Our Mission is the regeneration of the environment, of culture and of human relations. Through our plethora of projects and educational tools we aim to reconnect people of all backgrounds and ages with nature and to teach them how to live more sustainable, healthier lives while caring for each other and nature.
National
Greece
Northern Aegean and Attica
Mainly rural
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Yes
ERASMUS
Erasmus+ KA104 2021
No
Yes
2019-05-31
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Sporos Regeneration Institute Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Konstantinos Last name of representative: Tsiompanos Gender: Male Nationality: Greece Function: Managing Director Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Milies Town: Plomari. Lesvos Postal code: 81200 Country: Greece Direct Tel:+30 698 108 0900 E-mail:konstantinos@sporosinstitute.org Website:http://www.sporosinstitute.org
Sporos Regeneration Institute (hereinafter Sporos) was founded in 2019 by four activists to deliver environmental education activities to children, as we believe that children are our planet’s only hope and feel a great responsibility to future generations. Our target audience has since expanded to people of all ages.
We operate on the island of Lesvos in Greece. Lesvos is an island bordering Turkey, in the outermost eastern regions of EU. It is the main gateway of refugees into EU. Since 2005 many hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers passed from the island.
Our work benefits locals and refugees. We act as a bridge between the two worlds, bringing locals and refugees together, so that we stop the hatred and the misunderstandings, helping people understand and learn to respect each other.
Our operations include a big educational farm, an ecotherapy center in a community center opposite the refugee camp, a large olive grove which is being converted into a food forest, a growing seed bank, free Permaculture Design Courses for refugees and locals, forest schools for children to reconnect with nature and develop their environmental identity; Courses on regenerative farming, organic gardening, natural building and more; and internships and vocational training in permaculture, agroforestry and regenerative agriculture. We build school gardens and teach relevant STEM courses in local schools. We educate and practically assist local farmers to adopt clean regenerative farming practices. We facilitate integration, hosting activities that bring disparate communities together in an effort to bring lasting social change. Our outreach includes project consultations, guest lectures, practical and theoretical support, and local and global networking.
Regeneration
Inclusion
Earth Care
People Care
Fair Share
We actively engage in activities which capture CO2. We practice and teach regenerative, no-till agriculture. We constantly and intensely build new soil and we employ multiple composting methods to build soil from our own garden waste, kitchen scraps and selected waste materials.. Our latest project, Stop The Burn, raises awareness amongst olive farmers about the negative impact of burning prunings. We then actively assist interested olive farmers to turn their prunings into wood chips using our equipment and labor free of charge. We show farmers how to incorporate the woodchips in their olive groves, thus reducing air pollution and the use of chemical fertilizers.
We plant a great variety of vegetables and trees in Lesvos and we are promoting the reforestation of the island with local oak varieties. We encourage polycultures, going against the norm of monocultures, especially in relation to the olive tree. Our big olive grove is an exhibition site for how an olive tree monoculture can be converted to a polyculture food forest system, with many layers and crops.
Sporos was designed on the principle of circularity. We are teaching our students on the importance of eliminating waste and pollution and showcasing examples in all our sites. We eliminate our waste production, we upcycle waste and minimize our footprint while at the same time regenerating the natural environment of Lesvos. We use and preach the use of local products only, both in terms of food and of materials.
We grow most of the food we eat in our gardens and orchards Our farm is off-grid in terms of water, with a well and a bore-hole. However, we keep water in the aquifer by harvesting as much rainwater as possible and reusing it in our newly implemented greywater system. We use compost toilets. All new buildings are built using local natural materials and methods. We use a solar heater for our showers and washing. We use our own firewood produced for cooking and heating using rocket mass heaters.
Our educational farm, our community garden and all the sites where we work are designed using the permaculture principles, permaculture being a design science utilizing an innovative systems-approach to consciously design landscapes, human settlements and small farming systems. Our design approach is two-fold, focusing both on people and the earth. We heal and beautify the earth and create a welcoming and inclusive environment for our visitors and students, inspiring them and giving them the necessary knowledge and support to replicate it everywhere.
Our Ecohub community ecotherapy garden was designed to provide refuge to asylum seekers, far from the refugee camp and its inhumanity. Previously unused land was transformed into a tranquil garden space where visitors would relax and learn more about the environment. It was designed to provide people in need with a peaceful green space to relax and escape the harshness and chaos of their daily lives. Our visitors enjoy expanded access to nature through field trips, classes and off-site garden expansion and are invited to take part in ecotherapy activities. To date it has welcomed more than 10.000 visitors and more than 200 volunteers.
