Dokumentumok
Cím:
Overall Programme - Community Development Partnership Building Programme
in Central and Eastern Europe
A kiadás helye:
Budapest
A kiadás éve:
2003
Kiadó:
Közösségfejlesztők Egyesülete
Nyelv:
angol
Tárgyszavak:
közösségfejlesztés, partnerség, Közép-Kelet Európa
Állomány:
Közösségfejlesztési partnerségépítés Közép-Kelet Európában
Forditas:
Megjegyzés:
Raktári jelzet:
E


Hungarian Association for Community Development Partnership
Community Development Building in Central- and Eastern Europe

Community Development Partnership Building Programme
in Central and Eastern Europe
Overall Programme

General Information

The Programme consists of 2 projects:
1. Start Project – Creating partnership among community development organisations in the region
2. “Strengthening Partnership in the CEE” Project
It has three main parts:
· Regional Community Development “Trainer Training” Course
· Local Activities in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania
· Dissemination and networking

Duration of programme: 2 years
Programme start date: 1 May 2001
Programme end date: 30 April 2003
Location of project: Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Romania

Participating Organisations:
Hungary
· Hungarian Association for Community Development (main applicant)
In partnership with the
· Civil College Foundation, and
· Intercommunity Foundation
Participating organisation:
· Community Workers’ Association in the Small Region of Upper-Kiskunság
Poland
· Local Activity Centres
Slovakia
· VOKA
Romania
· Human Reform Foundation, in partnership with the
· Regional Association for Community Development and the
· Regional Community Development Agency
· Romanian Association for Community Development

Funding
1. Start project – We are approaching Charity Know How
2. Strengthening Partnership in CEE – We are approaching the Mott Foundation and some other international and national sponsoring organisations

The contribution of the organisations taking part
The Hungarian Association for Community Development takes the responsibility of holding together the community development organisations of the region, organising the events of the project, co-ordinating the work, and making its international contacts available for the participants of the project.
The Civil College Foundation, Hungary takes the responsibility of sharing its knowledge, curricula and experiences obtained during higher-educational and other training courses with the community development organisations of the region. It will have the most important documents translated into English.
The Community Database of the Intercommunity Foundation, Hungary makes the documents at its disposal available for the participants of the project, it will share its experiences obtained in the areas of data processing and virtual publications with the partner organisations, and, through its professional experiences, it will promote further co-operation and network-building among the organisations taking part.

In the framework of the regional “Trainer Training” Course, the Community Workers’ Association in the Upper-Kiskunság, Hungary will organise a project visit in order to introduce the community development project being organised around the residential training centre.

The Romanian, Polish and Slovakian organisations have taken the responsibility of participating in the project. They will take part in the transnational meetings as well as in the regional “Trainer Training” Course, they will perform the local activities planned for the project, and they will perform their duties related to reporting and accounting.

The project-closing seminar will be organised by the Human Reform Foundation.

The organisations will do their best in order to meet success.

Section 4
Purpose and Outline of Project
I. Start Project – see the recent Application Form!
II. “Strengthening Partnership in CEE” Project
See the Start Project for 4a) and b) of Strengthening Partnership in CEE

4c) What issue(s) is the project designed to address?
Although community development has a certain past in the region, it has not become a widely applied method of transforming society. The reasons for this are manifold, and, primarily, they are to be sought in the attitudes of our societies towards social development and in the resulting funding priorities, and only partially in the organisations themselves.
In this project, we ventured to take steps that are within our competence, and that seek to reduce our shortcomings. These steps are as follows:
- the community development organisations do not know or hardly know each other’s activities in the region,
- there is not sufficient exchange of information, and hence
- we still cannot use each other’s theoretical and methodological experiences as resources,
- there are not enough well-trained community development workers in our countries,
- There is a lack of community development curricula and well-documented examples of practice to support them (case studies, films, etc.)

We find that, in the first run, the most ideal contribution to meeting these needs is a collective sort of work that comprises common action and, as a result, new activities in each country.

In our opinion, the joint “Trainer Training” Course and the pilot training courses and action organised parallel to it serve well both the establishment of partnership and the development of the individual organisations as well.

