Eco-educational garden for youth entrepreneurship skills development

<< Background >>Eco-gardens created in collaboration with youth and local community members give participants and the community at large with health, economic, educational, social, and environmental benefits. It creates a community social gathering area and encourages people to share intergenerational knowledge. It is crucial to the community since it fosters strong bonds among neighbors while combating a lack of social cohesiveness. Gardening can be viewed as one of the most powerful tools for establishing communities, promoting participatory and active citizenship, fostering creativity, developing entrepreneurial skills, and taking control of one of the most basic requirements - food supply. The need for the project was based on the recognition that gardening could serve as an excellent non-formal teaching tool. It allowed participants to explore healthy lifestyle options, learn about food sources, and comprehend natural processes. Furthermore, gardening is a technique of empowering young people by assisting them in acquiring practical skills for their own lives and the work market.<< Objectives >>The project's goal was to provide experiential learning opportunities for rural and urban youngsters to develop self-reliance, employment skills, and entrepreneurial competence through the cultivation of an eco-garden. The objectives of the project were:1. To create an innovative and engaging digital hands-on organic gardening guide/guide for youth.2. Create practical creative workshops where participants learn to work in a team, improve/develop green and entrepreneurial skills, healthy nutrition and community involvement in joint activities.3. Through experiential activities (training), to introduce youth to basic horticultural/gardening techniques, botany, nutrition and sustainable land management.<< Implementation >>Activities implemented: 1. Developed innovative digital practical guide book on eco-gardening for youth;2. Created workshops for youth to improve/ develop soft skills such as time management, group building, and teamwork, knowledge of designing business plans in eco-gardening.3. Piloted and updated created workshops for youth4. The created material was translated and transformed into attractive output5. Organized training for youth in Turkey , Izmir city for 13 participants on basic horticulture techniques, botany, nutrition.6. Organized 3 international meetings (2 virtual meetings and 1 meeting in Lithuania).7. Additionally, organized planting activities with local community.<< Results >>Project outcomes include: - created 1 digital practical guidebook on eco-gardening for youth.- designed and piloted 6 practical workshops to develop adolescent competencies in the following areas: awareness of major ecological factors, improved soft skills such as time management, group building, and teamwork; knowledge of designing business strategies in eco-gardening.- through experiential activities, arranged training in Turkey (Izmir) on basic horticulture methods, botany, nutrition, and sustainable land stewardship for youth.