We have designed gardens for other NGOs on the island, both inside the refugee camp and outside. All the gardens which we design and build turn into green heavens, feeding both the body and the souls, beautifying the location and soothing the soul of the visitors. Our educational spaces are designed to be safe, healthy environments for people to discover and gain inspiration, build resilience and, when needed, facilitate recuperation. Our educational philosophy puts individual personal discovery at the fore, recognizing it as one of the most impactful and long-lasting factors in changing behaviors and worldviews.
Accessibility – Our farm and gardens are accessible to everyone, irrespective of age, origin, belief or orientation. We have a very diverse staff, from many different countries and cultures. We create spaces of integration, where everyone is welcome and valued. In our almost 4 years of operations we have welcomed and taught thousands of visitors and students from all walks of life.
Affordability for All – Our gardens are free to access and we distribute our produce for free to those who need it the most. We seek funding so as to ensure that our seminars and activities can be provided free of charge. We are a grassroots, all-volunteer organisation where everyone redistributes their surplus in time and money, so that those who need it can have access to our produce and services without a charge.
Inclusive governing systems – Our projects take into consideration the needs of our beneficiaries. We co-design our gardens and our courses with the people we intent to help and teach. Many of our students carry on to become teachers for us, introducing their knowledge and bringing their twist to our work. Being all-volunteer, we have the space for a decision making process which incorporates the needs of everyone, integrating rather than segregating. Strategic considerations are discussed and decided upon collaboratively, taking into consideration feedback from all relevant team members and beneficiaries where possible.
Design for all principles or new societal models – The ethical pillars under which we operate are People Care, Earth Care and Fair Share (Redistribution of surplus). We look to the natural environment to model co-existence and co-creation. We design and implement new models which lead society to be ecologically sustainable and socially responsible, not just economically efficient.
Being a volunteer-only civil society organisation, Sporos is relying heavily on citizen participation. We encourage people of all ages to join us in the regeneration of the nature of Lesvos. We reconnect citizens with nature and the impact has a ripple effect, with the love for nature propagating outwards to positively affect an increasingly larger portion of the population on the island.
We continually solicit formal and informal feedback from past team members, volunteers, partner organizations and our visitors at large. Their input shapes our services in myriad small and large ways and will always be a component of our program design, delivery and evaluation. We have made it standard practice to seek written feedback following all activities and seminars, putting into practice the permaculture principle “apply self-regulation & accept feedback”. Past members become part of our international alumni network, which guides the development of future work and provides mutual support.
Because Sporos bridges the gap between environmental regeneration and humanitarian aid, it has become well connected in both local farming and humanitarian circles and receives frequent consultation requests from other organizations locally, nationally and internationally. Our work, supporters, diverse volunteer base and visiting individuals and organizations have helped us establish a broad foundation of global colleagues.
We practice solidarity and are always open to invitations from citizens to help with the design or materialization of a project initiated by members of the civil society. We hold very regular whole-day gatherings at farms, fields and gardens to carry out much needed work in the land as a community. We create or add to edible gardens, share skills related to regenerative farming and sustainable living and we build community.
As Sporos bridges the gap between environmental regeneration and humanitarian aid, it has become well connected in both gardening and humanitarian circles and receives frequent consultation requests from other organizations locally, nationally and internationally.
Our work, supporters, diverse volunteer base and visiting individuals and organizations have contributed to the implementation of our projects. We adopt an open source design approach, with active members of our team contributing to its formation. Being a grassroots organisation, we used collective action to effect change in the people, the environment and the relationship between the two.
Sporos is a member of the national Social Solidarity Economy Registry of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Our participation in it and the collaboration which emerged helped our project to rediscover timeless practices and cultural traits, which we renewed and adapted to the current context through the use of new technologies and other contemporary, regenerative and resilient resources.
The Permaculture for Refugees (P4R) international network was a great inspiration and influence to our project. Its methods facilitate and empower people with practical and positive connections to the land. Sporos was established shortly after a visit by P4R representatives in Lesvos and has been a partner organisation since.
The University of Aegean is located in Lesvos. Besides having graduates from its department of Environment in our staff, the university has contributed in the implementation of our project through our participation in the Center for Sustainable Circular Bioeconomy and Energy.
