New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Initiative category

Identify the award category for which this initiative is being submitted
Regaining a sense of belonging

Email user
info@moorhuys.com

Basic information
Initiative title
Moorlander | Moor Nature Moor Soul

Full initiative Title
Woke the wet peat lands in Northern Europe

Please provide a short, catchy description of your initiative to be used in communication towards the public.
The peat lands in Northern Europe are in extinction and with that the healing power of the black gold. We pass on the natural heritage of our wellbeing and soul, through the development of peat related products, such as our Moorlander (peat) soap. The project aims to develop a physical workshop and education place to restore the feeling of belonging that build on tradition and craftsmanship on natural soap making and other natural health products with peat, such as Moorbad.

What was the geographical scope of your intiative?
Cross-border/international

Where was your intiative implemented?
Location 1
Germany

Location 2
Netherlands

Member State(s), Western Balkans and other countries
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If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
Moorlander was initiated in Emsland, Germany, the heart of the old peatlands and close to the NL border. Currently and with this project Moorlander aims to establish its physical workshop place in Midwolda, the Netherlands, along the Oldambter Lake, once peatland. Moorlander communicates in English, German and Dutch.

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 a physical transformation of the built environment (hard 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
Please provide the contact details for the intiative promoter (the individual or representative of the organisation authorised to represent the intiative).
- First name: Brigitte
  Last name: Sins
  Gender: Female
  Nationality: Netherlands
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Hoofdweg 294
  Town: Midwolda
  Postal code: 9681AN
  Country: Netherlands
  Direct Tel: +31 6 21326124
  E-mail: info@moorhuys.com
  Website: https://www.moorhuys.com
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
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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?
Regional website about green initiatives and support

Description of the initiative
Please provide a summary of your initiative
The Moorlander workshop place in Midwolda will provide an awareness and learning space for the community of Oldambt, visitors and tourists who come to this location for its nature and once known as old peatlands. At Moorlander you can learn about the health advances of heilmoor (German for peat), a traditional natural health and beauty product. You can experience the power of peat by taking a Moorbad or you can learn to make Moor soap bars.
The place is located on private grounds where Moorlander is registered as a small business. It is located along the beach and lake of Oldambt. The small building and area behind the private house will be transformed in an appealing workshop and information centre (about 50m2) with soap making facilities in line with European Standards and EU Cosmetic Product Safety guidelines. In the garden (overlooking the beach of Oldambt) a tiny and natural Moorbad facility will be established where private Moorbad can be experienced. Moorlander will invite and train small group of people in working with healing peat products, such as natural soap making. With Moorlander already having a production line and network, it expects to partner with musea (such as the Moormuseum in Emsland), the municipality and other small scale social entrepreneurs. Moorlander is a registered brand (intellectual property) within the EU. Moorlander soap conforms with the EU cosmetic product safety regulations. This shows that old natural habits and concepts of health and beauty can comply with current standards and lifestyle.
The renovation and refurbishment of the place is to be expected to start spring 2023, to be operational by summer.

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with 5 key words.
Historical heritage awareness

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Preserving wet peatlands

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Nature based products

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Health and wellness

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Cultural lifestyle

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.
The sustainability objective is to contribute to awareness and behavior change practices in regard to improved health and wellbeing as part of climate change adaption. The Moorlander place will be a physical space where people can come together to be informed about the value of peat (lands) and how peat can be applied to traditional natural and yet modern health and wellness. At the Moorlander venue peat related products are produced according to EU cosmetic and hygiene standards. The ultimate goal is to change behavior through information and awareness, to be met through active participation in developing peat products, such as soap and to experience peat through a wellness moorbad, like in the very old days. People will become aware that beauty is not expensive and can be home made. Moorlander will educate participants in reading and understanding labels of mainstream cosmetic soap and body wash products. People become aware of the impact of synthetic soap and wash products. As a result, people bring their new gained knowledge and experiences back home and will not only have more respect for nature, they will actively contribute to sustain our natural resources. To meet the objective, some concrete outputs are set: 1. Training of 100 visitors in the first year of the project year at the Moorlander venue in natural soap making and through a moorbad experience. 2. Production of five kinds of natural Moorlander soap (cold pressed, not working with soap bases, but 100% own recipe) and a sale of 500 pieces to musea (e.g. the Moor Museum in Emsland) where each piece of soap comes with an awareness message.

