Ideas Factory prezentation

Presentational booklet by Ideas Factory Association © 2015 Photographs: © Ideas Factory Association ideasfactorybg.org

Baba Residence

People in the village

Crafts and nature

Young people

What will happen if we connect the potential of unemployed young people with the knowledge of older people, living in deserted villages?

"Baba Residence" – one of our dreams that came true!

We will create an innovative social entrepreneurial model, in which we will use Design thinking and skills for ethnological studies, while living in the country with a granny for a period of 4 to 6 weeks!

Making bracelets, necklaces and other bead jewelry are skills that are threatened with extinction! Can you imagine that in time there will be nobody to produce such beauty? “Baba Residence� is determined to revive and preserve the crafts and skills that may soon disappear.

The visit of Ideas Factory and Ongal Association in the village of Drianovo, Municipality Luki

“Baba Residence” (*Baba = Granny) met two seemingly distant worlds – those of the young urban people and of the old mountain village people in depopulated communities. The result? Bright and colorful ideas how to preserve and nourish the uniqueness of these wonderful villages - ranging from sustainable “baba”-business, new eco trails and routes to poetic diaries. But all of them were born during heartwarming conversations and sharing with the local people, mostly in front of the only small village shop.

18 young people were selected after applying to be part of a process where they got familiar with Human Centered Design tools and techniques, defined an area they would like to work in and started their “Residence” in the villages for a month in 4 different mountain rural communities – Muslim and Christian - with quite diverse resources, needs, stories and knowledge to share. As a result 10 ideas that will revive local economies are being developed and became part of the Social Innovation Incubator where they keep on getting closer to realization and support.

Most of the month spent during “Baba Residence� the residents lived the life of their hosting community – diving in all daily routines and tasks of the villagers: tossing hay, chasing sheep, picking fruits, vegetables and herbs, knitting, cooking, cleaning streets, painting the village church, discovering the surrounding environment and community - looking at the organic ways to integrate into the community life.

Such were the usual sights you very quickly get to perceive as your natural habitat while living in Rhodope mountains. The rich elating green of the summer mountain forests was always cozily surrounding the everyday life of a resident. But still for an active citizens as most of the residents - was impossible to ignore the huge trucks, transporting illegally lodged wood, rushing through some of the village streets.

One of the last functioning looms in good condition we found in one of the four villages that were part of “Baba Residence�. The village is called Dzhurkovo and grandma Elka is showing us the art of weaving.

Knowledge shown and stories told over the loom were extremely precious and made us get closer to understand how a 80 years old illiterate woman could sue a Water company in the court (and win), to build her home all by herself and yet to be able to bring her wood everyday on her back from the forest.

Crafts, stories but mostly an authentic way to meet one another.

The residents tasted, cooked and gathered all sorts of recipes for traditional dishes, distinctive for the local Rhodope cosine. It always tastes better cooked by four hands.

Recipe for piturki from granny Maria 1 package of white flour 1 spoon salt 1 spoon oil 3 eggs (gift from a village granny) 1 handful of baking soda 400 g Bulgarian sour milk (yoghurt) Put the salt and the oil and the eggs in one big bowl. Mix them well together and add the yoghurt, the baking soda and and the flour. Mix well into a homogeneous dough. Then divide the dough to big balls (at least 7-8). Each ball will be a piturka. Roll out each one of them. Granny Maria baked them directly upon the stove, lit with wood.

Heart-to-heart talk, herbs and welcoming the unknown in each other with the grandmothergrandchild attitude was the natural way of things during “Baba Residence�. The link between generations and cultures is a cornerstone of any new social innovative model that will be developed during the Baba-social innovation Incubator. The ideas need to meet the needs of the elderly but also to emphasize on their abilities, resources and resilient lifestyle.

It’s a two way street. Younger learn and try to be helpful, elderly are teaching us and sharing their stories so that we together can come up with a model facing and answering challenges such as depopulation in rural areas, loss of traditional knowledge and the lack of communication between those two worlds: of the elderly people in the mountain areas and younger urban population.

Challenges

Public and private sector

Active society

The steps 1

find collaborators and friends

3

get a mission

4

2

gather them and register a team

dive in the challenge

6 5

generate a solution

present your idea

7

get in the Ideas Camp!

There is no Change without Challenge! We mixed them in Social Innovation Challenge - a unique format that combines a 4-day adventure with a mission for social change. This event is the first of its kind and it designed to help solving specific problems for minimum time in an optimal way.

At the start of the Challenge along with their mission the participants receive a guide book with useful tips. Thus we encourage them to apply the Human Centered Design (HCD) method: to go to the heart of the problem; to Hear the needs of the community; to Create innovative methods to meet those needs; to Deliver solutions that work in a specific cultural and economic context.

Team “Bosonogite� recieve their mission in the centre of Burgas.

The cahllenges in the life of Bulgarians can be not only a reason for negativity, but a great engine for innovative solutions. Using problems as a basis for new solutions, we can be a community of capable, creative and solidary people, who understand that individual progress depends on the progress of the environment and vice versa.

The Social Innovation Challenge turned into a massive celebration of our ability to help one another, to discover hidden opportunities in our country and to live in cooperation instead of competition.

We could not leave the teams without helpers! SĐž we gave each team an Angel - a mentor to turn to when help was needed during the adventure!

