SOCIAL FARMING, OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN

EUROPE

General Project Information

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Hello, we are “Together for personal development” NGO from Plovdiv, Bulgaria and we have the great pleasure to invite you to our project “Social farming, opportunities and challenges for young people in Europe”. Please take a look at this brochure which will give you basic knowledge for the main activities involved in the project, some interesting facts for Plovdiv and also some useful information about your trip to our beautiful city. Enjoy!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Project……………….………………………………… 03 | Page

The City Of Seven Hills………………………………….. 08 | Page

The Project Venue………..………………………………. 11 | Page

How To Reach Plovdiv? ………………………………… 13 | Page

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Travel Arragements ……………………………………… 18 | Page

The Project

“Social farming, opportunities and challenges for young people in Europe” is aimed at providing a platform for debate and exchange of good practices for young people and youth workers converge innovative approaches to address rural unemployment and social inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities through promotion of opportunities offered social farming based on biodynamic agriculture and informal education. Social farming is a social entrepreneurial model in which agricultural activities include youth with disabilities and youth groups with members who are disadvantaged to realize additional activities other than conventional farming.

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Planned activities in our project will produce very high quality thematic content based on informal education. Social farming is an approach which uses mostly the so-called soft skills to build adequate social protection and the involvement of target groups in order to reduce unemployment rates. Knowledge and skills in applied social farming are oriented mainly to the method of "learning by doing". They apply entirely voluntary on the part of the teacher to learner.

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Each project participant will receive a certificate Youthpass acquired new knowledge and skills as "Expert building environment" for training young people in social and farm acquired key competencies defined by the European reference framework.

We have prepared a very interesting seven-days-program for you! After introducing the main objectives of the project, the activities included in the program and the expected results, we will give you some very interesting presentations led by professionals in their fields.

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The training lecture "Biodynamic farming methods and principles" will involve participants in the project in an interesting introductory educational video lectures, led from experts in the field of organic farming - Associate Professor Anna Karova and the co-trainer Isabel Pardal of ADPM. Educational materials included in the lecture will be structured through interactive methods to expand knowledge of youth workers in their work with young people in the field of Bio agriculture.

Another interesting lecture will be on "Transition from conventional to biodynamic agriculture", presented by Professor Stoycho Karov - head of four international projects in biodynamic agriculture.

Also will be organized educational video lecture with elements of interactivity on "Elements of social farming". Guest

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speaker will be Isabel Pardal, expert in the field of social farming.

The interactive lecture "Possibilities of organic farms to include young people with disabilities in social activities" will be led by the guest speaker Dimitar Stoyanov, who will present their best practices in its work with disadvantaged youth. Guest lecture will be trainers from the "Rose" in Zelenikovo village. Will be used case- study research and empirical methods.

Workshop will be organized outdoors and visit the first social farm in Bulgaria in the town of Bachkovo. Youth workers will be trained through practical outdoor activities for the management of the farm, the methods used in working with young people in disadvantaged. Learners will be introduced to an innovative business model in practice.

Attractive interactive presentation outdoors will be facilitated by Elena Frau. Topic is related to best practices in Europe in the field of "social farming". Participants will have to submit specific models of their countries and to exchange good practices.

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Moreover, we have prepared many youth workshops, interactive method type "Project work" in working groups, walks in Plovdiv and Bachkovo and familiarization with local culture, customs and traditions, evening games and entertainment. We are sure that at the end of the visit you will gain new knowledge about social farming and will be satisfied with pleasant stay in Bulgaria! So we hope to see you here soon!

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The City Of Seven HillsPlovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria, situated on

the both banks of the Maritsa river. The average temperature in January is +1°С, the average temperature in July is +24°С.

Plovdiv is one of the oldest cities in Europe – the beginning of its history dates back to 4,000 years BC. The town in its present appearance was built around seven hills – the hills of Plovdiv (Plovdiv Tepes) which are an inseparable part of the city’s history.

The town hosts theater, dancing and movie festivals, and the numerous archaeological finds of Thracian, Roman and Byzantine times not only recall the glorious past, but are successfully combined with the modern architecture of the city. There are several museums in Plovdiv – historical, archaeological, ethnographic, and natural science museum, as

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well as an Art Gallery and a Drama Theatre. One of the most famous landmarks is the architectural complex of the Ancient Plovdiv, where many beautiful houses from the times of the Bulgarian Revival had been preserved and restored. Many of them are inhabited to the present day.