The reason for this is that the “Trainer Training” Course reveals and evaluates practical and theoretical experiences obtained in the region, and thus:
- it enriches the profession of community development as a whole with a special, regional flavour,
- it increases the number of well-trained and open-minded community development workers,
- it confirms the commitment and knowledge of member organisations,
- it enriches their knowledge and set of means,
- and, through all these, it improves the quality and quantity of their services,
- it provides an ideal forum for getting to know each other and working in partnership.

4d) What is the project designed to achieve?

- Strengthening and developing community development as a concept and profession which promotes the democratisation of Central-Eastern European societies,
- Developing co-operation, long term partnership among community development organisations in the region that have already come up with some results
- Attracting new, interested organisations from the region, networking,
- Completing and developing the obtained professional experiences with the help of know-how and the exchange of information,
- Strengthening community development training courses in the countries where the project is carried out (Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia).
- Creating in each partner country an efficient and well prepared team in community development training and practice which can undertake future local community development activities using the advanced skills obtained.
We would like to achieve a more effective contribution of community development to the development of our societies and of our region, and to the widespread adaptation of participatory democracy, self-help and collective organisation.

Specific organisation’s development partner organisations are aiming to achieve
Hungary
- Training potential trainers in order to meet the increasing demand for professional training*,
- Providing a professional degree in community development for the first time in Hungary (1 secondary-level course and 1 higher-level course),
- Piloting the post-secondary and post-gradual professional training of community development, in 1 training group each.

*The training needs for the coming period are as follows:
- launching the professional training courses accredited as “Community Development” by the National Training Register at the beginning of 2001,
- launching post-gradual training courses that are now being accredited as “Community Work” at the Social Work Department of the ELTE University of Budapest (from October 2001),
- supplying “Community Development” and “Community Work” courses in 31 higher educational institutions around the country with a new and more elaborate curriculum and professional materials, and with teachers who are better prepared,
- teaching at the extension training courses which educational professionals, social workers and teachers are obliged to take in every 7 years, based on the accredited community development curriculum,
- providing community development training courses for local community activists.

Romania
- strengthening colleagues who have already committed themselves to community development with further professional skills,
- elaborating a curriculum for the subject of community development taught in the framework of a rural development course which is to be introduced in higher-education,
- launching local-level “trainer training” course with the co-operation of the teachers trained at the regional training course,
- introducing community development in the following professionals:
- Rural schools teachers – they will be the link between school and community, developing children’s civic attitude
- Civic theatre professionals – they will become trainers for teachers and children in civic theatre. Also they will understand community spirit in order to play in civic stimulation campaigns, using theatre as a method of change.
- Mass-media representatives – they will promote civic spirit and help community teams to realise their own publications and local radio broadcast
At the end of this project we will have three professional teams, capable to develop and
to relate in order to create an integrative community development.

Slovakia
- strengthening the skills of staff in community capacity building, training of trainers, and workshop development
- increasing the number of rural community capacity building trainers
- creating network of rural community capacity building trainers
- strengthening ties among institutions engaged in rural community capacity building
- expanding repertoire of community capacity building workshops to include new subject matter (e.g. engaging communities in regional planning; engaging communities in environmental planning) based on new knowledge required through project (training as well as networking with cross-border partners)
- creating small library on community capacity building as resources for staff, communities and other professionals working in the field
- disseminating information on rural community capacity building
- strengthening rural community capacity in Slovakia
- increasing number of rural residents engaged in civic life
- increasing number of rural communities that actively engage in community development and planning
- increasing knowledge of opportunities and challenges in rural capacity building
- strengthening cross-border co-operation among community development practitioners

Poland
- participating in the regional Trainer Training course
- their local activities are being elaborated

