The “Visit Agiasos” Civil Non-Profit Company was founded in 2020. It is a social organization created by a group of people actively involved in volunteering programs, with social sensibilities, and a vision to promote our birthplace, mobilize the youth, engage them in volunteering and give them access to knowledge, and preserve and disseminate our cultural heritage.
More specifically, it engages in the systematic recording, preservation and promotion of the customs, local dialect, myths, proverbs, and traditional arts of Lesvos. It achieves its goals by publishing treatises, creating and maintaining a website, producing audiovisual media, organising talks, conferences and seminars with the participation of specialised scientists, and taking part in exhibitions.
In addition, it provides support for the student community on all educational levels, with handicraft seminars, talks, exhibitions and events that pertain to the arts, sciences, and personal and social psychosomatic development, in general. The organization’s ultimate objective is to cultivate and develop the idea of volunteering, through the creation of volunteer teams to support actions targeted at the tourist promotion and development of Agiasos and the island of Lesvos.
The grant pertains to support for the Social and Solidarity Economy project “K.A.L.O. for the communities” [“K.A.L.O.” being the Greek acronym for SSE]. The initiative will provide specialised information, counselling and support for women and young people, with the aim of creating and developing Social and Solidarity Economy projects in two seaside communities in Lesvos (indicatively, Plomari and Polychnito), as well as in Agiasos. The communities chosen for the intervention are characterised by the presence of natural and man-made resources, which, however, are greatly underutilised.
The proposed actions are aimed at social and vocational preparation, as well as abolishing discrimination, by empowering the women and youth who are at risk of exclusion from the labour market, and mobilising them so that they may develop the social and professional skills necessary for their social (as needed) and professional integration with the general population.
The estimated number of total beneficiaries over the course of the grant is 25 people.
The project is implemented through a grant by the Athina I. Martinou Foundation, as part of the “Points of Support” program, in the area: “Social Innovation in Small Local Seaside Communities”.