ENVIRONMENT

CIVIL SOCIETY: 46 PRACTICES


TOPIC:

Initiative

Safe Passage Bags Workshop

Safe Passage Bags Workshop
SUBMITTED FROM:

LESVOS SOLIDARITY

Lesvos Solidarity (LeSol) is a nonprofit organization headquartered on the Greek island of Lesvos. LeSol was officially registered as a non-governmental organization (NGO) in April 2016, however it has been operating on the island since 2012, addressing both local and refugee issues.

The organization's mission is to promote free access to education, the right to work, decent housing, and decent living as a model of equality and solidarity with vulnerable groups in society. The organization's goals include physical and mental well-being, the abolition of hunger, respect for man and the environment, and the protection of human rights.


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Objective Action

The Safe Passage Bags Workshop aims to increase awareness, foster creativity and innovation, and investigate the principles of garbage recycling, processing, and processing, as well as their rational usage. Our goal is to provide training and education, as well as a decent income, to refugees on the island of Lesvos, along with locals who are facing unemployment and social exclusion, while also reversing the negative environmental impact of the refugee crisis by rejecting over one million life jackets and other materials.

 

Target Audience

The recycling workshop, where refugees and locals produce bags out of the raw materials from the life jackets worn by refugees crossing the Aegean from Turkey to Lesvos, is for people from all around the world can buy the workshop's products and learn about the benefits of recycling to the environment.

 

Duration

The action has been ongoing since the workshop began in 2017.


Description

Lesvos Solidarity launched the Safe Passage Bags Workshop in June 2017 as a novel idea aimed at environmental education, vocational training, and social inclusion. The Mosaik Support Center in the center of Mytilini now hosts this upcycling workshop. We have developed several strategies for recycling and reusing materials in order to respect the environment and natural materials. This is a recycling scheme in which refugees and locals use raw materials from lifebuoys used by refugees crossing the Aegean from Turkey to the island of Lesvos to manufacture bags and other goods. When the workshop first opened, life jackets were the primary raw material, with fresh materials only being utilized for the bag's inside lining. Tents, lifeboats, and antique materials are used to make items today.


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Impact on Society

The workshop is offering training and employment opportunities, provides financial support to asylum seekers and refugees, and also supports time for them to regain their independence while enhancing a sense of environmental protection. For the year 2020 the laboratory employed 10 employees and 415 lifebuoys, 73.5 kg of fabric, and 149 kg of boat materials were used. By 2021, 14 refugees and locals worked in the laboratory for the creation of the products 170.4 kg kilos of fabric, 284.4 kilos of boats, and 20.3 kilos of fabrics from tents.



Initiative Location

The workshop is based within the Mosaik Support Center, which is located in Mytilene.


Working with Organization

Lesvos Solidarity collaborates with domestic and international organizations to distribute and promote the workshop's products as well as the workshop's environmental message.


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Workers Participation

Lesvos Solidarity's Safe Passage Bags Workshop provides education and training opportunities as well as a decent income to refugees on the island of Lesvos, as well as locals who are at risk of unemployment and social exclusion, while also reversing one of the negative effects of the refugee crisis, which resulted in the dumping of over 1 million lifebuoys and other materials on the island of Lesvos, thus instilling environmental sensitivity into a positive social and environmental message is conveyed by increasing the participation of both native and refugee populations in the workshop.


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Benefits for Οrganization

The sale of the workshop's items generates revenue that allows us to continue operating on the island and pay our employees' salaries. Lesvos Solidarity can also raise its profile by using the brand it built to advertise items and participate in events and conferences.




Connection with Global Goals






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