Culture and peer-learning for integration

of socio-economically disadvantaged youth

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This material reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

Cultural approaches and peer-learning are more and more accepted pedagogical methods especially in informal education. The intention of this learning partnership is to exchange experience of the cultural and peer-learning approaches for integration of socio-economically disadvantaged youth.

Project coordinator is “Institut equalita” (DE), partners are “Büro für Kultur- und Medienprojekte” (DE), “Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation” VIDC (AT), “SPOR Media” (DK), “Ekvilib Institute” (SL), “Foundation for Development of the Cultural and Business Potential of Civil Society” (BG) and “People against Racism” (SK).

Let us introduce ourselves:

Ulrich Diermann of Institute equalita in Köln/Germany

Institute equalita offers training and consulting for ecological organisations and social institutions. It is running educational activities, qualification projects, consulting, seminars, and other activities in numerous areas and countries in Europe. One focus are educational measures on North-South topics and Global Learning. Institut equalita is carrying out the action Children's Culture Caravan together with Büro für Kultur- und Medienprojekte since the year 2000. Furthermore it has implemented cultural approaches for integration in cooperation with youth centres in Köln and the youth department of North Rhine-Westphalia (LVR). By music and theatre projects socio-economically disadvantaged youth and young adults with migrant background have been motivated to deal with their social situation and think about ways and possibilities to change it. www.equalita.de

Bettina Kocher and

Ralf Classen from Hamburg/Germany

International cultural exchange and creating an inovative fusion between culture and global learning are in the focus of the work of the Office for Culture and Media Projects. Since 10 years the Children's Cultural Caravan is one of our ambitious projects. Young people from Africa, Asia and Latin American countries, living under extremely poor conditions, got new access to creating their future by cultural expressions. With theatre plays, circus, music and dance, they impress young people of the same age in Germany and other European countries with their creativity and artistic power. The experiences with cultural approaches and peer-learning in global education for sustainable development we made in theas years with 5-7 groups of young artists from around the world are the background of this Grundtvig learning partnership to be developed further on an European level. The children's Cultural Caravan is among others "Official Project of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Develpoment" in Germany and official project of the action plan "Hamburg learns sustainability".
The role of media on north-south issues for educational purposes is part of the work of the Television Workshop Development Politics, a working group of organisations engaged in education, development politics and media. We are managing the screening days and discussion which take place regularly. The combination of global learning and new media becomes more and more important. As spokesman of the German based One World Internet Conference we react on this challenge. The data base One World Media that we edit provides access to media on north-south issues and promotes their use in education.
www.kultur-und-medien.com

Anita Ramsak from Ljubljana/Slowenia

Ekvilib Institute is a non-profit and independent organisation, active in the fields of human rights, development cooperation and social responsibility (with the emphasis on social corporate responsibility). Our mission is to encourage and support policies and practices that contribute to a higher level of social responsibility of all actors in the global development and to increase the level of enjoyment of human rights on a global level. Within the framework of our activities we offer trainings and workshops in the fields of human rights and rights-based approaches, engage in advocacy and lobbying activities, global education, development projects outside of Europe, run an information-documentation centre for development education etc.
http://www.ekvilib.org/en

Alena Krempaská from Bratislava/Slovakia

Civic association People against racism was founded with the goal of strengthening a tolerant, multicultural society, which respects human rights and the individuality of every person regardless of their sex, race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, age or education.
Our main goal is to root out prejudices, through a systematic education of society. The education is mainly directed through trainings and workshops focusing on the issues of racism, totalitarian political systems, discrimination, tolerance, interculturalism and multiculturalism. We attempt to spread an anti-racist messages to various parts of society, through campaigns, cultural events and sporting events. The association cooperates with a school network and promotes informal multicultural education.