We have partnered with the Directorate of Primary Education of Lesvos to provide educational opportunities to primary school children on the island. We have developed a aquaponics STEM program and our school gardens program, which we freely share with primary schools, inspiring children to re-engage with the natural environment.
In our four years of operations, we have hosted numerous teachers and other professionals and collaborated with local, national and international actors in order to develop our projects and achieve our goals. These partners brought expertise from the following fields:
Humanities – Theatre, Languages and literature, Philosophy (of education), Ethics.
Social Sciences – anthropology, Economics (agricultural and institutional) Human geography, Geology, Psychology (ecological, social and children studies), Social Work.
Natural Sciences – Biology, Earth Science.
Applied Sciences – Agriculture (Aeroponics, Agroecology, Agronomy, Animal Husbandry, Forestry, Horticulture, Pest control), Landscape architecture and design, Education (critical pedagogy, early childhood, Agricultural, Engineering (Civil, Environmental), Environmental Studies and Forestry), Social Work.
We pride to have such a diverse, cross-disciplinary and multidisciplinary team. Our core team comprises of an Environmental Engineer, a Teacher, an Environmental Scientist, a Civil Engineer, an Agronomist, a Screenwriter, a Humanitarian Worker and a Blockchain expert. We joined our expertise to form the organisation, to establish our green sites and to create programs to regenerate the environment and help people develop their relationship with the nature. Each of us brought to the table a unique and distinct set of tools and approaches.
Our collaboration and our distinct backgrounds led to greater creativity and to a more in-depth cover of topics across the traditional disciplinary boundaries. We value and consider each other’s viewpoints and compare and contrast concepts across areas. Through this convergence of different professionals, we encourage interaction among distinct scientific disciplines, technologies, communities and domains of human activity to achieve mutual compatibility, synergism and integration, while addressing key questions across science, technology and society
Sporos’ achievements to date:
Regeneration of 12 acres of land, with 100s of trees and 1000s of annual and perennial plants planted
More than 900 school students, 80 Permaculture Design Courses graduates, 4 new Environmental Education teachers, 3 year-long interns, more than 10.000 visitors to our gardens, more than 200 volunteers, 45 vocational students
1000s of kilos of fresh vegetables and fruit free to people in need
1000s of kilos of olive prunings chipped & composted rather than burned
Provided land to 3 farmers who were displaced from their farming lands
Trained dozens of local growers/farmers
Consulting/Designing of numerous gardens on the island
Improved the air quality of Lesvos through preventing the burning of tons of olive tree prunings.
INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
Runner up of the Permaculture Magazine award “Celebrating Activists Voices: Permaculture prize for projects transforming lives and landscapes” with our project Ecohub (2020) https://tinyurl.com/2wm83t73
Shortlisted for the Lush Spring Prize for social and environmental regeneration, Young Award category (2023 – winner to be announced in May 2023) https://springprize.org/the-prizes/young-projects/
Winner of the Balkan Green Ideas regional competition, in the Green Advanced Ideas Lot category with our project Stop the Burn (2022) https://www.balkangreenideas.org/winners-22/
Winner of the Environment and Sustainability, Youth Participation and Empowerment category of the Civic Europe Awards, with our project Make it Green, Empowering youth from diverse communities on the island of Lesvos to work together for a Green future while cultivating cross-cultural dialogue and establishing their environmental identities (2021) https://civic-europe.eu/ideas/make-it-green-lesvos/
IMPACT
Collaboration with the University of Aegean in the sustainable production and biomass management program of the Center for Sustainable Circular Bioeconomy and Energy.
We are a not-for-profit, grassroots, all-volunteer organisation. Our aim is not to generate profit, but rather the wellbeing of the environment and our beneficiaries. We involve numerous stakeholders at different levels, schools, municipalities, private and public institutions and partner and encourage synergies between different actors to conquer our common objective.
Our project is multi-layered, dealing both with environmental and social issues and bringing together the different worlds of education, inclusion, science and technology. As our name indicates, regeneration is the core of what we do. Our work helps to regenerate the landscape, individual and collective relationships and the economy. Underlying everything is what we consider to be our most important regenerative practice, embedded in all that we do: education. Our free sharing of knowledge helps environmental stewardship to spread and facilitates a ripple effect on adjacent communities and future generations.
Our goal is to restore the damage done by our current and previous generations for the benefit of the earth and future generations. It means reconnecting with nature and working with nature to build soil, capture carbon dioxide, save water, reforest the earth, rebuild relationships, create economic opportunity and nourish our spirit.