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.
The cultural benefit objective is to create an appealing venue at the edge of the Oldambtermeer in the North of the Netherlands where cultural heritage, nature and modern lifestyle come together. Moorlander offers visitors the opportunity to experience some health and wellness heritage from Germany. Heilmoor as the Germans name the 'healing peat', is a therapeutic peat and known since the Middle Ages in Europe. People used the peat in a so called 'Moorbad', a bath of peat mud to treat joint and skin problems. The basis of natural peat are: Herbs, trees, leaves and seeds, compressed in the wetlands over hundreds of years, creating an organic substance with healing minerals, humic acids, zinc, iron, copper and selenium. Once known as the poorest area's of Northern Europe, the wet peatlands were hard to cultivate due to the nature of the peat and over the years, peat was dug out, dried to be used as a fuel. In a few decades the wet peatlands which needed hundreds of years to grow, were almost gone. And with that, the precious substance the Germans also call the 'Black Gold' that can not be reproduced in a factory. Peat has been associated with mud. The soap and moorbad products therefore also contain essential oils in order to transmit an intense wellness emotion. Presenting healing peat in an aesthetic product and design will draw attention of a wider public and reinforce its presence in the health and wellness market. The Moorlander venue will be designed as stylish, but simple workplace combining the style of modern industrial and the fifties. The Moorbad spot is overlooking the beach and the lake and is simple but attractive (private bath tubs with claw feet). In line with green goals, a windmill (for private use) and solar power will provide electricity.

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.
The inclusion objective is to create an open space for learning through active learning tools. The concept of Moorlander is to be found back in the work of its owner over the last twenty years in developing settings throughout the world. In order the generate awareness communication tools and products are developed. A poster or leaflet can provide good information for those who can read. With social media in combination with traditional media, a wider audience can be reached. But in order to change behavior a whole society needs to be included. This means one should use various platforms and channels and addressing the different layers in a society (policy makers, game changers, communities, individuals). To include all it is necessary to develop a diversity of communication products. The owner of Moorlander has once developed a project in Kiribati in regard to create awareness on hygiene (WASH): The impact of distributing a locally produced bar of soap with pictures of hand washing steps to each child in school, instead of posters in the community, resulted directly into a new behavior towards hand washing.
With this project the owner of Moorlander is repeating this approach, but then with a broader message and more ambitious objective. Realising to be able to contribute on a small scale, inclusiveness is key to the aimed objective. Moorlander is not only accessible online, but offers a physical venue. Inclusiveness is addressed by a physical venue where the public can come, but it also enhances the possibility to reach out. Think of workshops for specific groups and being a central venue for like minded small scale developers. Moorlander has produced custom made natural soap for specific themes and moments, especially during the covid crisis, when the use of soap was reinforced in hand washing messages. Soap is personal, affordable and accessible for all. To Moorlander, a bar of soap is a message, it is a message for nature.

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
See above, products (soap, but also other peat related products) are a message, a tool to communicate. Where a product serves it primary goal in the first place (e.g. soap cleans hands and body), the producer has the opportunity to include or prioritise other goals, such as creating awareness. The main reason for Moorlander to develop peat-related products is to enhance the message of preserving the peat lands in Northern Europe. This is to create involvement and easier access. The municipality, the community and citizens connect more easily to a product where they can be part of. For instance, Moorlander purchases the fresh sheep milk from a local farmer to make the sheep soap. Moorlander partners with the Moor Museum by sharing info and offering peat products. Moorlander developed a bed&breakfast in old style in Germany in line with recreational objectives of the municipality. IN this project Moorlander want to establish and expand its existing network to more local partners and municipality and become part of the civil society through the establishment of the Moorlander venue.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the initiative.
The following stakeholders have been involved:
-Production of peat related products: Natural peat from Germany is purchased in Tsjech Republic (Moorlander purchases the natural peat and sells back the soap to stakeholder), fresh sheep milk is purchased from local farmer in the Netherlands, sheep wool is purchased with partner in Poland. Names and contact details of these business stakeholders upon request.
-The Moor Museum in Emsland: Selling peat soap of Moorlander, shared distribution of information leaflets, exchange of knowledge
The following stakeholders are aimed to be involved:
-Nature parks, such as Bargerveen (NL) and Wietmarcher Moor (DE)
-The local government of Oldambt (exchange of knowledge), the local government of Midwolda, green development platforms North Netherlands, regional civil society organisations on agriculture and eco/ circulair farming (exchange of knowledge), more regional musea on nature

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
The owner of Moorlander is the developer of this project; she is the designer and the project manager.
Discipline and knowledge fields: Communication for Development (C4D), Behavior Change Communication (BCC), Development project management, Natural soap making production, Peatland of Northern Europe knowledge, Construction and Interior design.
The initiative for this project is by the owner of Moorlander. She works together with individuals, contractors, social entrepreneurs and local government to be able to have all needed fields represented in this project.

