SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY, SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY
Biciclistas de Corella (Spain), Green Schools/Cyclist.ie – the Irish Cycling Advocacy Network, and Frie Fugle (Denmark) have collaborated with a youth association (LAG Suduva, Lithuania) and Alhama High School (Spain) to devise a project (SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY, SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY) that combines social inclusion, intergenerational relationships, community building and sustainable mobility.
Biciclistas de Corella and Alhama High School kicked off the project in September 2017 by contacting over ten ECF members, and Green Schools/Cyclist.ie and Frie Fugle answered right away. LAG Suduva joined in promptly too.
The international team kept in regular contact over subsequent months to develop the concept and submit an innovative and exciting proposal in March 2018. Four months later they were informed that their project had been approved and funded to the tune of €192,484 for the five organizations for the 3-year project.
“Sustainable mobility, sustainable community” intends to foster intergenerational relationships, youth empowerment, social inclusion, community building and, of course, sustainable mobility. To achieve these objectives the international team plans a series of exchange visits while advancing activities such as a special project blog and website, ‘eTwinning’ (an online platform that helps schools to work collaboratively), signposting and advertising biking trails, bicycle donation campaigns, DIY bike repair workshops – and plugging into the Velo-city International Cycling Conference taking place in Dublin in June 2019… There will be training courses for trishaw riders following Cycling Without Age’s learning scheme and, eventually, elderly people will be ferried about by volunteers to strengthen intergenerational relationships.
The philosophy of the project is based on the “STARS” programme approach – this means that youngsters (students and association volunteers) become “sustainable ambassadors” from the beginning and make all the activities, achievements and changes happen.
The first meeting of «Sustainable mobility, sustainable community» project will take place in Copenhagen in October 2018 and the second in Dublin in June 2019. Four more meetings will be organized in the 4 countries in the last 2 years of the project. Eight people from each organization will attend these international LTT (Learning/Training/Teaching) events: 2/3 adults (teachers, association members, town councilors) and 5-6 youngsters (students and association volunteers). The young people taking part in the project must come from diverse social, cultural and economic backgrounds so that they all can learn from and inspire each other.
Below is a brief overview of the five organizations participating in the “Sustainable mobility, sustainable community” project. -Biciclistas de Corella (http://www.biciclistas.es/ , Navarra, Spain) was founded in June 2005 as a sustainable mobility survey created by teachers and implemented by students in IES Alhama High School. The association subsequently grew quickly and acquired independence by organizing sustainable mobility and community building events. Biciclistas de Corella belongs to ConBici (https://conbici.org), the national platform that advocates urban and recreative cycling and promotes cycling events. Biciclistas has collaborated with town councils,
schools and other associations to foster cycling infrastructures, campaigns and all kinds of cycling activities. -Foreningen Frie Fugle (http://www.freewebsite-service.com/foreningenfriefugle/), founded
in 1982, was the originator of the Eurovelo concept, a network of 13 long distance routes for bicycles that crosses Europe in multiple directions and that has already 20,000 kilometers completed, signposted and in use. In addition, they carry out consulting work on agriculture, environment, sustainable mobility, and urban planning. Frie Fugle collaborates closely with «Cycling Without Age» to organize activities for people at risk of social exclusion using the famous trishaws (tricycles for the elderly). Currently, «Cycling Without Age» operates in 38 countries around the world.
-An Taisce/Green Schools is an NGO that preserves and protects the natural and artistic heritage of Ireland. Founded in 1948, a total of 28 local associations make up An Taisce and 50 people work in different jobs and projects. One of the strands of work is education, in which the popular program «Green Schools» was born. This program is all about promoting sustainable mobility and reducing car use to Irish schools through campaigns, bike workshops and diverse and countless events. 3000 schools have participated to date in «Green Schools». See https://greenschoolsireland.org/. Green Schools will collaborate closely with ECF member group Cyclist.ie (see http://cyclist.ie/), with whom they have a strategic partnership, on this project.
-LAG (Local Action Group, https://www.suduvosvvg.lt/) Suduva is an association that promotes local development at all levels in Kazlu Ruda and Marijampole municipalities (Lithuania). The small population of the region is aging and has problems when organizing social events. LAG Suduva launches courses, workshops and all kinds of events to promote youth involvement, all-ages training, and intergenerational relationships.
-Alhama High School (http://iesalhama.educacion.navarra.es/web/) is located in Corella, an 8,000 inhabitant town in the South of Navarre, Spain. 470 students and 65 adults (teachers and other staff) study and work in a school that has participated in countless international projects, namely several Erasmus+ KA1, Comenius (“A Greener World”, 2013-2015), exchanges and immersions for students. They have collaborated with Biciclistas de Corella regularly, but this is the first time the school participates in an international sustainable mobility and community building project.
