Promotion of Active European CitizenshipDirectorate General For Education and Culture
PEP Project
Cross-national Conferences
There will be two cross-national conferences: one in Hemel Hempstead (United Kingdom) and second in Seville (Spain). They will be called “Cross-national Conference on Intercultural Mediation” and “Cross-national Conference on European Projects and Exchange of Experiences” respectively. They will last for one day, and they are intended for people working for NGOs.
“Cross-national Conference on Intercultural Mediation” took place in partner organisation Dacorum CVS in Hemel Hempstead (UK) on 9th March 2007. During the conference the project partners presented its activities. Except the project partners there were presented other NGOs from UK with their projects in the field of intercultural mediation (Senior project, Cement, Club Italia etc.).
To finish with, we would like to highlight the visit to English initiative
“The Shopmobility” during the International Women’s day. In this programme, wheel chairs with motor are at service of people with disabilities, temporary or permanent, in order to facilitate their free movement within Shopping Centers.
The cross-national Conference brought many stimulating ideas and good practices.
“Cross-national Conference on European Projects and Exchange of Experiences” will be in Seville (Spain) on 5th June 2007.
Regional Seminars
Each partner organisation has committed to set up a regional seminar. There will be one in each country (two in Andalusia). They will deal with sensitizing and good practices in the field of social inclusion (“European Congress on Social Inclusion: sensitizing and good practices”). Access will be free to anyone interested, especially to NGO members working in the field of active citizenship.
Regional seminar
„Sensitizing and good practices in the field of social inclusion“
3rd May 2007, 09.00 – 14.00
Meeting room in municipality office in Zvolen (Slovakia)
Združenie žien Slovenska (Women´s Association of Slovakia) arranged the seminar “Sensitizing and good practices in the field of social inclusion” within the PEP Project – Promoting European Projects among NGOs and citizens.
Topics: Basic information about PEP project,Social inclusion in Slovak Republic and good practice, New programming period 2007 – 2013, Intercultural mediation
Speakers:
Jana Siposova – Women´s Association of Slovakia
Dr. Viera Petrasova – Women´s Association of Slovakia
Ing. Stefan Repko – Director of Regional Development Agency in Banska Bystrica
Malika Mezidova – currently citizen of Slovak Republic, refugee from Chechnya
First presentation was presented by Mrs. Jana Siposova. In this presentation the participants were informed about PEP project in general (motivation, action, target groups, aims, objectives, expected results, ways of dissemination, partners).
Second presentation “Social inclusion in Slovak Republic and good practice” was presented by Dr. Viera Petrasova who is directly involved in PEP project as an expert for social inclusion. The presentation includes a definition of social inclusion and exclusion, rate of poverty danger, social strategy in Slovak Republic, long-term unemployment, key challenges of EU in the field of poverty and social exclusion fighting, common aims of National operational programme of social inclusion and EU, the main difficulties in the field of social inclusion, need to participate on European projects. These terms are necessary to know when organization would like to participate on European projects. Also these terms are very useful when organization is preparing the application for a grant. The main aim of this presentation was explanation of basic terminology in the field of social inclusion, put stress on necessity to participate on EU projects and promote the active citizenship. Next part of this presentation was good practice in Slovak Republic.
Third presentation “New programming period 2007 – 2013” was presented by Mr. Stefan Repko, director of Regional Development Agency in Banska Bystrica. He is directly involved in PEP project as an expert for European projects. During this presentation the participants got information about experiences from previous programming period 2004 – 2006 (specific aims, amount of financial resources from EU funds reallocated in Slovak Republic, amount of submitted applications for a grant, amount of successful applications according to areas of work, regions, years). Next part was dealing with information about new programming period 2007 – 2013 (legislation of Slovak Republic and EU related to drawing the financial resources from EU funds, aims of cohesion policy in EU, priorities, areas of work which are planned to be submitted, current situation and calls, Regional operational programme 2007 – 2013, authorized applicants for a grant, useful links).
The last speaker was Mrs. Malika Mezidova. Malika is a refugee from Chechnya and currently she is a citizen of Slovak Republic. She described her “life story” (how was her life in Chechnya, reason of her escape, how she came to Slovakia, why she decided to stay in Slovakia, which necessary official procedure she needed to go through, how long did it take, accommodation, experience with job searching, her first job in Slovakia, approach of staff in offices, bureaucracy, behaviour of Slovak people, how they helped her to include into society, her current situation). Malika is an example of good practise in the field of intercultural mediation. Her experiences can be helpful for many migrants coming to Slovakia as well as for NGO´s active in social area.
Download the presentations:
Regional seminar in Zvolen, May 2007
Project is co-financed by European Union.
Promoting European Projects among NGOs and citizens – PEP Project