Building a dry stone wall together and overcoming cultural walls in the process
BWBW is a youth exchange program bringing together young people from Switzerland, Israel, Palestine, South Tyrol, Northern Italy, and Ireland, Northern Ireland. During one week, they work together on building a traditional dry stone wall. At the same time, they experience each other’s cultures through discussions, outdoor activities, and cooking together. The project focuses on the walls between cultures – and how we can overcome them.
A project of the Nature Culture Association
The Naturkultur association was founded in Solothurn in 2010. The organization focuses on offering intercultural and personality-enhancing outdoor activities. The association is politically and religiously neutral. Naturkultur is a member of the Swiss umbrella organization for youth organizations SAJV, the Swiss Association of Dry Stone Masons SVTSM and at Intermundo, the umbrella organization for the promotion of youth exchanges.
Naturkultur is made up of experts from the fields of youth work, coaching, agriculture, cultural and social work and environmental education. Networked in these areas, the association guarantees high-quality offers and professional management. Naturkultur is closely networked nationally and internationally with partner organizations.
Mission Statement – Naturkultur Association
Goal
The Naturkultur Association promotes awareness and responsibility towards both people and nature through intercultural and experience-based projects. We aim to give individuals the opportunity to engage as responsible and attentive members of our society. Our projects are designed to broaden horizons and encourage personal development, while empowering participants to stand up for issues that matter to them. Through the implementation of these projects, the association promotes and supports voluntary engagement in pursuit of these goals.
What Matters to Us
Youth
It is important to the association that young people not only participate in projects but also actively help shape and lead them. For this reason, half of the association’s board consists of young adults who previously took part in our projects and now contribute as volunteers. At each project location, a young adult takes responsibility for project coordination or group leadership. This ensures that the needs of young participants are taken seriously and that voluntary engagement is actively demonstrated in practice.
Nature
Through working in and with nature, we encourage people to develop a deeper awareness of their natural environment and to engage collectively in caring for our cultural landscapes. We highlight the value of nature and cultural landscapes and emphasise that they are worth protecting, and that we all share responsibility for preserving them.
Culture
Our projects bring together people from different cultural and religious backgrounds. Through respectful interaction and a shared effort to challenge stereotypes between cultures, we create a space where everyone is free to be themselves. In doing so, we contribute to peaceful understanding between people of different cultures and actively stand against exclusion, prejudice and racism.
Volunteering
Participants in our projects become familiar with voluntary work and learn how to give something back to the natural environment and local communities of the project locations. For example, dry-stone walls are restored through voluntary work, allowing young people to experience the value and meaning of such efforts. Participants are encouraged to become actively engaged in causes that matter to them in their own communities and countries.
What We Do
Several times a year, the Naturkultur Association organises intercultural project weeks in natural environments, with the active involvement of its young members.
Participants are encouraged to step outside their usual surroundings and gain new experiences that broaden their horizons and support personal growth. They are also given opportunities to take on responsibilities and contribute to shaping project activities. In this way, we strengthen young people’s self-confidence and sense of self-efficacy, helping them realise that they can make a difference.
Ideally, the experience motivates participants to become engaged in voluntary work in their own communities, supporting causes that are important to them.
In addition to intercultural project weeks for young people, we create opportunities for people from our region to participate in meaningful voluntary work related to nature and cultural projects in rural areas.
We place great importance on respectful and transparent communication with everyone involved in the association and in our projects. Sustainability is considered in the design of our projects, and we strive to implement our activities in an environmentally responsible way.