Jun 03 2018
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The WELCOMMON Hostel, a new experience in responsible tourism

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The WELCOMMON Hostel is a hostel in the center of Athens, an innovative proposal for sustainable tourism, innovation, art, social and job integration based on the idea of “community”, initiated by the social cooperative ANEMOS ANANEOSIS / WIND OF RENEWAL.

The WELCOMMON Hostel is a seven-floor facility for people of all ages. We would like to welcome you during your visit to Athens. We can also help you plan your stay in the city. WELCOMMON is not just a hostel, it is also part of a social experiment, a center for innovation and art, as well as social and job integration for Greeks, migrants and refugees.

We can organize your study trip in the city and provide details about interesting social events and groups; we can also supply you with all necessary information on other Greek cities, an island or a mountainside; we can connect you with cycling groups, or let you know the secrets of culinary delights, we can host your seminar or workshop; we can also host a painting exhibition or a cultural event.

Be sure to CONTACT US before arriving in Athens, let us know about your needs and your interests!

The Hostel, Welcome in Common

You have a variety of options for accommodation in WELCOMMON; you may like to share an eight-bed dormitory with your friends or other travelers; or you may prefer to stay in a five-bed room, a four-bed room, a three-bed room, a twin or double bed room or a single; you may need a cheap room or you may be willing to pay a little more for some extra perks; or you may like to go for a room with a balcony. Regardless of what you select, all rooms are comfortable, clean and attractive; a lot has been artistically designed with reused items, always with your comfort in mind.

How is WELCOMMON Hostel different?

WELCOMMON Hostel means welcome in common – together. It is not only an opportunity to stay in a good place in Athens, the Greek capital; it is also a way to:

– enjoy your stay in the city,

– discover its social, cultural and environmental side,

– exchange experiences and ideas,

– learn and “share”; you can participate in activities we organize (art exhibits, non-formal education, music events, visits to cultural sites and activities, etc…) or you can organize something yourself (e.g. a concert, painting classes or even give a speech!).

Training for social and employment issues

Although the hostel is no longer a refugee hosting center and has been refurbished into a modern facility, two floors of the WELCOMMON Hostel are used as an open center for social empowerment and inclusion. The aim is to create new employment opportunities for everyone in areas such as upcycling, ethnic cuisines, culture, green / cyclic economy, energy efficiency and others. Our societies must not accept generations being lost, we must not leave young persons, Greeks, migrants, refugees behind.

We offer classes (e.g. for language, painting, puppet show, music etc) with the support of volunteers to refugees, migrants, local people, tourists; we work for the empowerment and training of our guests and design interactive workshops for the professional training and promotion of the abilities and qualifications of refugees, especially the young persons, along with Greek nationals, in order to be able to find their way in our societies for the benefit of our societies.

As a visitor of Athens you could participate in an event or even present a topic to other guests or visitors in our WELCOMMON Hostel, in our meeting corners, in our “classrooms”, or during drinking a juice, a coffee or a herbal tea in our café or in our socializing bar and restaurant “In Common”. It is real!

Discover the other side of the city

Your stay in the WELCOMMON Hostel is also a chance for you to discover what is going on in the city. You could join initiatives working for the transformation of the city and its environmental protection, you could contact human rights groups or initiatives working with the unemployed, young people or for the inclusion of the refugees. There is an interesting, hidden side of the city, a real live and fresh city within the city; our community is ready to host you and work with you.

You help us boost the social impact of our project

When you choose to stay with us you contribute to the employment of a fantastic group of people, consisting of a number of long-term unemployed Greeks, migrants and refugees who have settled in Greece.

The first step is crucial: we want to be financially and socially sustainable, we try to improve our services, to make our hostel more convenient, friendly and live, more artistic and social. But the next step is also very important to us; we are committed to investing any profits in social and environmental improvements, in the transition to an energy-efficient and green economy, in creating a new center for the most vulnerable; we also aim to contribute to reducing the energy poverty of households, offering them know-how and support so that they can exit a difficult situation through social empowerment and energy efficiency.

You can feel the history of WELCOMMON

The WELCOMMON Hostel has a quite uncommon, interesting history. For many years the building was used as a public clinic. During the Greek economic crisis, in February 2013, the clinic was shut down and merged with a bigger hospital. We, the social cooperative Anemos Ananeosis / Wind of Renewal –working for the promotion of the social and green innovation and economy– began renting the building in August 2016. We refurbished it in order to transform it into an innovative center – WELCOMMON – for the hosting and social inclusion of the most vulnerable refugees. The project was not simply meant to be for the refugees but with the refugees –working with them for their benefit, as well as that of the neighborhood and the local community. It became one of the most innovative and creative centers for hosting, empowering and socially including refugees, based on the idea of “empowerment through the community”. It was supported by the Development Agency of the Municipality of Athens and the UNHCR. But these agencies decided that refugees should be hosted only in apartments, there is no need for transition structures. Read about this HERE. The center closed in March 2018.

