Circular community in motion

At the second annual meeting the CAROUSEL project continued the mapping activities towards circular community building. Following the insights from the workshop at the Kick off meeting in Gerace (November 2025), mapping of the actors within the key community units continued at the workshop in Skopje (June 2025).

Figure 1 shows the structure of the initial community as resulted from the Gerace Workshop showing that: Local and regional authorities, along with project partners working on their behalf acknowledged their roles primarily as consumers (C) and contributors to consumer education and awareness. Many also recognized involvements in services (S), with half already active in providing technical support or consultancy. Development (D) was the most commonly identified role, with partners like DISPTOR contributing across technology, economy, and education, while others focused on awareness and education. Production (P) was noted by four partners, including one direct producer and one supporter, both focused on technology. Distribution (DI), secondary material provision (SM), and raw material provision (RM) were rarely identified, as these are largely handled by external stakeholders, though some project partners reported experience in handling raw materials (e.g., textiles, leather).

Figure 1: Structure of the extended partnership (PPs + APs) within the units of the community as resulted from the initial workshop in Gerace. © DIPSTOR®

Compared to the initial workshop in Gerace, the Skopje workshop reflected broader stakeholder engagement across the community units and envelope layers, showing a shift in project partners’ recognition of contributions beyond education and awareness-raising to include economic and technological expertise. Figure 2 illustrates this evolution, particularly within the consumer (C) unit, where awareness-focused stakeholders still dominate, but pilots like the one in Slovenia also identified stakeholders capable of addressing technological and economic dimensions. Stakeholders with technological and/or economic roles were increasingly acknowledged across most pilots, particularly within the service (S), production (P), secondary material provision (SM), and development (D) units.

Figure 2: Structure and characteristics of the community as resulted from the workshop in Skopje. © DIPSTOR®

More information about the project and the project partners is available at https://carousel.interreg-ipa-adrion.eu/

The CAROUSEL project can be also followed at https://www.facebook.com/CarouselAdrion#