We strive for a holistic approach that recognizes the interdependence of environmental, social and economic health, while combining green technology with traditional wisdom. On a local level, we move fast towards achieving this goal through the development of environmental identity of our beneficiaries and their reconnection with the environment.
#Permaculture
The Permaculture design system, which we follow, is based upon certain ethics and principles & methodologies which govern design work. These principles are witnessed in the behavior of natural systems and constitute a base for human activity that mirrors nature and acts within the laws that govern its behavior.
The Three Ethics of Permaculture
People Care - The care of ourselves, our families, our communities, and people across the world. To achieve a harmonious relationship between ourselves and others, we need to accept, respect, incorporate, and expand on each other’s different abilities, experiences, diversities, ethnicities, and strive to work together as a whole instead of against each other.
Earth Care - We all have one earth. We should all have the same moral obligation to care for the Earth and the resources the Earth supplies us. It is our obligation to ensure that we leave a planet so that it does not hinder the ability of future generations to be able to satisfy their own needs.
Fair Share - Setting reasonable limits and balances in production and to ensure that surplus is distributed fairly among those who need it most or is fairly traded for goods and services.
#Environmental Identity
We actively form the EID of our students, a construct that demonstrates the extent to which people perceive themselves as a part of nature, incorporated in it, and defined by it. This concept is connected with nature conservation behavior and empathy towards people and nature and has proven to be associated with various beneficial traits such as emotional calmness, vigor, reduced stress, increased attentiveness, and positive mental effect. It.
#Social Constructivism
Our central idea is that human learning is constructed and knowledge is constructed through social interaction and is a shared rather than an individual experience.
Our Vision is to reach the point where we are no longer needed and we only exist as facilitators of learning, where we step back and let our beneficiaries take over, where we all teach and learn from each other. Our strategy to materialize this vision relies heavily on the open-source dissemination of methodology and techniques we use.
Our engagement with children and the tools we use for the development of their environmental identities are transferable in whole. Indeed, one of the forest school assistant teacher who left the organisation carried on the work in another location in Greece.
Our ecotherapy project for refugees can and has been replicated in other refugee hot-spots in Europe. Through our international network, we are sharing good practices and lessons learned in the field and encourage partners to adopt them.
We are training students on environmental stewardship and we urge them to carry the knowledge forward and share it open and widely. As this is a volunteer only project, we do not feel threatened by competition. On the contrary, we actively seek projects which wish to replicate aspects of our work and we help them make it happen.
We train refugees to be permaculture teachers. We regularly provide consultations to organizations on a variety of topics, from upcycling to garden and permaculture design to program structure, assisting with work on site when feasible. We support sustainable agriculture courses for refugees and the design and building of gardens in Malawi and Syria.
Our volunteers and interns receive valuable gardening skills while with us. The love for nature which develops alongside these skills spreads and travels to wherever our volunteers go back to, while our alumni network ensures continued support.
Our project profile documents and reports are shared with anyone who may benefit from them. We use our networks and knowledge of the local context to support organizations and individuals in work that aligns with our mission.
We support social regeneration by rebuilding relationships, both between disconnected individuals and communities and also between human beings and the earth. Through our programming and events, we create opportunities for people from different backgrounds to reconnect with nature, to learn and build things together--to experience personal growth and to heal the earth together. These moments of authentic relating create bonds that can heal community divides.
We act as a bridge between the worlds of refugees and locals, mainly Muslims and Christians, bringing them together, so that we stop the hatred and the racism, eliminate deradicalization and disengagement, help people understand and learn to respect each other.
We create and maintain spaces that invite visitors to reconnect with the earth, like our garden across the refugee camp and our farm. These spaces facilitate mental and physical healing on an individual level, leading to greater personal resilience, which in turn has a positive effect on society as a whole. It also helps to repair the relationship between humans and the earth, one person at a time. Simultaneously, our gardens and food forests store carbon and contribute towards the reverse the climate change crisis. Our polyculture systems and food forests increase the variety of fauna, especially pollinators, which are in rapid decline worldwide.
Our forest school, school gardens, STEM classes and other activities for children help form their environmental identity while keeping them away from screen time. Our adult educational initiatives provide participants with skills and networking that enable them to create for themselves and prepare them for employment. We equip local farmers with alternative agricultural methods that reduce their costs, increase their production and protect the environment. Finally, we donate much of our garden yield to people in need, reducing their grocery bills and contributing to their economic security.
