ECOOPERATION

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ECOOPERATION: Experimental learning with design and creative recycling for a sustainable world

Budapest, HungaryBudapest, Hungary
Year Founded:
2013
Organization type: 
nonprofit/ngo/citizen sector
Project Stage:
Growth
Budget: 
$50,000 - $100,000
Website:
http://recreativityforyou.tumblr.com/
Facebook: 
https://www.facebook.com/recreativityforyou?fref=ts
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Project Summary
Elevator Pitch

Concise Summary: Help us pitch this solution! Provide an explanation within 3-4 short sentences.

What is the connection between personal development and recycling? We deliver trainings to young people to enable them to develop soft-skills and teach them how to create objects with the help of creative recycling.
And the main result, sustainability and creativity in our inner and outer worlds.

WHAT IF - Inspiration: Write one sentence that describes a way that your project dares to ask, "WHAT IF?"

What if we would start small with recycling in our own life?
About Project

Problem: What problem is this project trying to address?

We think the problem is that there are a lot of talks about recycling and not so much done in life. People in everyday life do not understand such a concept like sustainability or environmental changes. We give than practical solutions and they can see the result on the spot. We think that this happens because people don’t think that they are creative and there is not enough emphasis on doing recycling in small steps starting in our own lives.

Solution: What is the proposed solution? Please be specific!

We propose a solution to educate young people and help them adapt a sustainable mindset. We deliver trainings where through the learning-by-doing method, they create products such as a bracelet from plastic bags and notebooks from waste paper while they learn about themselves. Our aim is that they develop their communication skills, their ability to work in a team and they also discover that they are empowered to have an impact on their own life and on the environment. It is process starting from inside-out.
Impact: How does it Work

Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.

Education globally lacks proper soft-skill development. We were working together with 30 young people in Georgia where 6 nations were represented. Our focus was that they developed their intercultural communication skills, public speaking skills and they developed a sustainable mindset meaning that they start creating things themselves rather than purchasing them. We believe in the power of sharing knowledge. In our courses participants not only learn for themselves how to create an upcycled object but they also learn how to pass this knowledge. They learn also how to lead and preapre for a workshop so when they go back home they share this knowledge in their close environment.

Impact: What is the impact of the work to date? Also describe the projected future impact for the coming years.

Our trainings are unique in the way they are built up. Next to developing skills participants also do manual work thus education happens on at least two dimensions. We use the method of experimental learning and we use the power of it. Participants can experience immidietly their own creativity and they can put into practise already on the program what they have learned. We plan to bring this type of teaching into public schools so many more kids and youngsters can change their attitude towards their environment. We plan to develop an educational program for teachers and university students as well so they can bring the knowledge and the method to the kids personally.

Spread Strategies: Moving forward, what are the main strategies for scaling impact?

We train and certify young people who will also further train other youngsters and children to develop a sustainable mindset. First we aim to reach Hungarians with the program, but as in Europa there are no borders basically and we anyway keep our training courses also in English we plan to make an international creative recycling movement.
Sustainability

Financial Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure financial sustainability?

At the moment we cover our trainings by EU funds. It is in our strategical plan that we would like to make it as an open call program as well. We have already made steps in orderto make it happen. We plan to involve multinational companies and their CSR activities would be a perfect cooperation for the project.

Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?

We have made a research but we couldn't find any other changemakers who aimed this topic with these methods what we have developed in the past years. There are some similar projects but I believe we put together the best program possible.
Team

Founding Story

I was giving a creative recycling workshop in a public school. I show the sample to the participants and I told them that they can start to do their own obejct. In 10 minutes everyone was working on their own design object and eventough I show the sample at the end we had 35 different objects just as we are different from eachother. During the workshop they initiated conversations about recycling (how are they doing, in their everyday life, etc.). They took home their creations and even they made promises to themselves how they want to improve their routins to make it more environmental friendly. After this I had no chioce but quit my job and start ReCreativity.

Team

ReCreativity is composed by 3 person at the moment who deals with the social enterrise in a daily base. Two of them are the co-founders (both of them has a diplom as an Adult Educator and one of them has an other diplom as a youth worker) and one girl is lately joined to the team. She is a creativity coach and trainer as well. An extra person is the director who contributes with her creative passion (sewing) to the company.We have volunteers also
About You
Organization:
ReCreativity
About You
First Name

Barbara

Last Name

Földi

About Your Project
Organization Name

ReCreativity

How long has your organization been operating?

Project
Organization Country

, BU, Budapest

Country where this project is creating social impact

, BU, Budapest

What awards or honors has the project received?
Funding: How is your project financial supported?

NGOs.

Supplemental
Sector

Waste and Packaging.

Audience: Who have you identified as your customer/recipient groups and do these groups value your solution for different reasons? How do you engage different customer/recipient groups to deliver your solution?

Our costumers on one hand the public schools, youngsters as individuals but our aim is to involve in our program the multinational companies and to build our project in their CSR activity.

Scaling the solution: How would the prize money and publicity help you to achieve your objectives over the next two years?

We can make from the prize money a pilot projects in Budapest - Hungary. We can measure the results and make it visiable for others what we have reached. After all would be easier to show the expected results to other bigger companies.

Experience: Please provide examples of any previous entrepreneurial initiatives you have pioneered

We have started all this as an informal group in side an NGO. We wrote an application about a topuc what we were interested about. We made reasearch before and when it got approved we learnt by our own matejod (experimental learning - creative recycling) how to lead a project - logistically and also content wise.
We have developed a method what we are still developing.
We learn everyday since we have launced our social enterprise.

Are you are eligible to attend the Accelerator event in Cambridge and subsequent events in London, UK in January, 2015?

yes

Will you require a visa to enter the UK?

Are you are a current Unilever employee?