We decided to start refurbishing the seven-floor facility located in the centre of Athens, and to transform it into a HOSTEL, but not just any kind of hostel! Now we are running the WELCOMMON Hostel, a social hostel combining sustainable tourism with social and cultural activities and job integration for Greeks, migrants and refugees. We aim for Welcommon to be a social experiment, a centre of innovation and art, and for social and employment integration. And of course a hub where travellers can get insider’ information to organize their trip in the city, discover interesting social events and groups, but also information on other Greek cities, Islands or villages.

Learn about our history, contribute to the change

You can learn about our model, a community model, for the protection but also the inclusion of refugees, migrants and Greeks. It is a model we could adjust for vulnerable social groups, too. Although the center for refugees closed, you can experience some of our new activities, participating in workshops, language and painting, photo exhibitions, video or info-material. But you can also meet some of our previous guests, working now for the WELCOMMON Hostel, being part of our new community.

We are part of the social change we want to see happen

Athens is a city in crisis but at the same time one can see a real change if one decides to be part of the social and ecological change. We have decided to be part of this social change.

In the WELCOMMON Hostel we can introduce you to the world of Greece’s social economy and you can learn about its strengths and weaknesses. You can also contribute with your ideas and experience.

Jun 03 2018
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What was different with WELCOMMON center for refugees

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WELCOMMON, was an accommodation and social inclusion center for refugees, initieted by the social cooperative, ANEMOS ANANEOSIS / WIND OF RENEWAL,  featured four important innovations:

1.Overhauling of old building in the center of the urban fabric. We rented and upgraded –at minimum cost and with voluntary work –a 3200 m2 building in the centre of Athens that had remained closed since 2013 (ex hospital). We overhauled it and created a model community centre with a hosting capacity of up to 160-180 refugees. In total, 600 refugees from 22 countries (half of them kids) were hosted between October 2016 and February 28, 2018 (when the centered closed), upgrading and revitalizing the Exarcheia neighborhood (near Kanigos Square).

2.Accommodation for the most vulnerable groups of refugees and in need of urgent care, such as: people with chronic diseases, serious psychological disorders, disabilities, victims of torture, sexual abuse and trafficking, pregnant women and families with newborns. The residents of Welcommon included 40 newborn babies and a number of pregnant women.

3.Μodel facility for empowerment and care, based on the idea of ‘’community’’ and combining safe accommodation with social inclusion and job integration of people with high vulnerability. We provided a social clinic, psycho-social support, non-formal education, support for kids who needed to register in Greek schools, social support services and job integration processes. Our “community model” can be suitable also for other communities and neighborhoods – especially areas that have collapsed socially and economically and need to berevitalized on a new basis. It was organized on the basis of the needs of the community and was successful thanks to wide participation and extensive collaborations.

4. Search for solutions for decent work both for refugees/immigrants and unemployed Greeks, in common /together with them and in innovative sectors.

The WELCOMMON center was our proposal for the role that the social economy could play in inclusion issues, combining the hosting of vulnerable persons with new models of social inclusion, empowerment and mobilization of people in need in general, not just refugees. We cooperated with many social organizations –including 15 universities, students and more than 230 volunteers from all over the world during the operation of the center. Many social groups, MEPs and MPs, international organizations and representatives of municipalities visited us.

It was a project in cooperation with the UNHCR and the Development Agency of the Municipality of Athens. It was a pity that the two institutions decided on January 18, 2018 to “discontinue the collective accommodation in WELCOMMON starting March 1, 2018, in order to focus on accommodation in apartments, which facilitates independent living. After their decision to stop financing the housing program for the refugees we decided to try to continue our innovative work by financing our initiatives through the Hostel rather than depend on third actors. We are committed to striving for maximizing the benefit for society. We are active in social, human and environmental rights, we can’t do less than needed in our times. We are convinced that acting in common on an integrated plan we can solve problems in a win-win manner.

