Description
The project involves a number of education and community development activities to ensure greater visibility of cultural programmes and projects to children and youth from economically and geographically disadvantaged rural communities of the Municipality of Zgierz (Łód Province). Six communities will host classes of the Travelling Children's University (a total of approx. 340 hours of sessions on civil rights, equality and community engagement) to train 150 children to conduct (with the help of facilitators) a local needs analysis and a plan for bringing about change in their local communities. Children will gain social competences essential for becoming active citizens. The role of the project partner will be to offer input and support in designing and delivering the Children's University curriculum. The partner's experience will be instrumental in building a syllabus of facilitation sessions for children threatened by social exclusion; the syllabus will be shared with other organisations and culture animators in Poland.
Summary of project results
"According to the Social Integration Strategy for the Zgierz Community, over 45 per cent of primary school pupils commute daily to their schools. This is one of the reasons why they are unable to go to extracurricular activities. Such activities are only offered in the town of Zgierz. Activity centres in smaller communities ten to be rented for events. There are no NGOs in Zgierz that promote civic education. The project aimed at developing regular after-school education activities for children and youth from low-income families in small communities around Zgierz and provide equal opportunities for children and youth in rural and urban areas. Local groups of 40-50 members were established in six communities. There were mostly young people who have developed and are now implementing projects designed to provide regular extracurricular learning opportunities, including a village cinema in Szczawina, relaxation zone in Gieczno, an external class in Słowik or the Neighbourhood Fridays in Biała. Several community development activities were implemented in small communities in and around Zgierz. They involved over 500 individuals. Eighteen class scenarios for children and youth were developed addressing such areas as: integration, multiculturalism, anti-discrimination, hate speech prevention, community and its history, village budget, city/state/EU policies, human and consumer rights, environment and recycling. Classes based on these scenarios were delivered in each of the six communities. In total, over 320 hours of instruction were delivered. A website was launched to promote the project and engage in communication with its participants. Young people produced six documentary videos about their villages and twelve cartoons about human rights. The assessed local issues and needs and presented them to municipal authorities. Project beneficiaries included children and youth from small communities in the Zgierz municipality. The project was implemented in partnership with the Praga-Północ Social Pedagogy and Animation Group. The partner helped design class scenarios of the Travelling Children's University and applied street working techniques while working with children and youth from small communities."
Summary of bilateral results