<< Objectives >>By implementing the project we will ensure a connection among professionals from the involved countries, activities will lead to the development of therapeutic garden areas. The new educative exhibition about therapeutic natural gardens, will promote education, awareness and information principally for people working in the care sector, such as caretakers, nurses or therapists who can influence the development and promotion of this therapeutic approach, which is on the rise in Europe.<< Implementation >>I. Outdoor educative exhibition about therapeutic gardensII. Workshops about therapeutic gardensIII. International meetings and networking activitiesIV. Opening new therapeutic gardens and promoting the green careV. Study trips to places with good examplesVI. Informational materials supporting the topic of green careVII. E-version of the exhibition suitable for wide online dissemination<< Results >>Our project will result not only in tangible outputs such as exhibition panels, brochures and informative materials on green care with an emphasis on natural therapeutic gardens, but also in the networking of professionals in the field of natural gardens with the aim of great support and promotion of this therapeutic method.

"The context for our project was built from the word 'SANKOFA' ,which, in the Twi language of Ghana translates as ""Go back and get it"". It is a common symbolic concept, to represent the need to reflect on the past to build a successful future. It symbolizes taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress through the benevolent use of knowledge. Since the beginning of human history, stories have been used to transfer knowledge and wisdom, a way of enabling people and societies to learn from the past and from each other. The overall aim of SANKOFA project was to develop resources that would support teachers to build new and improved competences for teaching the complex issues inherent in a globalised world. Project objectives were to:- Promote the use of storytelling by teachers in partner countries, in order to improve children's literacy and oracy skills;- Embed the use of storytelling as an approach for improving children's competences in critical thinking, and their sense of self-efficacy, related to their role as citizens in an interconnected world;- Enhance children's ICT skills through digital techniques;- Enable transnational transfer of knowledge and skills, between teachers and children;- Better equip teachers to support children to improve their intercultural competences for sustainable development.In this project we explored, elaborated, trialled and shared 'Digital Storytelling' as an innovative classroom methodology for enabling children to critically engage with some of the complex issues inherent in a globalised world. The project recognised the need for children and young people (CYP) to have:Digital literacy skills and competencesGlobal competences: developing appropriate pedagogical skills and resources to help prepare children for life and work in a complex globalized world (including increased mobility and integration of ICT). Own-language literacy: increase in reading, writing and oracy skillsThe context for our project was shaped during delivery, due to the Covid pandemic and the shift in all partner countries to online learning for all pupils at various points of the past 12 months. The growth in the use of digital technologies by teachers and pupils has further demonstrated how core these key skills are to education. The pandemic has also demonstrated how globally interdependent we are.Through the 4 project partners, we worked with 40 teachers and 831 children and young people. Teachers and pupils engaged in a series of training and focus group sessions, where the methodology and learning guide provided support for the delivery of the project in the classroom. Teachers and pupils’ experiences helped to shape and inform the toolkit of tried and tested activitiesThe CYP were supported by the teachers and project partners to develop their digital stories based on the project’s overall themes, which link to the SDGs: migration, identity and refugees; biodiversity and ecosystems; responsible consumption; water; active global citizenship; and gender equality.We achieved our goals of producing three intellectual outputs: learning guide, toolkit and website; we feel our Intellectual Outputs exceed initial expectations: both our toolkit and learning guide are high quality publications, with additional content than originally planned. Our website provides additional resources, beyond the intellectual outputs that establishes it as a sustainable resource for teachers long-term. All of our outputs are freely accessible and teachers who have used them to date have been impressed with how useful and supportive they are.All partners have developed new projects or enhanced existing work to include storytelling and digital methodologies as they raise awareness of global issues in the teachers and young people with whom they work. While Covid presented many challenges, it also offered opportunities and added value outcomes- including enhanced resources and outputs."

