The Right to Be(e)

When: 2012-2017

Where: Czech Republic and across Europe

‘The Right to Be(e)’ was a grassroots campaign which aimed to support the survival of bees with local actions. The first concern was to attract more attention to the disappearance and well-being of bees in Europe. The campaign was created in 2012, and the first actions started in 2013. It was open to everybody – bee enthusiasts or not – and encouraged anyone to help bees no matter how small the action was (planting a flower, visiting a local beekeeper…). Because all actions are a step for improving the well-being of bees, and, on the long run, our own well-being.

Here are the results of five years of campaigning for the bees!

NGOs, primary schools, groups of friends, families, but also people on their own took part in this campaign. We send a warm thank you to everybody for their involvement and their will to help bees!

The actions were very diverse and creative, individual and collective. Everyone who took part in this campaign contributed to raising awareness about the disappearance of bees and/or to bee-survival in Europe. Should it be by trying to learn more about bees and how to improve their well-being, by supporting and visiting local beekeepers, by providing information and triggering the collective reflection through workshops and online campaigns, or by creating a bee-friendlier environment (planting flowers, building bee hotels…).

Check out “The Right to Be(e)” actions map here.

Thanks to our participants, flowers, herbs, and fruits and vegetables have grown in gardens, balconies and urban areas. We mention some of them:

Bell flowers, Royal purple brunfelsia, Calendula, Dahlia, Daisy, Sacred datura, Carnation, Fidelity, Forget-me-not, Blue tansy, Malva, Petunia, Marigold, Whitelady

Lavender, Chamomile, Melissa, Mentha, Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme

Cucumber, Eggplant, Strawberries, Sweet pea, Tomato, Zucchini

…Any many other species!

This campaign has been supported by 12 ‘bee campaigners’ across Europe (you can find their profiles in “The Right to Be(e)”’s Facebook album “Bee Campaigners”) and by 470 bee-lovers, who followed “The Right to Be(e)”’s Facebook page and received updates from the campaign as well as some useful information about bees.

Click below to read the toolkit, our publication and our bees report.

What you can do - Toolkit Bees Report Be(e) the Change Booklet

Project Milestones

2012
‘The Right to Be(e)’ grassroots campaign is created
2013
First Year
The Right to Be(e) actions started one year after the beginning of the campaign, with an info and planting workshop organised by the YEE team in the eco-center Toulcuv Dvur (Prague, Czech Republic) during the Day of Earth, and a family planting in Walmsburg (Germany).

2013
2014
Second Year
The summer of 2014 was a big step for the campaign, with the launch of the first The Right to Be(e) Competition. The competition aimed to foster the organisation of local workshops about bees in order to raise awareness about the disappearance of bees in Europe.

This workshop competition gathered 7 different organisations from Sweden, Czech Republic, Portugal, Italy, Spain and Moldova.

The first place was awarded to “GUTTA-CLUB” (Moldova), for the workshop “Save bees”, that aimed to inform and discuss about the importance of bees through different means (lecture, painting workshop, flash mob, theatre play…).
2015
Third Year
This year was the planting year! The Right to Be(e) campaign focused on the promotion of grassroots planting actions all around Europe. Between 11th and 23rd of May, 12 participants from 8 different countries took part in this planting movement, to make our Earth a better place for the bees.

2015
2016
Fourth Year
The summer of 2016 was very active! We counted 8 different actions (for example, visits to local beekeepers, workshops for children, debates, planting actions, online campaigns…), including our 5 participants of the third ‘The Right to Bee’ competition that focused on helping bees in urban areas.

Participants in the competition were: the center for Development Education and Networking “EDEN” (Albania), Sombor elementary schools (Serbia), the Association for International Cooperation “EYAS” (Spain), Ylona Erard (France), the youth eco-movement “SAEM” (Georgia).

The winner was “EYAS”, for their creative Twitter campaign.

This year was also focused on learning. Between 23rd and 30th of August, YEE organised the training course ‘Be(e) the change’. One outcome of this training course was the booklet ‘Be(e) the change – guide on campaigning’, that helps you to start, to lead and to close a campaign.
2017
Final Year
During April and May, ‘The Right to Be(e)’ campaign focused on sharing, action and support. This year again, organisations and people from all over Europe carried out diverse actions ranging from flower plantings and educational trainings, to meetings with beekeepers and fostering local beekeeping with a honey breakfast initiative.

2017