Community Consultations

The Community Consultations were an important step of the Big Foot project, which is grounded in all-inclusive stakeholder participation, and were used to inform the residents of participating communities about the project, to ask for feedback, suggestions, and preferences of the locals, to decide jointly on the focus of the project interventions, and to involve those interested in the further Big Foot activities.Each partner held several consultation meetings.

 

Berkovitsa, Bulgaria

The Following consultation meetings were organized in Berkovitsa:
  • The Start-up Public Evening
  • Community Consultation with the Big Foot Partnership
  • Consultation Meeting in Ivan Vazov School
  • Stakeholder Consultation Meeting in the community center “Ivan Vazov”
Who was expected at the Community Consultation?

All interested residents of Berkovitsa, representatives of both younger and older generations; students, local associations, craftsmen, mountaineers.

How were the people invited to the consultations?

Some of the consultations were organized jointly with other community events. In this case, information was disseminated through organizations participating in the events. In other cases local civic associations, NGOs and schools were contacted.

How were the final decisions about the experiments made?

The ideas from the consultation meetings, including responses to the questionnaires, results of the feasibility study, and advice of the Big Foot Intergenerational expert from the MENON Network EEIG lead to the selection of activities in tourism development, including excursions to the local mountains and natural and historical sights, as potential touristic routes and destinations.

 

Gubbio, Italy

The Community Consultations with the local population in Gubbio took shape of a series of informal public evenings, organized in the Gubbio City Center and in neighboring villages (Semonte, Padule, Madonna del Prato, Branca, Mocaiana).Moreover, as a result of public evening and project events, more individuals and local associations wanted to learn about the project, thus even more consultations were organized at a later stage, in order to involve those newly interested.

The public evenings aimed at informing the participants about the project, at building trusting relationships between them, both at a project level, and considering further development after the project lifetime – by starting to form the Big Foot society.

The Following Informal public evening were planned and organized:
  • Public Evening with the elderly adults and their families
  • Two meetings with the main representatives of the Elderly Association
  • Consultations with the young residents and an Association working with youth
  • Public evening with the Gubbio Municipality Youth Council (CCRR)
  • Meeting with the Padule Priest
  • Public evenings in Semonte, Mocaiana, Branca, Madonna del Prato with the residents and representatives of local associations
  • Presentation of the Big Foot Project at the University of the Elderly and in the Local Public Library
  • Pubblic Evening in Municipality with the Gubbio Municipality Youth Council
  • Meeting with Caritas - a local association working with disadvantaged women in the Gubbio area
Who was expected at the Community Consultation?

The entire community, including local authorities, local partnerships/groups and civil society organizations, project leaders, institutions, associations, decision-makers, representatives of tourism, local development agencies, interest groups.

How were the people invited to the consultations?
  • General information about Big Foot Project was published on the Municipality of Gubbio Website and on the Facebook page of Informagiovani (Information Center for the local Youth on job study & volunteering opportunities). The website information reaches stakeholders at regional and national level, in addition to the general public.
  • An informative leaflet about the project and posters promoting each public event were printed and disseminated throughout the community before every community consultation.
How were the final decisions about the experiments made?

As a result of the community consultations, several organizations expressed their interest in participating in the Big Foot Project, including the Caritas Association, working with the Immigrants, the University of the Elderly, the CCRR, the Elderly Association (Centro Sociale S. Pietro) and the Comunità Montana, organizing the Truffle event.

From the multiple ideas, the local partners had to focus on just a few. The final decision was made by the Municipality of Gubbio, in consultation with the local participants, Gouré srl, and facilitated by the expert on the Big Foot Intergenerational Approach from MENON Network EEIG. The Big Foot activities in Gubbio would focus on the culinary tradition, and include cooking classes with the immigrant women, and storytelling. After this, several working meetings with the interested residents were organized in order to finalize the organization of the selected activities.

 

Trikala, Greece

The Following community consultations were planned and organized:
  • The Start-up Public Evening
  • Meetings with Women Rural Association of the Prinos Village
  • Meeting with educational authorities in Trikala
  • Consultation with teachers and school advisors in Kalambaka
  • Consultation at the Elderly Open Care Centre of Kalambaka
  • Project partner meeting with the local stakeholders
Who was expected at the Community Consultations?

School councils, facilitators, teachers, students of primary and secondary schools, members of the elderly open care centers, authorities responsible for aging, employers of elderly care centers, deputy mayor, social workers, physicians, trainers, nurses, retired professionals, knowledgeable in natural and cultural heritage of the area, collectors of traditional artifacts, local producers.

How were the people invited to the consultations?
  • The identified individuals and organizations were invited by phone. In some cases, phone calls were followed up by a pre-visit and a personal consultation, such as in the case of the local producers. The video of the project activities was used to present it at the consultations organized at a later stage of the project, such as the one in the open care center. In addition, invitations to the consultations and project newsletters were disseminated widely to all people in the database of the local partner.
How were the final decisions about the experiments made?

The initial idea of the local organizers, based on the first consultations, was to focus the Big Foot activities on local gastronomic specialties. However, the results of the SWOT analysis and the consultation with the teachers and school councilors, made it clear that organizing activities in several thematic sessions would provide the best solution.  This approach allowed incorporating many ideas, suggested by the participants throughout the consultation process.