The Process

FIRST STAGE Selected communities in four countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy) will participate in the “mapping”:  a process of consultation driven by the locals and discovering the local perspective, with a goal to identify the needs and to evaluate the characteristics of target groups and environmental, historical, cultural resources.

SECOND STAGE The results of the participatory mapping will be used to identify and develop the learning and training intervention: a combination of experiential learning and community service opportunities, by integrating senior citizens experiences with community needs.

Methodology

Elderly locals will act as trainers of younger people, tourists and interested stakeholders within three themes:

• Tourism: promoting cultural tourism development through
  • Story-telling among the young people, who will interview elderly locals from mountain areas and produce short movies illustrating local stories, traditions, places and products.
  • Intergenerational “promenades” through local history, personal memories, nature-watching, or simply intergenerational leisure.
• Handicrafts: training youth in the production of local handicrafts
• Ecology of production and consumption: training and awareness courses on the wise use of local resources for cooking, home keeping; recycling “art”.

The learning and training process will help the local communities come up with simple but useful development solutions specific for their area and based on the local traditional knowledge resources.