The Ansoáin City Hall, in collaboration with the Equality Service, organised the first ecological horticulture workshops for women in 2016. “We set in motion the ecosocial garden with the objective of promoting the empowerment of women,” explained Eva Isturiz García, the Equality Technique of the City of Ansoáin. In the past, other orchard areas were already in operation in the village, for example in gazteleku and in school. “The orchard, the cultivation of the land, has a special capacity for the process of empowering people,” he says.

From workshop to self-managed group

The first steps were the preparation of the site and the organization of the theoretical-practical workshop of the agroecological association Porta. Although the workshops were open to all the women in Ansoáin, some of the places were reserved for those who were already in other projects of the Equality Service: women in violence prevention programs, sclerosis associations… In the first year they were trained mainly in cultivation techniques, but soon the organizers realized that they also had to work more in the field of self-esteem, fraternity and empowerment of women. Therefore, in the second year they received the sessions of a psychologist working on gender issues.

After three years of workshops, the project has acquired a new form: women have created a group of self-managed gardens. “They work in ecological horticulture and participate in the Txoko Gorri, made up of Ansoin collectives.” The group has taken the name of Errotz, and is open to any woman in the people.

Multi-group

“At first it aroused a lot of interest and the initiative had a very good response, but women carried many backpacks on top and little by little we were able to see that some women started to leave,” explains Istúriz. In group format, however, it is easier to take into account the rhythms and needs of each woman, and each one participates according to their possibilities.

The technician explains that the profile of the participants is very varied: “There are women with disabilities, from different backgrounds and ages…”. According to the technician, the ultimate goal was to gain presence in the orchard and in the village, and they are gradually getting there.