Cooperation for the conservation and promotion of traditional gardening.

The project envisages to involve local communities, mainly children and students, in activities to preserve and promote traditional gardening.In the target project area, Arad, Bekes and Csongrad counties, Western Romania and South-Eastern Hungary, due to modern agricultural techniques and changes in economical patterns, the subsistence agriculture, including home gardening, lost most of their importance. As a consequence, most of the local breeds of plants were also lost. The project envisages to preserve and to promote the remaining traditional gardening values, as part of the local cultural traditional heritage and as a factor for landscape biodiversity conservation. Also, the project will contribute to creatinh healthy lifestyles, by activating children, youth and adults, and by teaching them healthy feeding habits. In this way, the project tackels 3 important aspects for sustainable development: cultural exchanges and social integration, improving lyfestyle habits with effect on health, conservation and promotion of biodiversity and green infrastructure.The project has three approaches in contributing to the conservation of traditional gardening and local breed conservation:Technical approach, by collecting seeds of local breed and traditional cultivated plants and using the in demonstrative gardens and seeds collection, to insure their long term perpetuation.Raising public awareness through visibility actions as the ”Seeds collection expedition”, the ”Traditional School Gardens” and the ”Seeds Exchange Fair” which will be visible to a very large number of people,Children education and motivation through their direct preparation and involvement in seed collection, seeds exchange, contributing to maintaining in a traditional manner the demonstrative gardens and the ”Traditional School Gardens”. Target groups are: involved personnel of the partners, involved children, involved local people which will provide plant seeds, participants to projects events and activities, local and county communities. Each partner will perform specific technical activities, for the involvement of local communities and the conservation and promotion of traditional gardening. Both partners may be involved in solving the problems encountered during project implementation, with technical counceling and know-how exchange, in some cases even with practical physical contribution. Main specific activities are the following:Selecting and preparing students for project activities, mostly for traditional gardening and seed collection and preservation, from 10 different schools, 5 schools from Arad county and 5 schools from Bekes county.Organizing and performing a ”Seeds Collection Expedition”, in over 15 localities of Arad, Bekes and Csongrad counties.Preparing ”Traditional Gardening Manuals” for kids.Organizing and preparing ”Traditional school gardens” in 10 different schools, 5 schools from Arad county and 5 schools from Bekes county,Organizing ”Seed Exchange Fairs”, one in Arad and one in Gyula.Organizing and preparing demonstrative traditional gardens - one in Gyula and one in Semlac.Both partners will be involved equally in all projects activities. Main communication activities will be:start up press conferences, one in Arad organized by LP and one in Gyula organize by PP, publishing articles in local press and news, at local regular or on-line TV stations, producing info and publicity materials. Main management activities refer to project reporting, public procurements, communication with the Managing Authority and the Joint Secretariat, respectively with First Level Control bodies and communication with third parties.The cross-border approach is need due to the geographic characteristic of the project area. Practically, the entire project area belongs to the Great Southern Plain, part of the Pannonian bio-geographic region. The geographic and climatic characteristic makes the area a unit where cultivated plants grow under similar conditions.The project approach is new cause till now children were never involved in a dedicated seed collection initiative. Also, children from urban areas were rarely challenged to perform traditional gardening activities. The project will combine practical and theoretical/educational activities, which will contribute to the harmonious development of participant children. R11/b Intensity level of cross-border cooperationThe project will be visible to a large number of people, children and adults. Also, a large number of children and adults will participate in project activities, as seeds collection expedition, seeds exchange fair, traditional gardening in schools. These activities and interactions, with the support of the visibility materials, will increase cooperation among citizens of the to partner countries.
At least 620 participants will be involved in project activities, out of which about 310 Hungarians and 310 Romanians. It is expected that a large number of projects participants will contribute to a long lasting cooperation of an important share of Hungarian and Romanian participants.