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.
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