Sustainability Youth Exchanges

Financed by: Erasmus Plus Program

Support sum: 20 780 euro

Project period: 01.01.2020-01.03.2021

Project goal:
This project was part of the Youth Workers Mobility and intends to increase the number and the quality of youth exchanges under the umbrella of YES to Sustainability, a series of youth exchanges in ecovillages and other sustainability projects, offering the participants a rich learning opportunity about all four dimensions of sustainability.

Project activities:
A 5-day training and networking event in September 2020. The project includes: Bulgaria,Sweden, France, Estonia, Germany, Netherlands, Romania, Serbia, Spain.  Each partner organisation sent their participants to the training and networking event. The two facilitators came from Germany and Spain, totaling 31 participants. As a result there were several project applications submitted to organise youth exchanges and develop the YES to Sustainability Network.

Growing People II

Financed by: European Solidarity Corps

Support sum:  29 070 euro

Project period: 01.05.2020 – 30.04.2021

Project goal:
Young people from Europe and Estonia:
– contribute to creating a positive social change by participating and promoting sustainable lifestyle in its different forms
– strengthen the local community
– improve the professional competitiveness of young people
– are active and empowered citizens
– are able to respond to climate change, over-consumption and biodiversity loss

Project activities:
2 volunteer camps with the length of 3 and 4-weeks  with young people from Germany, Sweden, Slovenia, Spain, UK, Bulgaria and Estonia, incl. young people with special needs. These camps were held in July and August 2020.

Together with the community the volunteers were renovating outdoor and indoor infrastructure needed for organizing workshops, meetings and public events. For example, the main entrance space was renovated and shower facilities for the guests and community. Increasing biodiversity and self-sufficiency by developing our organic garden and fruit garden.

The volunteers were taking an active part in the community social life, sharing their own interests and culture and exploring the local area.

Elu5

Financed by: European Solidarity Corps

Toetuse summa:  16 182 EUR

Project period: 01.05.2019 – 29.02.2020

Goal and activities:

Our goals were:

  • To introduce sustainable lifestyle to youth and share the idea and practice of ecovillages more widely
  • To create a culturally diverse and intergenerational community
  • To promote our international collaboration
  • To increase biodiversity and self-sufficiency
  • Contribute to low-carbon lifestyle development that would influence climate change.

We invited volunteers to help organize the festival ELU5. They supported the community preparing the festival grounds and rooms, receiving guests and organizing the festival in different teams. They built outdoor furniture from reused materials, prepared fireplaces and outdoor workshop venues. Additionally some of them contributed to the program and they enjoyed the festival activities. Activities of the other half of the project were focussed on the development of our vegetable and fruit garden into a more diferse and more fruitful place with superior soil fertility. Supper volunteers came to us in July and August for 5 weeks from Slovenia, Spain, Finland and Estonia. Thanks to good cooperation with Maarja village the group included two young people with special needs.

Growing People

Financed by: European Solidarity Corps

Support sum:  12 633 EUR

Project period: 01.01.2019 – 31.12.2019

Project goal: young people from Europe and Estonia will:

  • contribute to creating a positive social change by participating and promoting sustainable lifestyle in its different forms
  • strengthen the local community
  • improve the professional competitiveness of young people
  • are active and empowered citizens
  • are able to respond to climate change, over-consumption and biodiversity loss

Project activities:

  • 4-week volunteer camp with young people from Germany, Sweden, Slovenia, Spain, Finland and Estonia, incl. young people with special needs.
  • The infrastructure needed for organizing trainings, meetings and public events was improved in buildings and outdoors. For example main building terrace was renovated using used windows.
  • Increasing biodiversity and self-sufficiency by developing our organic garden and fruit garden

Community events were created and attended, that helped to promote an inclusive atmosphere among community members and volunteers of different abilities and ages.

Effective community, successful training centre

Financed by: National Foundation of Civil Society, ministry of internal affairs

Support sum: 14 991.40 EUR

Project period: 01.09.2018 – 31.10.2019

Goal: to encourage community’s economic activities and viability by offering trainings and events related to communal life, self-development and environment friendly lifestyle in Small Footprint community in a more profitable and professional way and to more people. By year 2020 we have doubled the number of visitors of our training centre.

Main activities:

  • We developed an effective planning and marketing strategy.
  • We developed electronic payment possibilities, registration system for visitors and volunteers and different marketing channels (social media, newsletter, press, personal offers, etc.).
  • We prepared the financial plan and event calendar for trainings of 2019 and 2020 and we started coordinated sales activities.
  • We developed an original course on social sustainability with community’s lecturers.
  • We tidied our outdoor area for organizing events.

Creating readiness for environmentally sustainable lifestyle training activities at Mõisamaa Eco-centre

Financed by: National Foundation of Civil Society, ministry of internal affairs

Support sum: 11 096.21 EUR

Goal: to develop the activities of Väike Jalajälg MTÜ to a level where from April 2016 the NGO is both substantially (skills, knowledge, contacts, etc.) and formally (rooms, practice base, etc.) able and ready to organize trainings on environmentally sustainable lifestyle for both adults and schoolchildren at Mõisamaa Eco-centre.

Main activities:

  • Preparing future instructors through completing a permaculture design training
  • Organizing work-party weekends and learning days for schoolchildren
  • Developing the training schedule and offerings, creating the concept for learning days for schoolchildren
  • Creating an educational garden that follows the principles of permaculture
  • Minor repairs of the training rooms, kitchen repairs with the purpose of notification of the kitchen in order to offer catering at trainings
  • Communication and other supportive activities: developing the change theory for the NGO, developing the webpage, creating and administering a network of volunteers, publishing the training packages, creating contacts with schools, etc

Smaller Footprint

Financed by: Estonian NGO Fund

Project Description: The awareness among Estonians about sustainable lifestyle where the planet’s resources are used responsibly is still rather low and there aren’t many examples of sustainable lifestyle and energy solutions created on grass-roots and community level. Project’s activities are aimed at promoting environmentally sustainable lifestyle and execution of practical solutions by the example of Small Footprint eco-community. For reaching that aim, a suitable technological, economical and legal framework will be worked out, taking into account of the local climate. A training base will be initiated, where community’s experience and knowledge will be shared with other communities and interested people.