Dobrovoľníctvo
The River III.
Volunteering Teams project
06. - 21. July 2026, Prenčov, Slovakia
The River III. is a 14 days solidarity project focused on topics of climate change, active citizenship, creativity and culture. 25 young people from whole Europe will meet together for the local action focused on landscape design in the area surrounding the stream nearby ARTKRUH settlements. We will clean the stream banks and illegal waste dumping sites and create places for short rest and reflection in nature, supported by land art.
We will also help with modification and maintenance of water retention ditches and familiarization with the unique water system in Banská Stiavnica from the 17th century, which is part of the UNESCO cultural heritage. By this and following educational and artistic activities young people will foster resilience of local community. Result of the project will be presented to local community by small artistic gathering/exibition or perfomance/with educational elements included. This project follows on the River 2023 and 2025 projects, where we eliminated the consequences of the flood that local people ever remember.
What the volunteers will experience
- Basic and principles of Permaculture
- How to use the Dragon Dreaming for
working in the teams - How to influence society by art
- How to work with water at home, in the city, in the countryside, in the country
- Friendships and Contacts for the future.
What will they get
- Physical work in nature
- Land art, music, creativity
- 2 weeks living close to wild nature
- International community environment
- Excellent and tasty vegetarian food
- Lots of fun and deep moments
- An unforgettable experience for a lifetime
Venue
Our organization is located in Prenčov, a small village in the middle of Slovakia, in the region of Banska Bystrica, under the hill of Sitno and surrounded by beautiful natural landscapes. The village has many folkloric houses, a rich cultural heritage and living traditions. Life in the village is strongly connected to the nearby town of Banská Štiavnica. This town is a part of the UNESCO cultural heritage and it is one of the most popular destinations in Slovakia especially in summer, with many cultural events throughout the whole year.
The region of Hont, where we are settled, is mostly rural with a lot of small traditional villages and a beautiful environment, but a lack of work, educational and social opportunities. Sadly, consumerism is becoming the leading motivation thus making traditional, rural methods and crafts slowly disappear. People are losing the relationship and the contact with the soil, nature and with themselves. As a result, rural areas are losing productivity with a rising level of dependence on national budgets or EU grants. The lack of working opportunities leads young people to passivity, migration to cities or abroad which leads to depopulation. We are reacting to this situation with our long-term goal to explore possibilities of sustainable lifestyle in the rural area and the role of the individual within the community . We want to support the process of change in our region towards a modern rural sustainable lifestyle, with an emphasis on interconnecting cities and rural areas.
Volunteer profile
We are looking for volunteers who are willing to participate actively in all the process, who are open to work and learn in a wide range of activities ready to work physically and be responsible for the duties and agreements. We search for volunteers who are looking for living and working in a rural area connected with nature and community, who feel concerned about climate change issues and are willing to learn and live responsibly. We appreciate it if volunteers have some manual skills of using working tools, or other skills needed in rural areas, but it is not required. However some preconditions for rural and community life is needed.
We want to support volunteers in becoming skilled and competent in a variety of tasks that are important for living in rural areas and in a community.
We want to encourage and develop their creativity and entrepreneurship as they discover the potential and the different sources offered by this natural environment in order to enable people to live in a more meaningful and respectful way in rural areas.