CICLO – Composting, Inclusion and Science for Local Regeneration
CSO: COOPERASE
Area: Responsible consumption, Circular economy
Location: Monachil (Province of Granada)
Type of project
The action will focus on improving soil health, water retention, reducing erosion, increasing biodiversity and creating spaces that are resilient to climate change, while promoting social inclusion, gender equality and the circular economy.
18 months of duration.
This project builds on an initiative already underway in the municipality of Monachil. In recent years, Cooperase and the local council have developed a decentralised composting programme and door-to-door selective waste collection for people with reduced mobility or over the age of 65. This project aims to strengthen and expand the initiative in new directions: restoration of degraded soils, structured citizen participation, application of citizen science and systematisation of results.
Target (Disengaged)
Directly mobilised citizens: Users of community composting; door-to-door collection; young people from the juvenile centre; students from educational centres. 200 people.
Uninvolved citizens: Juvenile detention centre, senior citizens, retirees’ association. 50 people.
General population indirectly benefiting. 8,000 people.
Multipliers: City council (1); schools (2), senior citizens’ association (1).
The project prioritises marginalised groups, especially elderly people with reduced mobility and young people in vulnerable situations (Monachil youth centre), with strategies adapted to their realities. Interactive sessions will be held in adapted spaces (senior centres, home visits) to link the project with values such as intergenerational legacy, health and autonomy. Young people from the juvenile centre will participate in educational, scientific and field activities, giving them a leading role as active agents of change. The community-based approach will help to integrate the rest of the population through accessible and positive outreach activities.
Science – Based
The project aims to promote scientific knowledge through accessible participatory experiences. Both older and younger people will contribute to monitoring soil health by participating in training sessions with simple explanations of the link between healthy soil and climate change, guided and participatory sampling, observation of bioindicators, systematisation of results, and collective development of a visual guide.
The project applies a citizen science methodology linked to soil health.
Gender
In the case of older people, priority will be given to the participation of older women, who are traditionally more involved in domestic management and at greater risk of isolation.
In the youth group, equal participation of girls and boys will be promoted, working with the youth centre on activities that reinforce shared responsibility, shared leadership and respect for diversity. Use of female role models in informational materials and public sessions. Data will be collected, disaggregated by sex and parity in work teams, training and community decision-making, communicating the findings obtained with a gender perspective.
Planned activities
Promote local climate action in the municipality of Monachil through a participatory process of decentralised community composting, restoration of degraded soils and citizen science, mobilising groups that are usually disconnected—elderly people and young people at risk of exclusion—promoting inclusion, accessible scientific knowledge and the circular economy.
Action model
The methodology to be used promotes the active participation of citizens, in this case, older people and young people at risk of exclusion, as well as other groups of citizens. A combination of training processes and practical experiences will be carried out to implement a community composting system and improve degraded municipal plots. Through the application of compost produced in the municipality, a living laboratory for knowledge generation will be established by the citizens themselves, with the observation of invertebrate fauna in the soil or the planting of native vegetation in field sessions and training activities on soil bioindicators, finally systematising the results achieved by the project.
Communication will be an important tool throughout the project and will include the development of a visual guide on the circular economy, diagnosis of soil health using bioindicators and its link to climate change and replication potential, and the public presentation of the results.