Eco-Motives

  Within the Eco-Motives project, our intent was to develop training programs for ecological agriculture trainers who could meet the needs and especially the language of disadvantaged people living in rural areas. These trainings were absolutely necessary in the context of familiarizing people in rural areas with organic farming. Within the project, we developed educational curricula and teaching materials to facilitate comprehension and assimilation of information. The subjects we covered were as follows: organic vegetable farming, organic fruit growing, and animal husbandry. We consider that Sensitization and Motivation were the necessary levers to teach trainers how to approach people in disadvantaged groups. Some of the results we have reached are the development of explanatory textbooks on organic farming for people in rural areas, through which we have been able to increase their interest in organic farming and fruit growing and to reduce the language barrier that we have noted between specialists in the field and people in rural areas. As a pilot project, we grew an orchard, with a nursery in Locodeni where we grew traditional varieties. This was the villagers „classroom”, where, divided into teams, they were initiated in the techniques of organic farming. We are proud to have made a valuable contribution to motivating and raising awareness among trainers. We are also grateful for the visits in partner countries, who helped us expand our horizons and learn many new things. For example our partner in England, who is in charge of reintegrating disadvantaged people into society, organizes two-year courses in Personal Development through Agriculture, which we find to be an extraordinary idea.