Partnership meetings

National meetings

• 11 - 13 July 2007 FCW “Education – the way to the integration”

  

  The Future Creating Workshop gathered 12 participants – key persons working closely with illiterate young Roma people (16-25 years’ old). These consultants will be responsible for bringing the young Roma back to the educational system showing them the proper educational and vocational opportunities. The discussion in the first phase of the FCW was mainly focused on the question: What are the biggest obstacles for improving the motivation of the young illiterate people? The most essential conclusions were
  * The lack of interest on the part of the parents that are often illiterate or law educated themselves
  * The low social status of the parents
  * The discrimination in the school
  * The lack of communication between Bulgarian and Roma children, as well as between teachers, parents and students
  * Lack of motivation on the part of the teachers

  

  After these statements the consultants went on to the dream phase where the one group was the winner of the European Award for best practices in motivating young illiterate people and the other group was celebrating the birthday the 80 years’ old grandpa where each of his children and grandchildren had a special gift for him – his/her personal story about the biggest success in his/her life. After presenting their results, the participant came back to the reality and tried to identify the first and most important step in order to achieve their long term goal: better education and social integration of the young Roma.

  Two project ideas were the final outcome: “Through punishment to better education” with special focus on the parents and the teachers and “Against the discrimination in the school” through joint initiatives of Roma and Bulgarian students in the cultural, sport and other fields, as well as through forums, discussions and trainings for better intercultural communication.

  Facilitators of the FCW training were Vanya Ivanova and Anelia Miteva from DVV International.

• 07 - 08 June 2007, Sevlievo, Bulgaria

  

  DVV International in Sofia, Bulgaria organized together with the Intercultural Co-operation Foundation and with the municipality of Sevlievo, the directorate for economic and humanitarian activities a training for multicultural education.The training had two components: on the one hand the testing of the role play Balkania with 35 students form different schools and with diverse ethnic background. The second aim of the workshop was to raise multicultural awareness and improve intercultural competencies of teachers and students in Bulgaria by presenting two innovative didactic tools World Cafe and Future Creating Workshop. 25 teachers, school advisers from 4 local high schools & social workers gathered together to learn about these methods that are essential for fostering critical and constructive way of thinking and active participation of teachers and students in the social, political and economic life, thus promoting active citizenship in Bulgaria.

  The Future Creating Workshop was dedicated to the topic: We, the European in Sevlievo after the accession of Bulgaria to the EU on the 01.01.2007. Going through the 3 phases of the method, the participants realized that the tree main problem areas are
  * lack of self awareness of the citizens about critical issues of their reality and lack of commitment of the civil society
  * a lot of ecological problems without adequate policy to handle them
  * insufficient financial resources, in particular the incomes of the people in the educational sector

  

  In the dream phase they tried to imagine the world in Sevlievo, when its citizens were millionaires and were highly motivated and committed to their social and ecological activities. In the reality phase they finally decided to launch three projects called “Nature 2008”, “Tell me a fare tale: a school for parents” and “Let’s be European Citizens: open minded, tolerant and active”.

  The workshop was facilitated by Ms Anelia Miteva, DVV International and Ms Reni Dimova, Intercultural Co-operation Foundation.

• 18 MAY 2007 - F.C.W ON THE PROBLEMS OF CARPET MAKING LADIES IN DEMIRCI

  

  The Future Creating Workshop gathered 30 carpet making women whose situation before the workshop was really poor - they were earning only 3 Euros per day, while one carpet costs more than 3.000 Euros. But in this economic and socially disadvantaged area, making carpets was the only way for these women to earn their keep.

  In the critique phase they raised issues as the treat of Chinese invasion, the lack of trademark for the carpets woven, missing ability to advertise unique Demirci traditional carpet design, shortage of vocational training for this profession, imports of cheap chinese carpets, cheap machinery carpets, reward for their hard work, unfavourable working conditions (mostly in their own houses).

  In the dream phase the women expressed their vision of their work focusing really on simply things as central heating, kindergarten, restaurant, bus service for those living apart, higher wages, outdoor & indoor entertainment activities, export carpets with the trademark Demirci, and establishing a Union of the carpet making women to implement their expectations.

  In the realization phase they all agreed that the implementation of their ideas mostly depends on the establishing such a Union of the carpet making women. Some of the unexpected results of the workshop were that hearing what is going on in these trainings, the companies increased the averaged wage up to 4,5 Euros and decided to give extra money for those who are installing and uninstalling the machines. Further details about the FCW and its outcomes are available under: www.halicarpet.com where carpets can be also bought online.

  The final conclusion of this successful training in Demirci is:
  When you touch the real problem of the people, you can get immediate results!

  Facilitator of the meeting was Mr Abdullah Covut, Public Training Center, Demirci.

  
  Presentation of the FCW in Demirci, Turkey - PPT 2,7 MB
• 1 – 3 December 2006, Pomorie, Bulgaria
  The Bulgarian School Association – Democratic phenomenon in the Bulgarian Educational Tradition

  

  24 people from Burgas and Burgas region gathered in Pomorie for a two day Future creating workshop. The participants were teachers; principals of schools, members of schools and church associations, pupils, students and NGO activists.

  The topic that has been selected was centred on the importance and the possibilities for development of the school associations. Hence in the course of the two days participants explored both the method of FCW and the possibilities for its application as well as discussed a number of ideas for school related projects.

  At the critique phase the most pressing problems appeared as:
  The lack of transparency in the activities of the schools association;
  The lack of financial power;
  The missing interest on behalf of the pupils in the activities of the school associations;
  The lack of motivation on behalf of the members of the school association;
  The lack of dialogue between the members of the school associations and the parents.

