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Description
Main objective of the project is creating, evaluating and promoting an educational course addressed to civic educators working with marginalised and vulnerable groups. Project idea came to life in response to an incomprehensive offer in civic education for adults. The course is designed for 36 educators, who through their work will reach out to at least 1500 people, in particular from marginalised groups. Project plans, that 3 partners from Poland and 1 from Norway will produce an innovative development course for educators working with local communities. Project will implement community organizing method and will result in issuing innovative educational tools such as: game, manual, website. Project will impact the development of civic education and social inclusion in Poland
Summary of project results
Main objective of the project was creating, evaluating and promoting an educational course addressed to civic educators working with marginalised and vulnerable groups. Project idea came to life in response to an incomprehensive offer in civic education for adults. The course was designed for 36 educators, who through their work will reach out to at least 1500 people, in particular from marginalised groups. Project planned, that 3 partners from Poland and 1 from Norway produce an innovative development course for educators working with local communities. Project implemented community organizing method and resulted in issuing innovative educational tools such as: game, manual, website. Project impacted the development of civic education and social inclusion in Poland
The project included training for civic educators, at basic and advanced levels, and a study visit to a partner in Norway. We conducted extensive recruitment, so that people from all over Poland took part in the trainings. Three results were also produced: the course program (methodology), the educational game "(Po)Fantazuj" and the manual "Civic Education in Action. Community organizing, dialogue formula, simulation games". The high quality of the mobility is evidenced by the results of evaluation surveys, which indicate a high level of satisfaction among participants. Participants emphasized the practical dimension of the trainings. At the same time, they assured that they will use the acquired knowledge in their work with communities, especially in working with disadvantaged people.
Participants are now conducting workshops themselves and using the resulting tools, both in their work with groups and in one-on-one meetings. One of the unintended positive outcomes of the project was networking. Those who participated in the trainings established relationships and had the opportunity to exchange experiences. To date, they have kept in touch with each other and shared their successes and challenges. Another outcome that we did not foresee in the proposal, but decided to realise, is an English version of the educational simulation. As our team was international and the Norwegian partner expressed a desire to use the tool in their environment as well, we decided to develop another version with English-speaking users in mind.
Summary of bilateral results
The Education to Citizenship project involved an institution from Norway - Phronesis SA. Having a partner from the Donor States was important for us at every stage of the project, starting with the diagnosis of the low level of civic education in Poland. The members of Phronesis SA brought a new perspective on adult civic education, sharing their experience of running a Community Centre in Oslo, which provides assistance to excluded people. In addition, a partner from Norway shared their expertise in facilitation and dialogue formulation with the project team. Both the results of the questionnaires after the study visit and the evaluation in the project team indicate that the knowledge gained during the events will be or even is already being used in organisations from Poland. In the team of the Common Thing Foundation and the Centre for Systems Solutions, some of the ideas have already started to be implemented for organisational purposes. The evaluation shows that the Centre for Systems Solutions has also incorporated several techniques into its planned activities. It should also be emphasised that the members of the institutions from the Donor States have contributed a lot to the results of the intellectual work - the methodology and the handbook. During the last project meeting held in Oslo, both the Polish and Norwegian partners expressed their satisfaction with the mutual cooperation. We also discussed further projects and the possibility of future cooperation.