Besides cultural attractions, the city offers very good sports and recreation conditions. On one of the city ends lies a rowing base of Olympic size, which offers great conditions for rowing, running and cycling.

The city is a large industrial and commercial center. The famous Plovdiv International Fair, which annually hosts the

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presentation of goods and exchange of contacts and experience between sellers from all around the world, is conducted here.

Because of its unique ancient history and modern developing center Plovdiv was chosen to be the European Capital of Culture in 2019.

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The Project VenueThe main activities will be held in Park Hotel Plovdiv. Set in

the island of quiet that is the ''Lauta'' park, Park Hotel Plovdiv has the advantages of being close to the heart of the city and yet isolated from its bustle, combaining business atmosphere with tourism and recreation.

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Besides elegant rooms and spacious suites, the hotel has a modern equipped conference centre, an elegant A La Carte restaurant, 24 hours working Lobby lounge, Summer Garden & Bar, a modern equipped SPA area Spa & Lounge Deluxe and hairdressing salon.

Some of the outdoor activities will be situated in the mountain village of Bachkovo. It is 20 km from Plovdiv, but still enough to find yourself in another world. The village is famous for its monastery, waterfalls and pure beautiful nature.

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How To Reach Plovdiv?A) Sofia-Plovdiv, 144 km

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1. Sofia Airport www. sofia - airport .bg

2. Sofia Bus Station

You can go from the Airport to the Bus/Train Station by bus and then by metro. There are 2 lines of the Sofia public transportation that can be used to reach the metro. You must use 2 single tickets -

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one for the bus and one for the metro. The dayly or monthly cards can be used in both the metro and the bus.

Bus 384 is the fastest way to reach the metro. The bus stops at Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 and after several intermediate stops terminates at the stop near to metrostation Mladost 1.

Bus 84 connects Sofia Airport with the center of the city. It has stops on both terminals and after multiple intermediate stops along Tsarigradsko Shose Boulevard it has stops near the two Line 1 metrostations Sofia University and National Stadium Vasil Levski.

There is a bus from Sofia to Plovdiv every hour, the first one at 07:00, the last at 20:00 (http://goo.gl/OUMfrq ) . There are also trains from the Train Station (http://razpisanie.bdz.bg/site/search.jsp) but they travel to Plovdiv slower (about 3 hours) while the bus will reach Plovdiv in 1 hour and 30 minutes, so we recommend it.

3.Plovdiv Bus Station

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B) Burgas – Plovdiv, 253 km

1. Burgas Airport www. bourgas - airport .com

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2. Burgas Bus Station

The Airport Bus stop to Burgas is located just outside the Departures Terminal. Bus №15 will take you tothe central bus station at Burgas. Bourgas's main bus station is the "South" station which is next to its railway station on Garov Ploshtad Sq. and services most of the popular local routes including to and from the airport. Once you are at the Bus Station you can get a bus to Plovdiv. The first one is at 07:30 and the last is at 01:00. You can check them here http://goo.gl/dicMAh. There is also a train to Plovdiv (http://razpisanie.bdz.bg/site/search.jsp). The bus will travel to Plovdiv 4 hours and the train is about 5 or even 6.

3. Plovdiv Bus Station

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Travel Arragements19 | P a g e

Participants are expected to arrive in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on 23th of March 2015, after 13:00, and to leave Plovdiv on 29th of March 2015 before 11:00.Organizers will NOT provide any accommodation for additional stay in Bulgaria.

TRAVEL COSTS AND REIMBURSMENTSThe participants are provided with 100% reimbursement of the travel expenses (but no more than amount from distance calculator:http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmusplus/tools/distance_pl.htm),on the basis of the documents stating the costs – meaning boarding cards, electronic tickets (in the case of lack of the cost on the electronic ticket please bring another document with the price stated), train tickets (2nd class, with the price stated), bus tickets (with the price stated). Please send the returning tickets (original, not copies) within 2 weeks after the meeting (until April 14th 2015). Taxi is not eligible mean of transport,Reimbursement of travel costs will only be done by bank transfer to the sending organization upon presentation the original tickets with boarding passes and receipt/invoices (including return tickets)!!! Note: Reimbursement will be done in EUR, regardless of the currency indicated on the ticket and receipt/invoice. Any tickets purchased in a local currency other than EUR, will then be converted and

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calculated according to the exchange rate stated on the official European Commission web-site athttp://ec.europa.eu/budget/inforeuro/index.cfm?Language=en

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