  The Dream Topics:
  The role of the students in the school association.
  Financing the school associations
  Dialogue parents and members of the school association
  Motivation and commitment of the members of the associations
  Transparency and accountability in the work of the school association

  Project results
  The results were concrete and oriented towards the near future. Thus all of the proposed activities are to be implemented in the first half of 2007.
  Organizing a seminar: Keeping the child within”
  Youth seminar “I care!”
  Seminar “Students representatives at the school association”
  “My future in my hands!” – students forum
  Youth debate “The school: dreamland for the students”
  Organizing a meeting between parents and members of the school association.

  The seminar was organized by the FAR Association for democratic education and facilitated by Emilia Ilieva, IIZ/DVV- Sofia.

• 4 – 6 October 2006, Sopot, Bulgaria
  The Challenges of Intercultural Education in the Bulgarian High School

  

  A Future Creating Workshop organized by IIZ/DVV – Sofia and Intercultural Cooperation Foundation was hosted by the “Ivan Vazov” High School in the picturesque city of Sopot. The workshop welcomed 35 high school teachers from various cities in Bulgaria and served as a national teacher training on this innovative methodology.

  The participants were presented the draft package of materials on Future Creating Workshop method along with the final results of the Intercultural Walk in the Streets of Europe project. ( www.cc-wise.iccfound.org )

  Equipped with new information and practical guidelines they were encouraged to create concrete lessons outlines.

  The event concluded with a plenary presentation of the numerous ideas and sharing of future training possibilities for teachers.

  The training was facilitated by Ms. Reni Dimova (ICCF) and Ms. Emilia Ilieva (IIZ/DVV).

• 21 June 2006, Demirci, Turkey
  Sustainability for the Demirci Community

  

  Organized by the Public Training Center in Demirci the Future Creating Workshop “Sustainability for the Demirci Community” brought together 14 people from diverse professional backgrounds – shop owners, teachers; trainers etc.

  At the Critique phase they identified the most pressing issues including transportation to Demirci and connecting to larger cities in the municipality of Manisa; the high unemployment rates; the lack of social activities and places for entertainment.
  The Dream phase included the creation of Dream maps – bright collages of the desired futures.

  The Reality phase brought people to working into several small groups around questions of immediate importance.

  - The collection of 20 000 signatures on the need to create a highway to Demirci that is to be sent to the interested authorities
  - A conference for parents on the usage of Internet and the dangers it might have for their children
  - The opening of an Entertainment centre in Demirci
  - Creation of a web-site advertising the handicrafts in Demirci

  The suggested ideas were designed in a format of next steps and determined teams of people working on those together with concrete task distributions and next meetings.

  The workshop was facilitated by Ms. Emilia Ilieva. IIZ/DVV - Sofia

  • Program - Word 53 KB
• 12 & 13th of June, Asten, Netherlands
  The Future Workshop method
• 19 May 2006, Kent, UK
  NGO's working in Kent

  On May 19th 2006 EISS was able to facilitate a briefing meeting for a variety of NGO's working in Kent to inform them on the methodology of "Future Workshops" and in particular how it can be used to look at issues of European integration, citizenship and other related topics. There was interest amongst participants on the method and several participants thought of other ways in which the method would be useful within their work. For example, planning how people with mental health problems could influence service providers to take greater note of their needs, and how to plan for the future developments of community groups.

  Generally it was agreed that more information and/or training on the Future Workshops model would be welcomed and it was agreed that EISS would bring some more information to the group with some ideas for taking the training forward.

• 6 June 2006, Dryanovo, Bulgaria
  Community Cooperation for Sustainable Development of Dryanovo Municipality

  

  In the framework of the Future Workshops for Europe Socrates, Grundvig 2 Learning Partnership project IIZ/DVV- Sofia in cooperation with Chitalishte “Razvitie”, Dryanovo organized a Future Workshop “Community Cooperation for Sustainable Development of Dryanovo Municipality”.

  24 participants from various local NGOs, schools and the municipality council reflected on issues of common concern and designed alternative futures fir the city.
  Projects on the establishment of a private Economics School, opening of a Children’s day Care Centre, the renovation of a sports centre and ecological waste management were drafted.
  The Future Workshop was facilitated by Emilia Ilieva, IIZ/DVV – Sofia.
  
  FUTURE CREATIVE WORKSHOPS FOR EUROPE - WinZip 20 MB

• Program (in Bulgarian) - Word 55 KB

• 25 – 26 February 2006, Cyprus
  SUSTAINABILITY FOR THE GOURRI COMMUNITY - Gourri Community

• Programm - 25 – 26 February 2006, Cyprus - Word 71 KB
• SUSTAINABILITY FOR THE GOURRI COMMUNITY - Word 46 KB

“The two enemies of our community are the foreign culture coming to replace the local culture and the urbanization;
This transforms our village into a desert;
And we will be destroyed if we do not protect it.”
Evagoras Lazarou, poet from Gourri

• 30 November – 1 December 2005, Starbienino, Poland
  Adult Education as a Way of Counteracting Marginalizing and Social Exclusion in the Rural Areas

• Report - 30 November – 1 December 2005, Starbienino, Poland - Word 29 KB

The conference „Adult Education as a way of counteracting marginalizing and social excluding in the rural areas” took place in Starbienino, on November 30 till December 01, 2005. Kaschubian Folk High School organized this conference, wanting to create a forum for meetings and experiences exchange between AE institutions and people working with adults in the rural areas of Pomeranian Region...