From 09. to 25.05. we had the great pleasure of hosting an international volunteer team on our farm as part of the European Solidarity Forces program.

This project is implemented with the financial support of the European Commission. Publications related to the same express the author's sole point of view and the Commission cannot be held responsible for the use of the information contained therein.

A total of 12 volunteers from Spain, Lithuania, Italy, Slovakia, Romania, France and Bosnia and Herzegovina participated in our project "ECOVILLE: Designing sustainable rural community" which took place in Vrhovčak near Samobor, on our small Greenville Eco Educational Farm.

In the framework of European Solidarity Forces projects, volunteers invest their time and effort in achieving goals that are significant for the community, while in the process they also develop their personal and professional skills.

The main goal of the project was to contribute to the creation of a rural educational center for children and youth with reduced opportunities. By applying specific methods (agriculture, environmental education, interaction with the local population, etc.), in the rural area, volunteers designed and developed educational and recreational facilities within the center.

The first day of the activity began with the volunteers getting to know each other and getting to know the topic and goals of the activity. The volunteers defined and shared their expectations and fears and expressed the ways in which they can contribute to making the results of their volunteering as high-quality as possible.

This was followed by a team building program with the aim of developing group dynamics and cohesion, in which the participants learned leadership and teamwork skills through interactive games.

We ended the day with an introduction to the program of the European Solidarity Forces and the possibilities it offers for involving young people. We also talked about the Erasmus+ program, given that for most volunteers, participation in this project is their first international experience, and they showed great interest in participating in similar programs in the future.

It was extremely important to familiarize the volunteers with the concept and significance of the Eco Educational Farm and its contents for the rural community where it is located. In this way, the volunteers got an impression of the importance of their contribution to the development of the farm and gained a sense of ownership over the future project results.