The Angels are a part of the Ideas Factory Trainers pool and their task is: to be empathetic; to listen; to refrain from evaluative thinking and sharing their own ideas; to stimulate creative thinking by asking questions not by giving solutions.

There are no winners and losers in Social Innovation Challenge, only sustainable solutions to social problems and ideas with more potential for development. The teams with such results were given the opportunity to develop their projects at the Changemakers Academy.

With nearly 300 people across the country, registered in 85 teams, the Challenge proved that mission "Change" is possible even in our latitudes!

BURGAS VRATSA ROUSSE VARNA PLOVDIV SOFIA STARA ZAGORA

SOCIAL INNOVATION CHALLENGE

In 2014-16 the Challenge reached more than 10 000 Bulgarians through the traditional and online media

It brought together more than 270 participants organized in 85 teams in 7 Bulgarian cities in order to find solutions to 85 burning social challenges.

25 teams are catalizing their idea’s progress in the social innovation incubator.

Đœore than 500 people were reached as a direct result from the projects up to this point, more to come.

INTERNATIONAL FORUM FOR EMPATHY-DRIVEN CHANGE IN EASTERN EUROPE

Interaction

Public and private sector

Community

When it comes to social innovations Bulgaria and Eastern Europe have remained in a vacuum and our aim is to bring fresh air to push forward a movement for socially relevant and effective glocal (global + local) solutions. This is why we created EMPATHEAST – 3-day international forum for empathy-driven social change.

At EMPATHEAST we question, recall, experience and recreate the meaning of the word community!

PAY AS YOU WISH

In order to talk about social innovation we have to be ready to take risks. That is why EMPATHEAST started with a brave economic experiment - the entry to the forum was based on the principle "Pay as you wish". Every participant was free to pay whatever amount they want after the end of the forum, thus evaluating what EMPATHEAST has given them.

ART

Challenge

ART Innovation Challenge

EMPATHEAST transformed also the streets of Plovdiv with the ART INNOVATION CHALLENGE! The format challenged local artists and creative people to come up with innovative ways to change the urban environment under the theme "Collective intelligence". The goal was to use the language of art - performance, installation, exhibition, game, etc. to involve a maximum number of people in creating a shared vision about changing their environment.

Playback theatre “Here and Nowâ€? provoked intense emotions, feelings and thoughts thanks to their impressive play and interpretations of personal and socially important topics. They were on one hand the binding element between panels in the program and on the other, the kinĐ°esthetic diary which told personal stories and experiences through art and with a sense of humour.

We do not like hierarchy! Our speakers don’t like it either! Their behaviour and stage presence were inviting and stimulating participation and dialog with the audience. Of course, the scenography played its part as well with all participatory forms and spaces.

Ralph Boelke for Transition Towns

The inspirational virtuoso Miha Pogacnik was one of the speakers at EMPATHEAST 2014 because we believe that empathic leadership is one of the most important qualities of the contemporary changemakers.

Design thinking, naturally, had a key place at EMPATHEAST. How to walk in the shoes of others and build a solution that not only solves the problem technically, but also influences people’s lives better?

Jason Nardy from Banca Etica Foundation involved the participants in his workshop in a game of ‌ banks! A game which discloses the connection between our personal choice of financial investments and their (indirect) influence on the quality of life of all of us - a game which draws light on the choice we make every day!

In order to make and be the empathy driven social change, we are due to invest in three levels of stability: as human beings, as professionals and as citizens. These words belong to Guus Geisen and were taken from his workshop in which he showed to all participants how system thinking is inseparable part of the education of the future.

Покана Invitation EMPATHEAT Dinner

The first get-together dinner at EMPATHEAST the only limit for the dishes in the menu could have been our collective imagination because speakers and participants cooked together!

Making innovative solutions is always easier when more hearts and minds work together as one.

More than 100 people representing different nationalities and from all walks of life were involved in the biggest so far WORLD CAFE in Bulgaria discussing burning social issues.

Patricia Munro and Jeffrey Beeson - two of the creators of the format came especially to facilitate the WORLD CAFE at EMPATHEAST.

During the 4-hour WORLD CAFE the participants came up with 12 ideas for social projects which are ready to be adopted, developed and put into action.

Cosmos Cinema is considered one of the symbols of civic engagement and position in recent years in Plovdiv. Its space like all other EMPATHEAST locations was also transformed in the proper manner to host art performances and lively discussions of the Saturday workshops.

Reflection after 3 days of lectures, games, workshops, collective intelligence and dialogue for social change. The Playback Theatre Here and NOW summarised it all in one performance where everybody's individual story could be told... and it resonated with the 3-day journey of all others. Empathy!

In the last day of the Forum all participants gathered together to share impressions, thoughts, feelings and to look at each others’ eyes in new, a little more empathetic way.

Tandem is an international cultural collaboration programme that strengthens civil society in Europe and neighbouring regions.

In 2017 the focus of Tandem Europe is on social innovation through cultural collaboration.

Public institutions and administration, civil society actors that are not primarily working in the field of arts and culture are also strongly welcome to apply. The topics of commons, urban and rural regeneration are also included in Tandem 2017.

Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland are all eligible to apply for Tandem for the time together with all current 28 EU countries.

This year Ideas Factory, together with 2 other organizations, is a part of the co-creation of Tandem Europe and will host the first event from the programme – Partner Forum – in October in Sofia, Bulgaria.

DEADLINE for application: 15 May 2017 – 30 June 2017 www.tandemforculture.org