www.rasizmus.sk

Miglena Molhova and

Zornitsa Staneva from Sofia/Bulgaria

Our organization - “Foundation for Development of the Cultural and Business Potential of Civil Society”, Sofia - aims at supporting the educational, cultural and economic development of the civil society in Bulgaria and to stimulate intercultural and artistic exchange of experience, skills and ideas. We support new pedagogical approaches in different areas such as: culture, cultural exchanges and bridges, art, to overcome of old traditional pedagogical methods mainly used in Bulgarian schools and to support informal education by introducing new methods and media. The Foundation works with a network of schools and Local Action Groups in numerous Bulgarian municipalities.
www.cubufoundation.com/en/

Torben Vosbein from SPOR Media/Denmark

SPOR Media is an association working with a broad range of activities within media and culture: Production and distribution of documentaries; Production af educational packages combining films and website material; Promotion of South-North cultural exchange and dialogue between young people; Support of media projects in the South.

SPOR Media has special focus upon the human potentials and the cultural richness of individuals and societies in the South, and the necessity of global equality and cultural exchange - in accordance with Unescos convention concerning the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

For thirty years SPOR Media's main activity has been to produce or import documentaries, mainly about issues from the South, for non-commercial distribution in Denmark. In connection to the films, SPOR Media has produced educational materials which can be downloaded from the internet. (www.fjernenaboer.dk)

During the last five years SPOR Media, in collaboration with Children's Culture Caravan in Germany, has organised visits by cultural groups from Bolivia, Afghanistan and South Africa to the municipality of Kalundborg, which is located in a rural area of Denmark. The groups participated in workshops at the local primary schools and gave several public performances. The visits have been a big success and have given a significant cultural input to the youngsters, which have had very little contact to other cultures of the world, especially in the South.
www.spormedia.dk

Erika Köchl from Vienna/Austria:

"Our organisation VIDC (Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation) was founded in the early 1960s by Bruno Kreisky and Nehru to facilitate the cooperation between countries of the West and the South on an equal level. Today we have three departments: moving cultures with a focus on art and culture from Africa, Asia and Latin America, FairPlay with anti-racism activities in sports and a development policy department researching on development issues. My personal focus is on intercultural projects with artists from the South in order to give Austrians a possibility of concrete and positive experience with people from a different cultural background."

http://www.vidc.org/

Cultural approaches and peer-learning are more and more accepted pedagogical methods especially in informal education. An excellent and successful example is the project KinderKulturKarawane - Children's Culture Caravan. Socio-economically disadvantaged young people at the age of 16-25 from Africa, Asia and Latin America present cultural performances like music, dance, theatre, and circus for European youth, young adults and other audience to deliver insight into their everyday life and their visions for a better future, but also to show chances for social integration by these activities.

Young adults in Europe discover by these presentations, workshops and direct meetings with the young artists - peer-learning - parallels to their own, often precarious social and economic situation. And they get to know innovative and creative perspectives and strategies to foster social integration.

The cultural, rather than purely cognitive approach in combination with peer-learning transfers very direct political and social integration problems and possible solutions, and gives concrete experiences regarding the importance of socio-cultural exchanges. Also in the new EU member states there are first initiatives and concepts fostering such approaches, focussing on integration and socio-economic deprivation in their own country as well as on the global dimensions of social disintegration.

The intention of this learning partnership is to exchange experience of the cultural and peer-learning approaches by the participating organisations and their staff. An evaluation and development of methods should lead to a comprehensive approach for further activities and a European network working with this educational approach for social integration. Especially the partners in the new EC member countries will be supported to adapt and implement the approaches and to integrate in the European networking.

Target groups are educational institutions and their staff members and teachers, especially working with disadvantaged young people and young adults with migrant backgrounds, using these methodological approaches in their educational activities. Further target groups are young people at the age from 16 to 24 who are not in school or vocational education, especially socio-economically disadvantaged youth and young people with migration background. Directly involved are also young cultural groups from projects participating in Children’s Culture Caravan to give a vivid impression of what their creativity can contribute to methodological innovation and to share their experiences with cultural peer-learning.