Resilient working, learning and living together
June 1st to June 29th 2025
Gut Herzershof, Herzershof 10, 15328 Küstriner Vorland, Germany
www.unavision.eu
Pop-up village resilient life
Workshop Invitation: "Pop-up Village – Resilient Working, Learning, and Living Together"
The Pop-up Village is a unique, hands-on experiment in reimagining rural life. It will happen from June 1st to June 29th 2025 in the eastern part of Germany. Rooted in the principles of sustainability, community living, and creative collaboration, the project explores how we can shape a fulfilling and future-oriented lifestyle – one that blends meaningful work, artistic expression, ecological awareness and healthy living.
This initiative is part of a volunteering team project supported by the European Union's European Solidarity Corps. We invite 20 young people (aged 18–30) from across Europe to join us in the small community of Herzershof, where they will engage in diverse creative and practical tasks over several weeks. Interested participants from outside the EU sponsored countries or people above 30 years of age may join by covering the cost of the program.
What to Expect
Participants will gain valuable experience and develop both practical and personal skills in areas such as:
* Ecological building and crafting
* Sustainable agriculture and gardening
* Artistic and cultural expression
* Food preparation and preservation
* Community living and self-organization
Beyond hands-on activities, the Pop-up Village is also about self-discovery, teamwork and shared learning. Living together as a group, participants will actively co-create the project structure, engage in group decision-making, and contribute their own ideas, talents, and impulses to the daily rhythm of the village.
A Shared Journey
In the first days, we'll provide a warm introduction to the program, along with tools and methods for collaborative decision-making, non-violent communication, and transformative learning processes. The schedule will be shaped with the participants, not for them – reflecting our belief that everyone brings something valuable to the table.
The project will culminate in a final community event prepared by the group to share the experience, creations, and outcomes with local residents and friends of the Pop-up Village and celebrate the community life and results together.
We are looking for open-minded, curious and motivated individuals who want to contribute to a vibrant collective experience – aligned with the values of sustainability, solidarity and mutual respect …
Come, build with us, grow with us and explore what it means to live and work together with resilience, purpose, and joy!
Transportation – Accommodation – Food
The activity will take place in the rural area. The accommodation will be on the premises of the host. The accommodation will be in shared rooms and shared bathrooms and toilets. Here you can find some pictures of Herzershof:
Photos Herzershof – UnaVision
Gut Herzershof is a former farm from around 1850. ThinkCamp acquired the location some years ago and is renovating it to serve as a learning location for sustainable and resilient learning, working and living together. The farm is located 90 km east of Berlin close to the Polish border. We have the main building serving as our living quarter, a former stable transformed into our community house with kitchen and some green houses, where we produce vegetables and herbs for our own needs.
Dates
* Arrival at Gut Herzershof: Sunday, June 1st 2025, afternoon
* Program: from Monday June 2nd to Saturday June 28th 2025
* Departure: Sunday, June 29th after breakfast
In case your connections on Sundays are not good, you are welcome to come a day earlier or stay a day longer at no additional cost.
Group Chat and UnaVision Platform
UnaVision Platform: https://unavision-network.mn.co/share/Mn-pGHYiPwyT4ODW?utm_source=manual
Please register yourself, fill out your profile and upload a photo. Then register at the 2025 EVS Pop-up village event.
WhatsApp Chat: We will start a WhatsApp group chat as soon as we have your mobile numbers.
European Youth Portal registration
You need to be registered at the European Youth Portal in order to participate. Please do so as soon as possible! Your PRN is required to finalize the technical preparation.
https://youth.europa.eu/solidarity/young-people/about_en
https://youth.europa.eu/solidarity/opportunity/45455_en
Volunteering Agreement
Within the European Solidarity Corps, a volunteering agreement has to be signed. Please provide us with the answers in this form to prepare the agreement as well as some other aspects of your stay. The agreement will then be sent to you for review and signature.
https://forms.office.com/e/2qBW69wF1s
Food
We cook vegetarian, organic food. Most of the food is from regional farms or a bio certified supplier. The cooking team will serve the food on the buffet in the community room. If needed, there is gluten free bread. You can drink the tap water at our location.
All day long you will have access to coffee, tea, syrup and water. If needed, you can purchase other drinks at the local supermarket EDEKA, which is 2 km away.
Planned eating times are mentioned below. Please stick to the times to enable the cooking-kitchen team to participate in the activities.
* Breakfast from 07:15 h to 08:15 h
* Lunch from 13:30 to 14:15 h
* Dinner from 19:00 to 19:45 h
Accommodation, sleeping and hygiene
You will have shared hostel style sleeping rooms with 12, 8, 4 or 3 beds. The rooms are separated for female and male participants. You will find these rooms on the ground and first floor of the former farm building. We provide beddings and towels.
There are male and female showers with toilets on the ground floor and additional toilets on the first floor.
Please bring house shoes or slippers for the indoor activities.
Use of shampoo, soap and detergents
We have a plant based sewage treatment plant. We are not using any chemicals for dishwashing or body cleaning. You will be provided with soap and shampoo for your cleaning purposes. You do not need to bring these.
Washing Cloths
We have a washing machine and a dryer. Please combine the washing with several people (8kg) to wash together. We will explain to you how the machine works.
Smoking – Alcohol
Smoking is not allowed in the buildings. We have smoking areas outside at the veranda of the community building and the terrace of the farm building.
Please do not consume alcoholic beverages during the week. A moderate and conscious consumption during the weekend parties is fine.
Team of EVS program
Manuela of pewobe g GmbH takes care of all financial questions, settlements and reimbursement of travel costs. All technical questions regarding the volunteering agreement, management in the European Youth Portal as well as finances will be handled by pewobe g GmbH.