Please highlight the innovative character of the initiative, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the initiative
The innovative character lies in the fact that communication for development (behavior change communication) is channeled through products people can use, which make the message easier spreadable. In this region, awareness for the peatlands in extinction are normally through leaflets, brochures and books. These info products reach a limited number of people, usually the people who are already aware and engaged. With products people use for their health and beauty, the message reaches out to those who are not engaged yet; Thanks to the quality of the product and the essence of the products (natural power), people will appreciate and develop respect and awareness for the message, which then becomes the core product.
Another innovative character is the approach Moorlander takes on historical heritage and cultural lifestyle. A learning venue is complimenting the existing offer of historical heritage in this region. The existing heritage and culture consist of the recreational Oldambt Lake (once peatland), nature parks, historical buildings (where in the old days the peat land lords were living) and traditional peat (colonial) musea. Moorlander's venue is small scale with free access; it is a shop with peat related producs and the possibility to make peat products (soap) and to experience the peat, literally. This is new. There is one place in NL where people can take a Moorbad at a big wellness centre. Moorlander is not mainstream and this makes it exclusive as well as innovative: With it products, Moorlander does not aim for volume sales.

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.
Replication of approach: The way of learning about specific themes (the C4D approach as proposed in this project). Where Moorlander is focused on creating awareness and behavior change addressing the historical heritage in regard to peat, the same approach may be taken in any field. Especially for messages which are hard to sell, such as historical heritage, a sense of belonging, reconnecting.
Replication of products: Moorlander currently produces and sells soap, Moorbad, Moorpads, sheep wool house shoes. It is looking into expanding the range of products which fall under the umbrella of peat related products. Think of: natural dish washing soap, cleaning agents, but also sheep wool jackets, blankets.

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your initiative.
Moorlander is established in 2020. Some peat related products have been developed, produced and distributed (including branding and acquiring all mandatory EU licenses to comply with EU regulations). Under the underlaying project proposal, Moorlander will work on its objective through the following methodology:

- Renovating the back area of the private property into the Moorlander space, around 50m2 (Budget 30.000,- euro. Budget specification is available). This is done by a contractor. The necessary elements in construction are: Roofing with solar panels, walls (glass, tiles, wood), interior (kitchen block in accordance with EU standards for soap production, wood stove, bath room as mandatory for public spaces, big workshop table in the middle of the space, storage room, office desk for printing and design of info leaflets), displays for selling products, windmill in garden (with 220 converter).
- Production: Once the Moorlander space is ready to use, the soap production facility will be put in place to continue production of ongoing orders.
- Awareness and communication:
Grand or rather small opening of the venue with stakeholders and locals.
Production and design of new comms material.
Expanding network to regional musea, nature parks.
Linking up with schools, companies, community groups for workshop classes and moor-experience.
-Mid term/ one year evaluation, evaluating the objectives, outputs and results, including drafting a next phase plan.
- Research the possibility for replication of the concept to other (peat) area's in the Netherlands and Germany or themes for Moorlander, partners or stakeholders.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the initiative addresses by providing local solutions
The extinction of the peat lands in Northern Europe is a global challenge as a result of over production, urbanisation and mostly unawareness of the value and importance of our natural heritage. This may partly because people lost their sense of belonging.
It is globally addressed through global communications. However, a better environment and sense of belonging start with yourself and on small scale. A local solution brings also the issue closer to oneself, and has more impact on personal view and experiences. It is crucial to initiate local solutions where local stakeholders and beneficiaries can be included. These local stakeholders are the game changers, the one who can turn the tide and be a model for others. Especially when they are included and become participants in the message. They can regain the sense of belonging, when they belong to a local group or community where common concerns and solutions are shared. They may form a raindrop in the sky, but can become a force once they own the message and are the ones who can reinforce and replicate the message and tools.

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
Progress and outputs so far:
- Registration of EU brand Moorlander
- Production and design of various messages and leaflets
- Design of five sorts of natural (peat) soap bars, registered and in compliance with EU Cosmetic Product Safety guidelines
- Website (see URL here below)
- Production and sales of soap in 2021 and 2022 to private persons (small scale) and Moor museum
- Production and sales of Moorbad and Moorpads
- Production and sales of sheep woolen houseshoes
- Moving administrative office from Amsterdam to Midwolda (currently in progress)
- Establishing network and partners in Germany and the Netherlands, with also a partner in Poland and one in Tsjech Republic.

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-1-8807.pdf
- pdf-1-8807_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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Yes

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Yes

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Yes

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Yes

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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