Place based learning (PBL) is 'about a deep connection with people and place through emotions and knowledge... It is concerned with the interconnecting systems of environmental protection, community development and social justice- the very essence of sustainability.' (Cooper 2016)PLACE: Paths to Learning: Active Community Exploration is an innovative, transnational project that brings together 4 Place Based Learning (PBL) strands into a collaborative project whose super-ordinate goal is to improve the emotional health and wellbeing of children and young people (CYP).PLACE will involve project partners and participants working collaboratively to develop a series of resources (learning guide, toolkit and online community hub) that weave the strands together into a coherent, holistic approach; We will deliver training in our PLACE approach and methodologies- face to face and through webinars; support teachers to develop and embed practice through focus groups and practical support; conduct evaluation and research to evidence impact. Our inter-connected themes include emotional health and wellbeing, environmental and community sustainability. We will focus on the ‘5 ways to wellbeing’ (New Economics Foundation report (2008)) of connect, be active, keep learning, give to others and pay attention. Children and young people will be empowered and through increased agency, will be local community change agents, able to think and act on global, inter-connected issues. This project has been developed to reflect current and ongoing global issues of local relevance, including – social effects of the covid-19 pandemic on people and communities, climate change and biodiversity loss, all of which have added more stress on the emotional health in young people. The project has also been prompted by a growing body of evidence on the importance of PBL and its impact on health and wellbeing, social action and community cohesion. “These practices [curiosity, multiple perspectives, focusing on micro-geographies of place] suggest ways in which ordinary places may be a catalyst for curiosity in ways that may benefit individual and collective forms of wellbeing.” Phillips, Evans, Muirhead. (2015) http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/94007/3/WRRO_94007.pdfOur overall aim is to develop a menu of tools and resources that will support teachers in utilising PLACE effectively as an approach to equipping and empowering children and young people as local and global change agents and becoming resilient and healthy global citizens. These will include:- Philosophy 4 Children (P4C) and Global Learning- Interpretation of Local Heritage and Questing -Therapeutic Approaches to Place - Community Activism / Service LearningTo achieve the project aim the following objectives have been developed:1. Promote knowledge of and skills in place based learning across all partner countries/ settings- including project partners and teachers2. Embed PBL methodologies and approaches to increase children and young people's Emotional Health and Wellbeing (EHWB) and skills in critical thinking and creativity, leadership, collaboration, communication, empathy and their understanding of community3. Engage teachers, children and young people in a range of activities and SDG linked themes that enable them to 'think global, act local'.4. Enable transnational transfer of knowledge and skills, between teachers and children.Our target participants will be teachers (24) in a wide selection of school settings, and their pupils (600) in 3 different countries. Wider dissemination will be to at least 600 more practitioners. The longer-term benefits of the project will be that schools are far better prepared - through deepened teacher competence and confidence - to equip their learners with the learning dispositions, capabilities and personal skills to navigate the complex issues which are inherent in a globalised world. These benefits will extend to wider school communities, building connections and social capital. This is especially important given the current and ongoing challenges to societal and inter-societal cohesion which is posed by dominant narratives around the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, migration and an uncertain economic future.

"People are nowadays becoming increasingly aware of the positive influence of Nature on their health. Nature, among others, fulfills their physical needs by providing unique sensory experiences. The constant desire to return to Nature may be associated with ""innate feelings that people are part of all living things on Earth"" (so-called Biophilia Theory). But also its mystery, depth, beauty, fragility and strength are what attract us at these days of rapidly changing Environment. We are more and more surrounded by inanimate things with monotonous, unchanging and ever-repeating rhythm and way of life that reduces our attention and flexibility.Some human senses may suffer from a lack of contact with nature. Most of the technologies work primarily with sight and hearing, but we also have other senses that weaken by less frequent use. Played down senses, such as smell and taste, are also important for our wellbeing. So called ""3D perception"" of the surrounding environment flattens to ""two-dimensional reality"". Obesity, decreased mobility and overall fitness are successive consequences. Contribution of Nature and Garden Therapy consists of strengthening the physical and mental health, improving relaxation and wellbeing and also shortens hospital stay and leads to reducing of the medicament consumption. Inalienable is also the profit of increasing social integration and intercultural understanding, which are the most current needs of changing Europe. Nature does not know boundaries and can thus become a medium of communication of different social groups regardless of their religion and political view. The garden is an ideal space for intergenerational living and sharing experience. We live in a world where technology and mobility simplifies everyday life, but our contact with natural environment is becoming scarcer. The garden is a safe space for improvement in this situation, which lies right outside our door. It can help improve our motor skills, social skills, increase creativity and enables spontaneous elimination of aggression.Garden Therapy is defined as treatment and relaxation through contact with nature. The nature is represented by garden and as therapeutic remedy are used plants and work in garden. Garden Therapy has preventive effect on health, in social sphere and on relapses. The target group of this project is wide range of people with disadvantages, such as people with health disadvantages (different handicaps or developmental disorders), people after injuries, surgeries or people with mental illnesses. The other target group is defined by people with social disadvantages, such as people in difficult social and economical life situation (migrants, war veterans and refugees, minorities, children from families that fail to fulfil some of its functions, abused people, addicted people, inmates, people in hospices, retirement or nursing homes, single parents and people seeking re-integration or relational competencies, etc.). Each of us is a potential client in current hasty time.In this project we are focused on sharing experiences and best practices when working with target groups. Many of them are on the edge of social interest. They are currently perceived as an economic burden on the social system. Social and Therapeutic Gardening helps build mutual confidence, to acquire knowledge and enthusiasm. It improves employability of the target groups and support their entrepreneurship. The Social and Therapeutic Gardening also helps them to develop their communication, social and entrepreneurial skills. The project partners will become regional coordinators, which will be gradually followed by other organizations from this field and the idea of nature based therapies will eventually spread to the whole Europe.During the project we want to connect organizations dealing with Garden Therapy and Nature based therapies in various European countries. Activities within the project enables mutual exchange of cultural, work and learning experience. Each partner country has a different approach to working with target groups. Therefore it is very useful to be familiar with these different approaches on the spot and show each other what, where and how it works, or what problems they face elsewhere.Seven five-day educational activities for representatives of each partner will be held during project. Each educational activity is hosted by different partner. There are two educational activities per a year; each activity is designed for 2-4 representatives of each partner. The output of the project is summary of experience, creation of a network of potential educators and finding educational needs similar in all countries. In following project we find areas to supplement education common for all EU member states and we set further education in Garden Therapy that is specific for each target group."

