The Tre Fontane urban garden of Rome hosted, on the 8th of July, the event for the presentation of the results of the Erasmus GARDENISER PRO project, a 3-year adventure carried out by the Replay Network Association (www.replaynet.eu ). The project was co-funded by the Erasmus+VET Programme and aimed to test an innovative and European training course to support the professional development of a new figure, that of the coordinator of shared urban gardens (garden-organizer = GARDENISER), which strengthens their knowledge, skills and competences.
The project creates the basis for the gardeniser’s recognition in education and vocational training systems at regional and national level. A path in this direction is to have set as one of the key elements of the RU:RBAN project the Vocational Training in the figure of the Gardeniser, thus demonstrating the possibility of synergies between European projects. The professional figure of the Gardeniser can be counted among the so-called "green jobs", finding their natural positioning within that new and strategic sector, with high employment potential, which is defined as the green economy. The role of the gardeniser is also fundamental as a mediator between the citizens who participate in the urban garden and the institutions, and in the organization and management of the urban garden's sustainability. An online platform has been created (www.gardeniser.eu ) to connect the profiles of the Gardenisers who obtain the certificate and the network of national and international urban gardens, functioning as a tool to facilitate the meeting between job supply and demand.
At the end of 3 years of work, the event of last 8th of July was the opportunity to share with the community the results and tools developed and to give answers to the many questions emerged in the past years such as “what is a community urban garden?”, “Where do I find them?”, “What is a Gardeniser?”, “How do I contact a Gardeniser?”, “What is gardeniser.eu?” “How do I use it?”. All the anti-Covid measures and rules were put in place and the PHYSICAL DISTANCE was respected, however not the SOCIAL DISTANCE. If sociality exists there can be no social distancing… the same thing applies to community urban gardens, which would not exist without the gardeners and their human “touch”. Almost 100 people including urban gardeners, public institutions and organizations took part in the event, all of them committed in promoting the environment and liveability of Rome. Great organization skills were shown by the volunteers of the Tre Fontane urban garden, one of the most significant community gardens in the panorama of Rome, who cooked and distributed “0-meter” food at the end of the meeting.
As many have pointed out, it was not a time of closure but a bridge to the many new ways of development that community urban gardens are following in Rome, Italy and Europe.
Video souvenir of the event: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=605446263439390
Photo gallery: https://www.facebook.com/pg/replaynetwork/photos/?tab=album&album_id=175093300666642
