Anemos Ananeosis / Wind of Renewal, Welcommon Hostel and our efforts for promoting sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

The social cooperative Anemos Ananeosis / Wind of Renewal and the Welcommon Hostel (a project created by our cooperative) try to combine our daily life with some of the SDGs

SDG 1 No Poverty: we create new jobs, we train persons (eg refugees and unemployed Greeks) in new jobs in sectors like sustainable tourism, social economy, climate protection, energy efficiency, social work or tackling energy poverty.

SDC 4 quality education: although we are a non-formal education organisation, we are involved in many activities promoting in our premises, (in the three first floors), quality education, like theory and practice (dual) training schemes for young experts on energy efficiency, training of trainers (about 220 teachers) on climate protection, training of teachers on energy cooperatives (100 teachers), on teaching renewable energy (100 teachers), intercultural courses for more than 1500 refugees, with volunteers, migrants, locals, and travelers.

SDG 5 Gender equality: we implement the gender equality by helping female refugees to have a job and we train women (using schemes like internship, European young entrepreneurship, volunteering, vocational training) on sustainable tourism in the hostel

SDG 6 Clean water and sanitation: We try to sensitize our clients not to waste water

SDG 7 Clean and affordable energy: Our constant effort is to reduce the energy consumption, we have installed 190 LED lighting instead of 2400 fluoride lamps and 20 solar panels on the roof for producing hot water for use by our clients, we organise many workshops on energy reduction, renewable energy, cooperatives and energy democracy, we try to turn the Welcommon Hostel to a zero emission hostel and climate friendly every day.

SDG 8 Decent work and economic growth: Our Welcommon Hostel is a center for social and green innovation and economy. Our aims are

(a) to succeed in financial sustainability of our innovative hostel and create new employment opportunities for unemployed locals, refugees and young persons in social and green economy.

(b) to help refugees and young persons to be self-employed and create new micro / social enterprises in areas such as sustainable tourism, upcycling, ethnic cuisines, culture, green / cyclic economy, energy efficiency, ethical fashion and others

(c) to present proposals and find collaborations on youth employment and supportive schemes like “youth guarantee” and “European Young Entrepreneurship”

We have already:

–organized more than 50 seminars in collaboration with Universities, municipalities, social and professional organizations on social and green innovation / economy, social inclusion and job creation, energy transition and energy cooperatives, teaching renewable energy in primary and secondary schools with the participation of a total of 3000 persons.

– contributed in the study “Green and social innovation for combating energy poverty”.

-supported research by Universities on social innovation and social inclusion

– empowered and trained more than 3000 refugees although we miss the needed resources, and connected some of them with the job market.

– trained 11 Greek young experts on energy efficiency and climate protection (EUKI YESclima“).

We are planning to start some new projects on social inclusion and job preparation of women (locals, refugees, migrants). We are looking for innovative financial tools for seed capital for the establishment of small / social enterprises by unemployed locals and migrants / refugees.

SDG9 industry, innovation and infrastructure: We have started a new cooperation with Chamber of Handcrafts professional associations on promoting green economy and new green jobs as a response to the revitalization of the economy and a net zero, climate friendly economy

SDG 10 reduced inequalities: we are committed to invest the profits from the Hostel, after paying up debts and investors, in social and environmental improvements, to create a new co-housing and social housing model for the most vulnerable and to contribute to reducing the energy poverty of households, offering them know-how and support.

SDG 11 Sustainable cities and communities: We promote a model of sustainable tourism for the benefit not only of tourists and our cooperative but also of the local community and the city. In fact we have a lot of co-operations with municipalities on promoting energy transition, energy efficiency, nature based solutions etc. Guided tours are organized and all the above elements will be explained to tourists customers, in collaboration with other organizations.

SDG 12 Responsible consumption and production: We are caring about promoting social and green procurement in the tourism sector, and we collaborate with other cooperatives for the provision of various services (eg we have a contract with a social cooperative for cleaning the hostel, established by refugees and migrants)

SDG 13 Climate action: We host or organize in our conference rooms many seminars and workshops on climate protection, on energy audits for schools and draft reports delivered to municipalities without cost for them. Examples: participation in climate actions, EUKI Climate Schools Ath.Be project (73 schools in Athens, 200 teachers, thousands of pupils), EUKI YESclima project (training of 22 Greek and Spanish young experts), participation in the Climate Alliance in Greece (45 NGOs and professional organizations), energy investments in our Welcommon Hostel,

SDG 14 Life below water

SDG 15 Life on Land

SDG 16 Peace, justice and strong institution: we offer intercultural courses open for all, for promoting the respect to others, the collaboration between cultures and social justice. We create strong communities of collaboration with the participation of guests, volunteers, refugees, and local people.

SDG 17 Partnerships for the goals We have a close collaboration with many Universities, organizations of civil society, professional associations, municipalities, European networks promoting the same values and goals.