"The ""Life from Soil"" project was a joint approach of 9 partners from 9 European countries. They wanted to promote local sustainability, rural communities and vulnerable target groups through tailored educational processes, open and tested. The partnership represents all geographical parts of the European Union and various non-formal and formal educators working in the agricultural, horticultural and environmental sectors. Their target groups range from youth, secondary school students and colleges through vulnerable groups of rural and urban populations as well as the unemployed, seniors, prisoners to their own employees and teachers, trainers, teachers involved in adult and youth education.The overall objective of the project was to: Increase the skills and abilities of vulnerable groups of people to be self-dependent, employable, active and competitive in the pursuit of a lasting, fruitful and enriching life.Specific objectives:1) To increase the skills and abilities of trainers, teachers, trainees and representatives of local communities in formal and non-formal education.2) Develop innovative learning and teaching tools that meet the overall goal and meet the needs of social entrepreneurs and students.The consortium of the project consisted of a group of 4 non-governmental organisations (Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, UK) and 2 Universities (Murcia, Pisa), a vocational school (Naklo, Slovenia) and two local action groups (LAGs) of LEADER initiative. Despite the differences and different practices in the process of adult and youth education, both the expert and management teams of the project found common ground and common procedures for implementing the activities. The excellent communication ability of all participants to communicate in English, as well as the skills necessary for the implementation of activities and managerial tasks, contributed to this.The project was organized in work packages managed by various project partners. The project activities in these work packages were primarily focused on the design, preparation, testing and dissemination of learning tools (a best practice guide and a modular training course including demonstration test mobility for practical assessment of learning tools).In order to share knowledge, develop skills and create twinning and lasting relationships, the project has organized three types of transnational learning / teaching activities:a) based on an analysis of training needs of trainers and educators through on-site visits to the selected partner(b) local training (mixed staff and beneficiaries) provided by qualified trainers of the partnersc) Qualified partners preparing specialised training for 3 demonstration and test sites (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary).The project has organized 8 five-day training courses for partner staff and their target groups. All courses and seminars were professional and very well prepared with excellent referrals and evaluations of participants, three dissemination events and 5 multinational meetings, which besides management issues were also devoted to professional discussions for the preparation of intellectual outputs.The project has organised various information dissemination platforms, including three dissemination actions (2 specific workshops for the dissemination of training tools in the framework of testing mobilities) and a final dissemination conference for dissemination and awareness raising.The project has created 2 mental outputs: a good practice guide and a modular training course - a demonstration test for the practical evaluation of educational tools. The guide, which is available in 8 partner languages ​​in electronic form, has received a great deal of appreciation and a keen interest in its use. It is available on the project portal, promoted through social networks and partners' websites, and on the VALOR platform. The modular training jury consists of 9 double-sided modules, available in the same platform as the handbook.The sustainability of the project is ensured by an open platform for uploading of new best practices to the existing Guidebook as well as adding modular courses to an existing packages. There is is a strong interest among the partners for follow up activities. Currently, an investment project is being prepared, which, according to the model of Ryton Gardens, UK, will establish new therapeutic gardens in Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine. Among other things, participants of education and dissemination activities are more interested in cross-border co-operation in the field of self-sufficiency development and social enterprises and already started cooperation."