We center the Alps, as they already have been affected by anthropogenic climate change and are currently at risk of a type of tourism that lacks adequate awareness and knowledge of mountain protection. In co-creation with mountain communities we will amplify the needs and practices that challenge the processes of Earth destruction. We value the concept of collective feminist leadership and work with consciousness raising excersices.

We will focus on the Italian and Slovenian Alps, with a focus on deserted side valleys.

The pandemic has intensified the urgency of transformative systemic and cultural change. The impact of the ecosystem’s destruction, caused by the consideration of the Earth as a resource at the disposal of humans, is now clearer than ever. It is vital to foreground and re-signify the fundamental understanding that we are interconnected and belong to nature, and that we can only recover if we are grounded in solidarity and collective care. Considering Earth protection at the core of a recovery from the pandemic, we centre mountains, as they have been deeply affected by anthropogenic climate change and are currently at risk of a type of tourism that lacks adequate awareness and knowledge of mountain protection.

We want to collaborate with locally rooted initiatives that work with a community-driven approach on mountain and earth protection and mountain communities in rural areas towards a just future for everyone. Our work is focused on building the collective feminist power of mountain women, and more broadly of all those identities (not only gender) oppressed by the patriarchal system.
Whereas mountain communities can benefit from the already consolidated structures of regional initiatives, the initiatives themselves gain additional, alpine-wide and worldwide, range. The idea behind this is that we can only face the global crisis if we come together in solidarity.

Once collaborations in selected areas of the Italian and Slovenian Alps are established, we will plan a feminist participatory research process. This includes a collective mapping of the regions to create a common baseline and identifies the specific needs of mountain communities to shape the process towards their benefit. We will then facilitate some offline events, including, whenever possible and appropriate, collaborative local hikes with workshop-based activities, to enable the process of sharing experiences, practices and learnings on ecological awareness.
For each region, we will develop a resource and disseminate it including across groups and organizations that care for Earth protection and adopt feminist approaches.

The key deliverables of the project are to co-create a set of collaborative multi-media resources through feminist participatory research. The resources will be hosted on one dedicated website possibly including: participatory documentary; interactive photographic online exhibition; creative digital book/zine; toolkit (based on feminist popular education). The multi-media materials aim to create accessible learning resources on feminist mountain protection, including ‘leave no trace’ practices and knowledge on mountain herbs and other tools for healing and care, and build a collective narrative and inspiration.

On both a personal and collective level we create awareness about power dynamics with the help of feminist popular education and consciousness-raising workshops.The participatory process of our project serves as a first insight into working with institutions. We centre a community organizing approach and tools in the implementation of the project and invite participants to take ownership. This is one of the key elements of building collective feminist leadership. Finally, through the creation of an accessible resource on mountain protection published within our network, we aim to increase the visibility of the mountain communities and their fight against extractivist practices.

Kim Kaborda, co-coordinator at the Feminist Hiking Collective and project lead, is currently researching on hiking as feminist practice during a one-year traineeship at the design collective Brave New Alps and community academy La Foresta in the Italian Alps. Kim would bring in workshop resources on ecological awareness and knowledge about initiatives from the region.
The wider team has been contributing to the project idea as the team is grounded in an approach to mountain protection that centres our connection and belonging to nature. This approach foregrounds the experiences and practices of mountain communities, especially of mountain women and marginalized groups, in protecting nature. In the team, there is a long-term expertise in community organizing and feminist popular education.

Project Manager 12000
Workshop Facilitators 4000
Travel and Accommodation 4000
Communication 2000
Documentation & Publishing 6000

If you are from the Alps or other mountains we look forward to get to know your perspective on our project! Also if you already worked with mountain communities, we would be interested on what you think about it.