance, cleaning and planting of the Botanical Park;
- It is a comprehensive initiative in terms of population and geography, having the potential to generate broad impacts across civil society;
- It is an initiative that maximizes the profitability of existing means at a local level, since it is based on strategic collaborations, which make available resources that are essential for the project to materialize: financial resources obtained through the application for national funding lines and community; material resources and equipment provided by the JF and CM of Águeda and other
local entities and human resources (i.e. labor) based on volunteering from the surrounding community.
Project evaluation methodology: With regard to the type of study used in this research, the case study was chosen, since answers were sought to the questions “how” or “why” (Ventura, 2007). In fact, and as explained by Yin (1994), the case study is based on an empirical approach, which seeks to investigate current phenomena in their real contexts, using various techniques and data collection instruments. In this sense, we sought to understand how it was possible for an extremely vulnerable and stigmatized community, namely Vale Domingos, to become involved in a collective project, which already has 11 years of history. In addition to “how was it possible?”, that is, what moved this community to action, it also aroused investigative interest to know the strategies used, more consciously or unconsciously, that made volunteering possible, the victories in participatory budgets and the building a sense of belonging and social inclusion.
As data collection techniques and instruments, a questionnaire survey was chosen, consisting of closed questions, which was applied to 189 inhabitants of Vale Domingos. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with four “key informants” (Amado, 2013, pp.135-136), or in other words, participants “who are involved in the phenomena under study” (Tuckman, 2012, pp.689-690). In this way, we sought to triangulate the data, since the deep understanding of a phenomenon requires the use of “a wide and varied set of data collection techniques” (Amado, 2013, pp.135-136 ). As a data analysis technique, descriptive statistical analysis was used in the analysis of the questionnaires and content analysis in the analysis of the interviews.
Project methodology
• Principle of felt needs: the whole project has as its starting point the needs experienced and felt by the community and not just in the diagnoses carried out by the technicians;
• Principle of participation: involvement and mobilization of the population in all stages of the process of its own development, identifying entrepreneurs and inviting everyone;
• Principle of cooperation: the effectiveness, efficiency of any intervention implies cooperation between public and private institutions, collaborating makes all the difference;
• Principle of self-sustainability: the intervention projects must be able to be maintained by the recipients and equipped with risk plans that prevent possible perverse effects resulting from the changes made;
• Principle of universality: a project only has a chance of success if its target is the development of a population as a whole (and not just subgroups of that population, such as an ethnic minority) and its purpose is to profoundly change the conditions that are on the basis of situations of underdevelopment.
Project evaluation methodology
Case study because according to Ventura (2007), the case study has some advantages such as:
• The fact of promoting new discoveries, due to the flexibility of its planning;
• Highlight the multiplicity of dimensions of a problem, focusing on it as a whole;
• Allow in-depth analysis of processes and relationships between them.
As data collection techniques, we consider questionnaire surveys (statistical analysis) and interviews (content analysis) to be relevant.
The transversality of an intervention that contemplates three priority axes in the current European community frameworks,
a) Social innovation
Already distinguished as ES+ and as IIES (Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship Initiative)
b) Social inclusion
It is 100% inclusive as it is achieved through the hard work of the many local volunteers (individuals from the community) who regularly work cleaning, planting and maintaining the work.
c) Social entrepreneurship
It provides those involved with new skills that, in addition to their life experience, promote the development of new ideas, new activities and even new businesses. The PBVD has highlighted its social value and potential for social impact by boosting the development of the Vale Domingos community through access to new opportunities and support for new ideas that prove to be attractive.
The Park intends to be a space for leisure and recreation, capable of bringing together and involving inhabitants around the park, sharing 4 objectives of a different nature:
a) Social
Community involvement through territorial development, which translates into unity, appreciation and affirmation of the Vale Domingos community, promoting active participation and integration into society, and avoiding high-risk behavior and stigma.
b) Educational
Involvement of younger people in the process of transforming the territory into an inclusive village,
enabling them and deterring them from adopting deviant behavior.
c) Environmental
Transformation of a vacant lot into a botanical park with a wide variety of flora.
d) cultural
Involvement, awareness and appreciation of Gypsy culture, encouraging acceptance, tolerance,
respect and intercultural diversity and paving the way for cultural dialogue.
