In 2018 we started our collaboration with the team of Equal Saree (Barcelona, Spain), our aim was to translate the guide “El pati de l’escola en igualtat” and to adapt it to the needs of the Greek primary schools. In February 2019, the crowdfunding campaign we had organized was successfully completed and now the Greek version of the guide “The schoolyard, a space of equality” is available.
With Equal Saree we share a common vision and we both work on methodologies of introducing gender perspective and inclusion in the design of spaces. Equal Saree has developed the “El pati de l’escola en igualtat” guide that helps school communities to review and redesign their yards through the use of participatory methods and tools. The aim is to approach gender equality through the development of spatial qualities of the yard that meet a great variety of children’s needs and desires. The methodology described in the guide was used as a tool for the “Empatitzem Repensem l’ús dels patis escolars”, a pilot program of participatory spatial transformation that was implemented in 5 public schools in the municipality of Santa Coloma de Gramenet (Barcelona, Spain) during the 2017-2018 school year. As a result of the program, schoolyards have now developed a fairer distribution of space, relaxation areas have been increased, better use of the existing space has been achieved and they have more variety in gaming and activity options.
In December 2018, in collaboration with Equal Saree, we launched an online crowdfunding campaign aimed at collecting the necessary resources for the translation and adaptation of the driver in Greek (but also in English and Spanish). The crowdfunding had a great impact (more than 160 people and organizations from all over the world contributed) and as a result in February 2019 the necessary amount had been collected, so we proceeded with the translation and adaptation of the guide in Greek and according to the needs of Greek primary schools.
The English version of the guide is available on our website here.
If you want to know more about the crowdfunding we organized on the Goteo platform, visit: https://el.goteo.org/project/inclusive-schoolyards