Rural Europe on the move English_chapt1_6 | Page 56

CHAPTER 4 PEO PLE ! An activist, a dreamer, a teacher, a musician, a facilitator, Mikk Sarv doesn’t really fit into ‘boxes’. Deeply committed to Estonian rural life he was Chairman of Kodukant, the Estonian village movement in the early 2000. He became co- president of Forum Synergies together with Isobel Holbourn when the non-profit organisation was officially founded in 2000. He explored Open Space methods in his country and supported its use in Forum Synergies. In past years he has been involved in a Forest School. Welcome to Podlaskie, Poland The ‘Voivod’ (province) of Podlaskie meadows and wetlands with a dense pine forest growing on sandy soils. It is so different from the mountainous Mediterranean rural areas I know in the has frontiers with Belarus, Lithuania Valencia region, where I live. However, and Russia. Its capital, Białystok, has discussing with Elzbieta Strzelecka, 500 years of history and is surrounded a member of Forum Synergies from by the Knyszyńska Primaeval Forest. Poland and Marta Dobrogowska, This region is known for its mosaic of the project manager from the LAG ethnicities, home to Poles, Belarusians, Puszcza Knyszynska, our partner in Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Russians, Tatars the organisation of this workshop, I and Jews. have the feeling that there is maybe In Wales, we identified the principles more in common in terms of ‘culture of and elements of methods that ensure participation’ than I expected between good participative processes. This these two places. Civic Dialogue workshop in Poland Poland lived under the Soviet regime asked participants and local partners for decades whilst Spain was oppressed “How do you support participation and for decades by a dictatorship. My stakeholder dialogue in EU procedures impression is that in both cases the such as Natura 2000, CLLD-LEADER, lack of freedom, the limited access to Water framework (or other ones specific local resources and the difficulties in to the country/region)?” Our train developing civil society movements journey to Białystok cuts through have left a lingering mark. 52