KOINONIKI SYNETAIRISTIKI EPICHEIRISI SYLLOGIKIS KAI KOINONIKIS OFELEIAS ZAGORIOU TA PSILA VOUNA (TA PSILΑ VOUNA KOINSEP)

“The High Mountains” is a Social Cooperative Enterprise founded in 2015 by people who live
and produce in mountainous areas. Our members are farmers, food processors, livestock
farmers, beekeepers, but also carpenters, stone builders, artists, makers, scientists, cultural
associations, and mountain municipalities. Our vision is to succeed in a “Worth living
Integrated Development” scheme in mountainous areas. We try to revive our villages in a
holistic way, to adopt or create models and techniques of producing, distributing,
consuming, and living, customized to the special needs, conditions and environments of the
places we have chosen to live in and attached to the values we want to live by.

Our goals and work include efforts in many different, but interconnected areas of activity:
● Boosting Mountainous Economy and Production
● Reviving Mountainous Societies
● Protect the Environment, Reclaim Mountainous Space and Abandoned Properties

The High Mountains Social Cooperative Enterprise is a non-for-profit social enterprise that
operates in a democratic way, without any form of discrimination, taking decisions through
all-inclusive participatory models, based in the principles of social economy. Any deriving
profit from our actions is used to expand our business and create new job positions. Our
cooperative aims to the sustainable development of the mountainous areas of Greece, to the
decentralization and promotion of sustainable agricultural practices, to the creation of new
and decent job positions, promotion of socially supported agriculture models through the
creation of a hub that connects producers and consumers based on the farm to fork strategy,
creation and development of educational programs related to the importance of biodiversity
conservation and raising of awareness regarding environmental matters. Additionally, we aim
to the transition in sustainable and responsible tourism models in the area, based in the
cultural heritage and the preservation of our natural resources. We are currently
participating in a HORIZON program called INCULTUM in the remote mountainous area of
Konitsa, where, through data analysis and participatory models we try, with the local
community, administration, producers, and cultural associations to develop cultural tourism
products in the bases of responsible and solidarity tourism. Through a national funded
program of the prefecture of Epirus we created a food hub and created an expanding
network of producers and consumers. We also participate in an Erasmus + program called
nARTure This project intends to promote active participation and citizenship amongst young
people in Spain, Portugal, and Greece, providing them with the tools and capacities
necessary to become agents of change contributing to the pursuit of the SDGs and 2030
Agenda. Particularly this will be done through artistic and cultural activities, as through the
development of artistic skills and languages, and focusing on the defense of the natural
environment. We offer children and young people the opportunity to participate in
environmental educational programs we designed, combining dance – movement and
innovative educational approaches. Furthermore, we support those who live in
mountainous and remote areas, as well as anyone that wishes to decentralize with a wide
range of services and facilitations such as housing, introduction to the existing networks,
access to tools and expertise depending on his needs, and many other services. The High
Mountains Social Cooperative is actively cooperating and participating in networks of other
Social Cooperative Enterprises and supports various actions of Solidary and Social Economy
in the area.

Youth is actively involved in our actions, through the educational programs we offer to young
people and children, through volunteer tourism where, since 2016, our network members,
mountain associations and municipalities host volunteers from all over the world giving them
the opportunity to discover the culture, everyday aspects and life in the mountains of Greece
and through the services we offer to those who live or want to settle in mountainous areas.
Youth is also actively participating in our SCE through Erasmus + projects we implement.