Johannes and the Gut Herzershof team coordinate the activities at Gut Herzershof.
Activities are conducted by Ana (kitchen, baking), Johannes (individual and team development and topic offerings), Sascha (atelier, art, mosaic, frame printing), Sophie (Yoga, garden) and Uta (atelier and garden)
Manuela Demel, Mail: demel@pewobe-ffo.de, Mobil +49 (173) 425 8016
Johannes Pfister, Mail: johannes.pfister@thinkcamp.eu, Mobil: +49 (172) 862 8947
Location and Transportation
The location of Gut Herzershof is 90 km east of Berlin, Germany. The address is:
Herzershof 10, 15328 Küstriner Vorland
The next bus station is "Herzershof Küstriner Vorland" 500 meter from our location. It is served by bus 969 from Frankfurt (Oder) or from Bahnhof Küstrin Kietz.
The next train station is "Gorgast Bahnhof Küstriner Vorland" at a distance of 3.5 km. Walking time is about 40 minutes.
The EDEKA supermarket is 2 km away in the next village of Manschnow. Next to the EDEKA is also a drug store, post office and Kebab.
Arriving at the Airport Berlin-Brandenburg or Berlin Hauptbahnhof
There are frequent trains from the Berlin-Brandenburg Airport to Berlin Ostkreuz, where you have to change. The duration is about 20 minutes.
From Berlin Hauptbahnhof you can take the S-Bahn to Berlin Ostkreuz (about 15 minutes).
To travel to Gut Herzershof, there are two possibilities.
Alternative-1 from Berlin Ostkreuz
From Berlin Ostkreuz you can take the train RB-26 towards Kostrzyn (PL). The station stop is "Gorgast Bahnhof". The ride takes 1:10 h. Departures on Saturday or Sunday afternoon are:
* Departure 15:33 h – Arrival 16:43 h
* Departure 17:33 h – Arrival 18:43 h
* Departure 19:33 h – Arrival 20:43 h
To walk from the Gorgast train station to Gut Herzershof is 3.5 km or 40 minutes. We will pick you up at the station.
Alternative-2 from Berlin Ostkreuz (or Hauptbahnhof)
Alternatively you can choose the combination train and bus directly to Herzershof bus stations. In that case you take the train RE-1 from Berlin Ostkreuz to Frankfurt (Oder) at 12:32 h or 16:32 h, change in Frankfurt (Oder) to take the Bus 969 to Herzershof.
Going Home on the last day
Trains for Berlin departing on Sundays are at 06:15h, 08:15h, 10:15h or 12:15h.
Finances, Tickets and reimbursement
Please send you tickets and all related documents to projekte@pewobe-ffo.de
The costs in Germany for accommodation and the activities are covered by the fund of the European Commission. You will also be signed up for the group insurance provided by the European Solidarity Corps. According to the rules within the European Solidarity Corps we will reimburse the travel costs on the basis of the cheapest and safest possibilities, e.g. second class railway tickets, APEX-flights etc., accompanied by the receipt of complete and original tickets, invoices, bills, receipts, boarding cards etc. upon a certain "contribution to the travel costs of participants, from their place of origin to the venue of the activity and return". This contribution is "based on the travel distance per participant. Travel distances must be calculated using the distance calculator supported by the European Commission".
All financial details as well as other obligations from all sides will be clarified in a personal volunteering agreement between pewobe, Herzershof and each volunteer. The draft for this agreement will be sent after you submit your details through the form above.
The team of Manuela will handle the reimbursement and also your pocket money for the stay. You will receive the pocket money during your stay. The reimbursement of travel costs will be done when all necessary documents are submitted. It is important that original documents are collected and submitted during your stay.
Compensation of CO2 emissions while traveling
We suggest that every participant plant one or more trees to compensate for the environmental damage caused by our travels. We will do that together in the future forest garden at our location. The calculation of upsetting for example a one way flight of 2.000 km is planting 2 trees and caring for it during the next 50 years! (Room for discussion). If you like to donate a tree, please do so by offering 10 € to 20 €.
Clothes and climate
Please bring some protective rain clothes, good shoes and jackets for the evenings. During the months of June the average temperature in Brandenburg ranges between 15 and 25 degrees, with a 50% chance of rainy days during the month.
Activities during your stay
We worked out a combination of activities for learning, working and living together. On a weekly basis we will split up in three to four groups for the activities. We also like to conduct short daily and in depth weekly reviews about your perceptions, feelings, thoughts and wishes about the program, participants and hosting. It is a social experiment of intercultural working, learning and living together. Details will be shared during the first day of the activity.
Sharings and offerings of participants
You are welcome to offer your knowledge, talents and ideas to the group during the afternoons or evenings. Please post them on the board in the community house and give a short explanation to the group. The offerings can have a duration of a few moments to two hours. It can be sharing your knowledge and experience (BA, Master Thesis, projects) or music, dancing, games, entrepreneurship ideas, social experiments and so forth. We also have some board games, table tennis, kicker, and music instruments for your use.
Housekeeping
We like to establish a daily routine of housekeeping to clean up the public spaces of showers, toilets, floors and community houses. Please join one group and help keeping a nice environment for all of us.
Weekend activities
Feel free to do an excursion during the weekend. There are some bicycles which can be used.
When going to Berlin, be aware that there are only limited train and bus services during the weekend. You can purchase group day tickets at reduced prices.
Following a graphical overview of the activities. The first and last week will have a different schedule. A public presentation of the results of the pop up village will be done during the last days of the activities.
Links
Application at European Youth portal
https://youth.europa.eu/solidarity/opportunity/45455_en
Homepage ThinkCamp
https://unavision.eu/evs-pop-up-village-herzershof-germany/
