Croatia is preparing for a new Prophetic Economy event. Two days of a program dedicated to caring for people, the planet and our future.
Inspired and motivated by the Prophetic Economy event in Rome 2018, where several positive initiatives for sustainable communities were presented, UEZ (Association for EoC)) felt the need to do the same on a local level, so at the annual conference of Economy of Communion, in 2019. we invited change-makers already active in transforming the system, especially at the social, economic and ecological level, to explore together how to do more, through the themes of social economy and sustainable development.
The networking event brought together 100 participants, active change-makers, and experts in their fields, such as the director of ACT Group, the consortium of over 20 social enterprises in Croatia, Permaculture Croatia association, Green energy Cooperative, and Crowdfunding academy working at the European level, University of Agriculture Zagreb, initiatives such as The neighborhoods of the future, Transition movement Croatia etc.
The network continued growing after the first event and we were invited by different organizations or initiatives to present our association and activities: Festival of Sustainability in Rijeka, Association Vestigium in Zagreb (transition initiative in a small neighborhood that makes a bigger change than policymakers), joined Green energy Cooperative as one of the founders etc.
2nd Prophetic Economy / Empowerment of local communities 2020 was organized together with the Transition movement and hosted 60 people from 15 different organizations, mostly green sector but very diverse - from green energy, organic agriculture, sustainable living, private initiatives and individuals to Catholic University and Cro Laudato Si initiative… Covid time was already started so it was a hybrid event with 15 participants on Zoom, but thanks to transition partners and their experience in moderating hybrid events, fully involved in the event. It was a moment of strong dialogue between the Movement (Focolare and EoC Commission were present) and the representatives of these initiatives, mostly non-religious people, but the joy of communion was really felt strongly.
The central theme was the encyclic Laudato Si, like an umbrella that we can all fit into through care for our common home. Dr. Zoran Turza of Catholic University and the Cro Laudato Si initiative presented the encyclical as the highest document of the Church but also stressed that it is a fruit of Chiara's charism and the work of Prof. Bruni and Prof. Zamagni.
In the dialogue, it emerged that we must continue to work together on the care of our common home. They saw in us the Church and look at us as people with meaning in their lives and who enjoy the joy of communion. It was especially obvious in Nenad Maljković's workshop, Full Adjustment - Insight on a Personal Level, where we were divided into groups by 2 and discussed resilience, surrender, return and reconciliation (4Rs in permaculture) and were able to share our experiences and receive their experience and care.
The key words at the end of the event - hope, communion, positivity, resurrection, diversity, etc.
The collaboration in organizing the event on the transition to sustainability has become stable and last year )2021) the theme was Towards lifelong learning for the transition to sustainability. The initiatives and organizations were brought together, focusing on cooperation, exchanging best practices, and promoting unity in a broader sense. Over the three days, we had the opportunity to hear lecturers from Ireland (Davie Philip from the Irish organization Cultivate, who presented the results of the Erasmus+ BLAST project for adult lifelong learning), Steve Charter from the UK, who coordinates the International Network of Permaculture Educators), Boris Goldammer from Germany, who shared concrete tools and methods that an experienced teacher or leader can use in working with groups or individuals). The lectures were mostly interactive, exchanging opinions and sharing experiences.
Saturday was reserved for the theme of education: from kindergarten (Ray of sunlight and 25 years of experience in the pedagogy of communion) to adult education. In order to get a more complete picture of non-formal education in formal terms, Veljko Armano Linta from Satellite Education in a creative and interactive way, presented us the results of the project of non-formal education in primary and secondary schools and created over 200 activities for partners and associates that give teachers the opportunity to simultaneously elaborate the content of their subjects and topics from the curriculum of sustainable development. In addition, the activities are compiled into teaching scenarios that include the ecological, social, economic, and worldview dimensions of regeneracy, thus encouraging teachers, as well as students, to think and participate more actively in society.
We also rejoiced to look at a series of articles about local initiatives on perforum.info called Good Stories, which were created as part of the European Day of Sustainable Communities project, aimed at encouraging and motivating people to be more active in their local communities, which was presented by Marija Košir, journalist and public relations expert).
Continues networking and formation resulted in the association’s incubation program (EoC-IIN) started following a group of ecologic farmers, helping them to establish a sustainable short food supply chain, delivering fresh food, harvested the same day, to the doors of regular customers. In the morning it only collected what will be provided in the afternoon, there is no storage. We have created a community.
This year five members of the Association enrolled in the lifelong training course Laudato Si! - through dialogue to integral ecology organized by the Croatian Catholic University with the aim to adopt and expand the knowledge of the social sciences of the Church related to the conservation of nature and environment. Lecturers are 16 scientists, always available for questions. I used to consider ecology as an ideology, but now I understand more that it is a highly complex interdisciplinary science.
The program of the conference in May will be climate change. We want to collect initiatives (or individuals who want to join) and all forms of government, especially local and take joint action.
PROGRAM OF THE EVENT:
Saturday, 14.05.2022.
- presentation of the MAREA project and Rural academy platform
- biodynamic agriculture for sustainable food production
- sustainable agriculture based on biodiversity
- tradition as innovation
- 20:00 - Screening of the French documentary "Once You Know", Une fois que tu sais, screenplay and direction: Emmanuel Cappellin, France, 2020. language: French, English, subtitles: Croatian, duration 104 minutes
Sunday, 15.05.2022.
- 09:00 - Luca Fiorani (Sophia University Institute, member of internation comitee EcoOne): workshop “Peace is green:heal the earth to dream peace”
- 11:00 - Irena Borovina and Nenad Maljković (Transition centre for Croatia): “Visibility of transition initiatives today and in the future”
- 14:00 - Talks and activities in small groups by method “Open Space Technology”
- 18:00 - CONCERT - Darko Rundek: live concert for participants with an invitation to active citizens of Križevci
