Through a 3 step Methodology (Sensing - Convening - Acting), we aim at relieving the conflict between patriarchy domination and societal inclusivity in a remote village of Crete with a strong cultural heritage, by empowering and connecting existing interventions and planting the seeds for new to emerge. Since these societal challenges characterize vast rural areas of the country, we aim at prototyping our methodology and make it accessible for further use.

The project will take place in Anogia, a mountain area with app. 2.3Κ citizens in Crete, Greece.

Anogia is a renowned village on the mountain Psiloritis of Crete, where people share a strong socio-cultural history, including a language idiom. The village is part of Network of Martyr Cities and Villages "Greek Holocaust" due to the recent destruction by the Nazis. During the last years, various initiatives have arisen in Anogia, trying to empower inclusive voices and reflect on a more embracing future.
Nevertheless, the region is characterised as a male driven society, have a strong gun possession tradition and have many registered domestic violence cases. The main challenges are the conflict between patriarchy domination and societal inclusivity and the non inclusive decision making processes, both characterizing vast rural areas of the country.

We bring together unlikely individuals. We address a diverse mix of residents by studying the local society (personal interviews and references). The initial invitation is focused on visualising the “future” of Anogia, a quest that creates emotional connection and interests every local resident. For the participatory workshop we invite youth, women, elder people, farmers, teachers, students, migrants, local authorities, cultural and sport organizations to share the same space and respond to certain questions, defining the values that we want the village to be renowned for, today. The outcomes and the methodologies of these processes will be useful and available in other rural areas, facing similar challenges.

Sensing
Through interviews and personal connections, we “download” and map all the essential information to understand the local dynamics, the sociocultural environment and potential opportunities and barriers that might arise.
Convening
We invite the community to participate in a Cocreative Vision Workshop to weave the new narration. We seek to engage participants in self-determined change with an Appreciative inquiry approach.
Acting
The community takes a central role. There are parallel acts taking place based on the harvested outcomes of the above. A group of locals will participate in a workshop for storytelling and documentary filming. The citizens are co-creating and co-directing the scenario for the story of Anogia, with the guidance of experts from the organising team.

Through our project, we amplify the open dialogue and create a safe space for everyone to get involved in during the implementation but also after it is finished. As a result, a year from now we would like to see more connections among existing initiatives and more actions that surface different voices and diverse backgrounds, who are welcomed and actively heard in the area. We will especially consider our project a success through an increased number of social groups will have an equal participation and representation in the local community. The audiovisual output, the methodologies and the platform we will have used, will have played a major role in the above results and will have been an inspiration for more rural areas and especially nearby local villages to work on similar projects.

Facilitated spaces for dialogue and appreciation inquiry methodologies can foster equal participation in the civic sphere. We aim for women empowerment, youth activation, cross generational exchange and migrant inclusion through a comprehensive participatory process that leads to co-created actions from and with the local population. We highlight and support emerging stories and initiatives to scale participation and form a new narrative, leading to a co-created scenario and a co-produced audiovisual output. We surface the things that matter to create a more just and democratic quo for all. We deliver the tools and aspirations through a participatory process that could be adapted by local ambassadors for future acts. Navigating from vision, to action, to impact.

Building inclusive communities requires cultivating social innovation and wide civic participation. Addressing living practices of democracy in local communities has been our main target for the past seven years. We promote, enable & accelerate community empowerment by developing programs, which balance formal and non-formal methods and approaches. We have already designed and implemented campaigns and participatory labs trying to address social cohesion obstacles and confront them. Our prior experience has been acquired in urban places and we would be more than tempted to address such initiatives in rural areas. We strongly believe that effective approaches regarding social cohesion should focus on either urban or rural areas, exploring aspects of social cohesion in the whole country.

Travel Costs: [Transportation - Accommodation] - 7.500€
Personnel Cost: [Project Management - Community Outreach - Dissemination] - 16.000€
Services: [Facilitators, Instructors-Trainers-Coaches, Anthropologist] - 7.900€
Community Actions: [Production costs - Material costs for community] - 12.000€
Visual Harvesting [Audio Visual Material, equipment, Modaz, Accessibility for deaf and blind]: 12.000€
Αdministration costs [Office Costs - Stationary Material]: 2.160€

We would love to receive thoughts, advice and feedback regarding:
Good practices with resilient results for community engagement projects in rural areas. Challenges that someone can foresee.