This spring AYA Volunteer joined a campaign “The Right to Be(e)”, organised by YEE – Youth and Environment Europe - and supported by numerous NGOs and partner organisations worldwide. AYA Volunteer team was guided by a “BE(E) THE CHANGE - Guide on Campaigning“ – a publication, which was created after a training course “Be(e) the change” in Prague. Apart from useful information, AYA team got a package of bee friendly seeds for a flower planting.

A small planting action was held by AYA team in frames of preparation training for new volunteers, traditionally organised at the beginning of international workcamps season. The venue, where the activity was held, perfectly suited “The Right to Be(e)” campaign’s philosophy – Ecocenter of Bitsovskiy park, in the South of Moscow. It was agreed to split the activity into 2 parts – informative and practical.

During the first part of the activity participants were introduced to AYA and YEE partnership history, as well as a background of both organisations, their concerns for environmental issues, ongoing campaigns and initiative (including YEE Secretariat initiative – Office Cuisine and ongoing “Traveling Food” competition) and future events. More profound attention was paid to “The Right to Be(e)”. Participants were surprised by the actual facts on the connection between bees and our food supplies, got to know more about the campaign itself and why it’s important, were inspired by successful stories and local actions held since 2013. The majority of participants highlighted that they had no idea how easy and not time-demanding it could be to support such a useful action. Everyone agreed that more planting activities could be done in future with more publicity attracting new people to join in.

During the practical part the participants were divided into groups – some were working directly with the seeds, preparing the ground and planting, other two groups devoted their time helping existing newly planted trees under the supervision of Ecocenter enthusiasts.

We loved seeing everyone involved and dedicated to do their best during this action day. AYA team is glad to be a part of YEE “the Right to Be(e)” campaign and wishes it many more successful years unifying young people and motivating them to be(e) the change they want to see in the world.

written by M.Kurkova on behalf of AYA Volunteer