Description
Since the national communities of former Yugoslavia do not have an official minority group status which would provide them specific collective rights, they are forced to deal with factors that hinder their proactive participation in the public life, which would allow easier integration. The goals of the project therefore are the empowerment of the target group; raising the awareness of the target and the general public on the issue of unrecognized minorities and their rights; the change in the institutional framework of the target group at the local level. The project will enforce the fundamental rights of the target group by establishing a contact point, publishing a minority journal, offering free legal consultancy, introducing minority rights advocacy which will be conducted by a cross-sectoral working group the work of which will result in the reform of the local financing system of the cultural activities of the minoritarian NGOs. UiS, Department of Educational and Sports Sciences, Norway will contribute with its expertise on the Forum theatre method as a tool for empowerment of minority groups, which will be transferred to the minoritarian NGOs via workshops.
Summary of project results
Since the national communities of former Yugoslavia do not have an official minority group status which would provide them specific collective rights, they are forced to deal with factors that hinder their proactive participation in the public life, which would allow easier integration. The goals of the project were the empowerment of the target group; raising the awareness of the target and the general public on the issue of unrecognized minorities and their rights; the change in the institutional framework of the target group at the local level. The project enforced the fundamental rights of the target group by establishing a contact point, publishing a minority journal, offering free legal consultancy, introducing minority rights. Different tools and approaches were used to achieve this goals - one of it being the theater of the oppressed which proved to be a very effective and efficient tool. All the shows attracted lots of attention - from the media and from the public. A substantial empowerment of the partner organizations was achieved (representing the minority groups) and some further projects were initiated.
Summary of bilateral results
The bilateral partner participated in the theater activities - as "trainer of trainers" - it's representative shared their best practice and trained future practitioners in theater of the oppressed method. This method is still not widely known in Slovenia and there are not a lot of people who have the skills to use it properly. The cooperation also included some mentoring to Slovenian partners and technical and pedagogical support for the realization of the theater shows.