ESC: Yes! to Sustainability 2025 in teams

The Institute of Veles is a non-profit organization that includes volunteers from the local environment and foreign countries. The Sustainable Initiative in the rural area links young people and offers them the opportunity to participate actively within a variety of sustainability with the support of youth workers. The organization is based on the Veles farm, which is a polygon of sustainable elements, integrated into the whole for the benefit of the individual, society and the environment. The main goal of the Veles Institute is to support and promote the sustainable way of life of young people using non-formal education methods. To show, pass the theory through the implementation, and allow people to experience a sustainable lifestyle through volunteering or participation in workshops, courses, events that are local, national and international. As teachers, production experts and competent youth workers to transfer knowledge and experience to young people, we work within the following areas: natural construction, permaculture farming, social permaculture and social economy, whose common point is the sustainable use of available resources. The great focus of our work is directed towards connections - local and international, while at the same time we are investing energy in training our staff and transferring skills to young people with appropriate didactic knowledge. We are strongly present in informal group Yes to sustainability already for 4 years. We were one of the organizations starting the dream of establishing the group in 2016. And in 2017 we were partner organization and part of the working team for the first common project: Youth exchange in Denmark. From that time we collaborated as partners in many projects inside the net and were coordinators of two youth exchanges and one training course for youth workers. Permaculture principles and holistic management are included in every activity that is part of our organization. As mentioned above, the headquarters of the Veles organization is located at the Veles farm, and therefore, in the everyday operation, we include the production and processing of food to maximize the self-sufficiency of the organization. On the farm and in the field, we organize workshops on: - integrating a sustainable lifestyle into everyday life; - natural construction; - permaculture farming; - production, processing and preparation of food; - gathering and preparing wild plants; - a sustainable way of managing and implementing the project; - workshops for group dynamics. Our goal is that people learn to be as self-sufficient as possible and to gain the idea and motivation for new, people and environmentally friendly, projects. And to implement these ideas with the support they need in their local environment. The people we welcome are people who are interested in a sustainable lifestyle, a simple life in the countryside, which is gradually revitalized. They want to live surrounded by natural construction and organic farming, and in a community with the principles of social permaculture. Target groups are young people and youth workers, self-builders and young families. The activities of the organization are a synergy of the skills, knowledge and competencies of people who live sustainably on the farm and work within the organization with people entering the space as volunteers or youth workers. We have become a sustainable initiative that supports the development of individuals, society and the environment through implemented projects and everyday life with an open door.