solidarity group was born in 2010 in Zagreb , under the name " GSR Srijeda ", starting in this way the name " GrupaSolidarneRazmjene - GSR ", which literally translated means " solidarity exchange group ", but for convenience and because of unity within the project Social Start Ups will be denoted by the acronym " EPG ".
What is worth highlighting from the beginning is that the EPG Srijeda was a group composed primarily of consumers , who have joined the group with the main aim to get healthy food at cheaper prices . Moreover , they have formed a mailing list that day by day has continued to become more and more extensive , but did not carry out any checks on the producers and did not have any direct cooperation with producers , which resulted in a trade and exchange of products of all kinds , and not more regarding genuine and healthy products . In the end , the group stopped to work at the beginning of 2014 .
Within the project " Fine nitilokalnihrazvoja - The thin threads of local developments ", in 2012 , in collaboration with the Italian EPG " Calci ", established in the province of Pisa , it was initiated the founding of a series of new ethnic purchasing groups : EPG Jato ( Zagreb ), Pula EPG , EPG Pod Uckun ( River ) and EPG Cakovec , which was unsuccessful . The project partners were the Association SMAG , initiator of the first EPG , the associations of ecological producers IEP from Pula and Izvor from Sisak , as well as the associations Zmergo from Opatija and Aris from Zagreb . The study visit in Tuscany implemented under the project was of crucial importance , beacause it allowed the initiators of Croatian EPGs to see the functioning of the Italian EPGs ( GAS ). It was here that it began to develop a different concept of solidarity groups ( EPG Pula ), which is supported by the associations of ecological producers and is based on the collaboration between producers and consumers , from the example of the CSA ( Communitysupported agriculture ) and AMAP ( Association pour le Maintiend ' une Agriculture Paysanne ).
On the initiative of the Pula EPG , EPG Porec and EPG Rovinj were born . From the EPG Porec later was formed the EPG Visnjan . Due to the high number of members , two groups divided the EPG Pula : EPG Šijana and EPG Rojc . Subsequently , 4 news EPG divided The EPG Rijeka ( Pod Učkun ): Rijeka West , Pod Učkun East , Drenova and Opatija . In Split was born the EPG Bioniri , EPG Osijek in Osijek , while in Zagreb , following the dissolution of the EPG Srijeda and the enlargement of the idea of the solidarity groups were formed EPG Pozitiva , Pušlek , Tresnja , Maksimir and Waldorf , being the formation of the last one still in procedure .
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