Description of organisation

Organization Earth is a Greek Non-profit Civil Society Organization founded in 2010 that promotes Sustainable Development, by offering programs of non-typical education and by facilitating community-based activities, with a focus on vulnerable populations living in urban centers. An NGO that strives to serve all 17 Global Goals of Sustainable Development, Organization Earth’s programs, services and partnerships address major social issues like long-term unemployment and migration, while leveraging new business models such as responsible social entrepreneurship, particularly related to the Green Economy, at the same time taking steps to tackle Climate Change by offering nature-based experiential learning activities. Organization Earth implements its nature based programs at the “Center of the Earth”. An award-winning hub for environmental education operated by Organization Earth as a functioning organic, urban, social farm at the same time, offers nature-based educational programs for schools and pupils. The specific objective of the farm is the adaptation and mitigation to climate change through more sustainable food production and consumption, in the framework of the right to adequate food for all.
Awards & Peer Recognition
In 2016 Organization Earth was named as the “Best Initiative in the World that Connects People to Nature” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and in 2019 it was recognized as the “NGO of the Year” in the category “Environment”, by receiving the Hellenic Responsible Business Award International Partnerships Organization Earth is the elected Permanent Secretariat of IFOAM AgriBioMediterraneo, the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements’ regional body for Mediterranean nations, which promotes, develops and disseminates information, knowledge and expertise related to Organic Agriculture and Sustainable Food Systems.

Organization Earth is a member of the Steering Committee of SDG Watch Europe, a Brussels based, EU-level, crosssectoral CSO alliance of NGOs from development, environment, social, human rights and other sectors. Its goal is to hold promote an ambitious implementation path of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs).
Organization Earth is currently the presiding organization of the Hellenic Platform for Development, the coalition that coordinates Greek civil society organizations active in the fields of international development cooperation, humanitarian aid and development education.

Organization Earth initiatives focus on environmental awareness, social inclusion and responsible business. A sample of relevant projects:

“Urban Farming Workshops for marginalized groups” aimed at promoting urban organic farming and mitigating urban pollution, while fostering social inclusion opportunities through the participation of vulnerable groups such as long-term unemployed, refugees, migrants, elderly people as well as people with disabilities in urban farming workshops. The participants improve their environmental performance regarding the importance of nutritional and health-related options
based on fresh produce and reconnect to nature in an urban environment through experiential learning, while at the same time enhancing their agricultural skills.

“Farmers on the Roof”. A project funded by the Municipality of Athens, which enabled Organization Earth to create two open-to-the-public rooftop vegetable gardens, that were designed, built and aimed to be collectively maintained by neighborhood volunteers. An important element of the program was to organize free training workshops that offered skills on carpentry, gardening as well as community-building.

“Environmental Park Cooperative”. A collaborative project led by Organization Earth, whose mission was the training and mentoring of unemployed beneficiaries, in order to create social enterprises that will market local, responsibly procured products and services.
“Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture”. Short term hands-on vocational training program, offered to unemployed youth wishing to relocate to rural areas to develop organic farming professionally.

"AGROS". An Erasmus+ KA2 to establish a sustainable network of partners and develop a set of skills and methodologies to upskill the current workforce and trainers in the food value chain in order to support the Sustainable Development Goals.

“Easy Cooking” is an Erasmus+ KA2 programme funded by the Greek State Scholarship Foundation (I.K.Y) and the European Union, that involved people with intellectual disabilities alongside their trainers. The project's aim was for the participants to develop soft and hard skills through experiential learning consisting of cookery workshops built on the values of organic agriculture and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Inclusion topics

This organisation is willing to involve volunteers who face situations which make their participation in activities more difficult, from the following categories for different types of project:

• Cultural differences
• Social obstacles
• Refugees