CARLOW TRANSNATIONAL MEETING, 24-26 MAY 2022
Edited on
08 June 2022The third Transnational Meeting of the project’s Second Wave took place in the Irish town of Carlow from 24th to 26th May 2022. City representatives and ULG members from Rome, Alexandroupolis, Algeciras and Split were met by City Officials and representatives of the Carlow Local Enterprise Office for a welcome dinner which immediately set the atmosphere of the two working days ahead: make yourselves at home as you are amongst friends! Indeed the following two – very intense – days were marked by a friendly, collaborative and stress-free spirit which certainly contributed to an excellent exchange and sharing of experiences and knowhow.
The first day partners met at Visual Carlow, the Visual Centre for Contemporary Art & the George Bernard Shaw Theatre (www.visualcarlow.ie). All participants were given an overall presentation of the activities planned for the two days and an introduction to the Gardeniser training. They were then accompanied to the Delta Sensory Gardens (www.deltasensorygardens.ie) for a tour of the wide range of planted containers, pots, seasonal bedding, shrubs, plants and numerous water features. The afternoon session, back at Visual Carlow, ULG members of all 5 cities participated to a very fruitful and interesting Gardeniser training session. ULG members took real ownership of the presentation of their projects which provided a good forum for sharing of knowledge and experiences, giving way to a great interaction amongst them. The feedback about this session was extremely positive from all ULG members.
Partners met at the An Gairdìn Beo (www.angairdinbeo.org) on the second day for an outstanding tour of what is considered an example of inclusiveness, active participation and collaborative leadership. The ethos of the garden is based on valuing diversity, sustainability, organic methods and indigenous species where volunteers are the heart of the garden activity. It is in those premises that partners and ULG members participated in a very insightful session dedicated to Capacity Building during which they had the chance to showcase their experiences, challenges and successes in urban gardening in their cities. Lunch took place at the Woodford Dolmen Hotel followed by a peer review session on the status of Governance and Regulations in each partner. The afternoon session concluded with a discussion on transfer methodology improvements, project’s sustainability plan, other urban agriculture initiatives and the project’s steering committee meeting.
The Carlow Transnational meeting was extremely successful, the study visits were wonderfully organized and very interesting also thanks to the direct involvement of Carlow ULG members to guide visitors through the visits. All participants in the two-day meeting left Ireland with a sense of accomplishment: they learnt plenty from our Irish partners, they shared plenty with all the other participants. All with a common praise: the outstanding spirit of community existing amongst the citizens of Carlow. Congratulations!
Submitted by Patricia Hernandez on