Apr 19 2018
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“Training of the Trainers” on climate protection and energy efficiency

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The program “OPEN SOCIETIES AND SCHOOLS IN CLIMATE PROTECTION AND ENERGY TRANSITION (CLIMATE SCHOOL Be.At)” constitutes a collaboration between the Municipality of Athens, the educational community, the Social cooperative “Wind of Renewal”, the citizens initiative “Respect for Greece” (Berlin) and Unabhängiges Institut für Umweltfragen (UfU). It aims to the mobilization of the local communities and municipalities for climate protection and energy transition as well as to the energy efficiency of the schools with the substantial participation and collaboration of the teachers, students, parents and local authorities.

The “Training of the Trainers” is a planned activity of the program and was held in Athens (at the 1st Experimental Secondary School of Athens) from 12th to 15th April 2018. In the training participated 19 teachers (primary and secondary education), environmental education officers and school counselors and the 3 senior experts of “Wind of Renewal”.

 

 

The training opened with greetings from Maria Iliopoulou (Deputy Mayor of the City of Athens for the Child) and Wolfgang Schwarz (RfG). Kostis Kontogiannis (academic coordinator of the program) made a brief presentation of the “Climate Schools Be.At.”. Then followed a presentation of Resilient Cities by Anthi Christou (representative of the Deputy Mayor of Green, Environment, Resilience and Climate Protection of MoA).

The German partner UfU together with a Greek team of experts and educators implemented the 30 hours training. The training consisted of theoretical input and practical workshops as well as an energy tour though the school. The part of the training implemented by UfU was mainly based on the following topics:

    

  • Presentation of the program fifty/fifty in the schools of Germany
  • Theoretical input on fossil fuels, climate change and the energy consumption for an average school and household
  • Presentation of the 9 steps to successful energy saving programs in Germany (kick off meeting and formation of energy team, energy tour, teaching students, energy tour with students, measurements, nudge technical energy saving measures, public relations within school, investment suggestions to school authorities, decision about the use of money)
  • Educational material (what do the students learn during a fifty/fifty program at their school)
  • Examples of achieved savings at schools in Germany, Bulgaria and Romania
  • Pedagogical content (methods, activities)
  • Introduction on measurements (temperature, illumination, CO2 concentration, electricity consumption)
  • Energy saving tips
  • Technical input concerning heating, indoor correct airing, lighting and electricity
  • Energy tour at the school and report of the collected information
  • Examples of small scale investment activities at German schools
  • Methods of calculation of the savings
  • Overall goals of the implementation of the energy saving program at the schools of Athens

  

In addition to the training held by UfU, a Greek team of experts presented information about the energy system in Greece (Nikos Chrysogelos, WoR), technical content of the Greek energy system (Kostas Theofylaktos, Energy Consultant) as well as the energy footprint of the Greek schools (Kostis Oungrinis, Technical University of Crete).

On the last day of the workshop (Sunday 15th of April), Kostis Kontogiannis (academic coordinator of the program) made a presentation of the financial system under which operate the Greek schools and there were discussed methods of calculation of the savings.

Afterwards, Maria Dimopoulou and Panagiotis Piliouras (the Greek team responsible to adapt the training material to the local context) presented a 10 steps strategy on how to run the project in the Greek schools, methodological steps of the project as well as research material consisted of evaluation sheets and three questionnaires that are specifically designed for the purposes of the program. The Greek team of adaptation asked the trainees to enrich with their ideas the proposed methodology and the designed questionnaires. As a result, it came out a constructive exchange of ideas among the participants concerning issues of implementation of the project in the Greek schools.

The training included a very interesting and funny interactive game, the “world game” for climate and energy

It ended with a presentation of the role of the three facilitators / senior experts from WoR (Maya Andreou, Eva Grigoriadou, Miltos Tsakiris) in the project and a short presentation of the moodle platform by Maria Boubouka (professor of informatics) that will be used throughout the implementation of the program.

The evaluation of the training by the participants was made using three methods (moderation cards in two colors, spider net diagram, evaluation sheets) and the outcome was very good in overall. The majority of the trainees believe that the training has enhanced their knowledge about the topic and that the contents and methods presented in the training will enhance the interest of the pupils for the topic energy saving. What comes out of their evaluation is that in general they feel well prepared through the training for the project in their school.

On Monday 15th April a meeting between partners (WoR, UfU) took place. There was made an evaluation of the training and a general discussion of overall goals of the project implementation. In addition there were discussed measures that will enhance the long term motivation of the schools community to stay active on the project (i.e. organize students competitions, change Energy Team every one or two years) and ideas on how to include topics and/or methodologies of the program to the standard curriculum of the students.