Proponent
Erjavec Iztok, Klemen Bizjak
Main responsible entity
Erjavec Iztok
Date/Timeframe
Due to problems problem is facing we could not make a timeframe for implementation. Timeframe of project proposal is based on the growing season.
Funding source
We have only small donation from Austria (70 €) which cover office rent and bank account costs and enable us to further develop project for application for national and international calls for founding but all of team work is on voluntarily basis.
Location
Maribor and rural area around the town. We would like to extend implementation in other regions of Slovenia and abroad.
Background/Context
In the town we have high unemployment and a lot of social endangered people whose salary isn’t enough for decent living. They would like to eat healthy food but cannot afford it. They would like to grow their food but have no land and no knowledge. On the countryside we have a lot of elderly farmers who cannot work on the land due to their age and cannot earn from agriculture, small pension isn’t enough for decent living. Consequently the land is overgrowing and we are losing landscape diversity and biodiversity of traditional cultural landscapes. Both groups are socially isolated and in bad psychosocial condition. Among major population of Slovenia we have apathy and depression. Between employed people we have negative selection which is consequence of fear that people will lose their job. A lot of employed people have salary which not provide them decent living and live at risk of poverty. Low self-sufficiency of Slovenia with domestic food production. Problem is that the situation is getting worse and agricultural ministry did not stop this trend. In case of our project and our experiences we can say that there is no will for implementation of the project although there are negative demographic trends in the rural areas, overgrowing of agricultural land and low food self-sufficiency.
Focus/Objectives
Connect these two socially endangered groups from different environment (rural and urban) for cooperative food growing and improvement of their social and economic situation. Elderly farmers will teach people from towns to grow food and they will share the harvest. During this process people will also learn about traditional knowledge of food processing, crafts and skills which will provide them basis for future employment. This is also work integration process and aim of the project is to establish Work Integration Social Enterprise for benefit of both groups and extend this model to other regions of Slovenia and abroad.
Key characteristics of the experience/process
Empower people for intergenerational cooperation. Establish once common practices in our environment (cooperation, cooperatives, intergenerational transfer of knowledge) which are being lost in today’s society, but were common until 1991. Our experiences have shown that people are not willing and afraid to reintroduce these practices but knowledge and experiences are present among older generation. This is also due to legislation which monetary punished people involved who help each other and develop community practices, which are present throughout the history in this area and enable people in the past to survive. We could say that people are living in the fear which is much bigger that in former Yougoslavia.
Key actors involved and their role
- Elderly farmers: allow re-start farming on their land, teach people how to grow food and transfer other knowledge of older generation to younger ones for insight into possibilities to earn income from agriculture, traditional crafts and skills
- Unemployed and social endangered people in towns: learn how to grow food and learn about traditional crafts and skills for improvement of social and economic condition.
- Members of the Institute InTeRCeR team: connecting people, help them by cooperation with experiences and knowledge, management and coordination of process.
- Founders: enable implementation of the process.
Key changes observed with regards to food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture and food systems
The biggest change in agriculture in Slovenia happened in year 1991. To this date Slovenia was self-sufficient and all food processing chain was based on domestic production. All the agricultural policies were based on the approach to cultivate all agricultural land and everyone who possesses land could earn income from cultivation. There was also a lot of direct contacts between farmers and consumers with direct buying from farmers - know your farmer. Then we entered “free market” and now we have huge problems. Change of the system has brought mistrust between people because there is no legal protection against criminal acts, which are associated with non-payment and frauds. Policy of subsidizing agriculture does not favor small farmers who live in areas with limitations for agriculture; consequently small farmers are abandoning agricultural production.
Challenges faced
The biggest problem which has prevented project implementation is Slovenian legislation. Our approach is considered as illegal work. We are addressing more problems combined so there is need for interdepartmental coordination but relevant ministries are not willing to cooperate among themselves for support of the project. WILSE (work integration social enterprise) need founding due to fact that the most important impact is work integration of long-term unemployed and social endangered people There is also no interest of ministries for support by project application for national and international calls for founding.
Lessons/Key messages
Slovenia is not ready for such social innovation, although we have received awards abroad; the most important is selection among 30 semi-finalist on European Social Innovation Competition 2015. Due to legislation problems in Slovenia project could not receive one of the awards despite the fact that it had the biggest social impact among all selected projects. We need to take different approach o legislation - Integral approach, from the southern realm – nature and community. Legislation on nature protection, social legislation and human rights, especially legislation about decent living of citizens. The right to live in a natural environment, to drinking clean water, eat healthy food and to live in dignity should be provided to every citizen of Slovenia. In this situation is the only possibility to go abroad and there start with the implementation of the project in the international environment.
Erjavec Iztok