Wieniawa Municipal Office, Wieniawa, Poland
WWF Foundation Poland, Warszawa, Poland
According to the Gminny Program Rewitalizacji (Communal Revitalisation Program), the Wieniawa commune (Mazowieckie province) faces the problem of air pollution, low environmental awareness among its inhabitants and improper waste management and sorting. To address the above problems, we established the Youth Council in Wieniawa, involved in activities for the environment and in creating people- and nature-friendly space at the commune. We organised a meeting with the Youth Council of Poznan that told us about their initiatives. We run a host of workshops and educational events devoted to ecology, the use of art in social projects; we also taught the basics of civic knowledge and participation in public debate devoted to relevant topics from young people’s point of view.
Together with young people, we established in Wieniawa new sites friendly for both inhabitants and the environment, namely an insect hotel, a bee-friendly meadow an an eco-mural. We prepared a nature educational path, installing boards informing on animal species living close to humans. We prepared the “Dobre Sąsiedztwo (Good Neighbourhood)” guide on useful social activity practices in small communes.
The project partners included the Jan Kochanowski Public Primary School with Sports Classes (thanks to which we could reach youths interested in such initiatives), The Wieniawa Commune Office (which helped us establish the Youth Council) and the WWF Polska Foundation (that provided us with thought leadership in the topic of environmental education).
So far there has not been any youth group in the Wieniawa commune engaged in civic activities, which has changed thanks to our project. We have shown to inhabitants how important it is in the local context to establish sites that are friendly to humans and nature. We also started a dialogue with local authorities – the head of the commune stressed that he hoped for the development of cooperation between the commune government and inhabitants in shaping common spaces. The biggest and most long-lasting effect of our work is the establishment of the Youth Council which continues to function and develop also after the completion of the project.