What are the expected immediate and longer-term outcomes?
- A total of 24 people in the region will become capable of teaching community development,
- In Hungary, 40 people will obtain professional degree in community development
- In Romania:
- 20 people will become capable of teaching community development, and they will involve another 24 people in local community development activities,
- 18 people will become capable of using community development methods in rural schools, civic theatres and mass media.
- Partnership will be set up between the Human Reform Foundation and the RACD
- A small library will be set up
- In Slovakia:
- 10 people will become capable of teaching community development
- Network will be created for rural community capacity building trainers
- 2 new curricula will be developed out for community capacity building workshops
- A small library will be set up on community capacity building as resources for staff, communities and other professionals working in the field

- In Poland, 4 people will become capable of teaching community development (the elaboration of their plan is in progress)

What are the expected immediate effects and longer-term benefits?
Immediate effects:
The members of the organisations attending the project:
- are engaged in personal contacts and exchanges of programmes,
- are developing a regional network and are organising regular exchanges of information,
- as a basis for this they are creating a joint information base that is based on the documents of collective work (curricula, case studies, films, etc.),
- are planning the activities of their organisation two years in advance,
- are elaborating plans for their further co-operation, and they raise the necessary funds together.

Longer-term benefits
- the independence of our organisations is enhanced because:
- they will become capable of providing more and higher-level services (training, provision of information, advice),
- they are planning their activities for a longer period, and thus
- they will become capable of increasing their incomes and obtaining national, international and EU funding money as well,
- the organisations will be strengthened and they will be able to exert greater social influence,
- they will contribute to the growing and strengthening of the NGO sector in their countries and in the region.

4e) What activities will be undertaken and over what time period? Why has this approach been chosen to address the issue(s) identified in 4c)?

Project Activities Planned

I. Start Project
See the separate Application Form!

II. “Srengthening Partnership in CEE” Project
1. Regional Community Development “Trainer Training” Course
Participants: the 7 organisations of the 4 countries will be represented by 2-4 people each (a maximum of 24 people altogether)
Teachers:
- the participants on one topic each,
- Civil College, Hungary

The program comprises two residential phases and a phase between them that build on homework.

The venue of the residential course: Civil College Training Centre, Kunbábony, Hungary

Duration: 15 days:
- 10 days in October 2001,
- 5 days in January 2002.

Between the two residential phases the participants will develop their own curricula, and they will communicate with the help of the Internet.

Training materials will be translated into English and mother tongues – Hungarian, Polish, Slovakian, and Romanian.

1. 10 days in October 2001 – The first residential phase of training
- Introductory lectures
The participants will be given subject introductory lectures that are based on the responsibilities taken during the preparatory phase, and on the contributions of the tutors of the Civil College.
The subject introductory lectures will present areas of cognition (subjects) within community development. They will describe the literature related to each subject; they will reason the importance of the given subject as well as its position in the training system.
The tutors of the Civil College will present their own experiences regarding training: the proportions of theory and practice, case studies and field work, etc.
Introductory lectures will be held by professionals who deal with sciences related to community development: sociology, self-recognition/communication/handling conflicts (psychology), management skills (social psychology), and civil society & non-profit organisations.
The teachers doing the introduction will provide the participants with professional materials in English (articles, extracts from books, bibliographies, etc.).

The subjects proposed by the HACD-Civil College include:

A Framework for Interpreting Community Development
The History of Community Development and Its Main Trends
Values and Ethics in Community Development
Community Development as a Professional Activity – The Role of Community Workers
The Levels (group level and grassroots level) and Areas (work with target groups) of Community Development
Working Methods in Community Work
Local and Regional Development
Management in Community Work
Practice and Skills Development
Analysis of Projects and Case Studies

Everyone uses their own language while working in the programme, which means that we will have to provide Hungarian-Romanian and Hungarian-Slovakian interpreters. The training materials will be provided in English.

2. November-December 2001
- The participants will work at home.
- They will study the materials they are given during the 1st phase, and they will develop a curriculum structure for the “Trainer Training” course they are to organise: What subjects to include in training and in how many hours? Who should teach these subjects? What partners should be involved (e.g. sociologists and social psychologists)? What sort of curriculum and bibliography does each subject have? In what language? Ideas regarding translation, logistics, Internet sources, etc.
- In case the situation is not mature enough to organise independent “Trainer Training” courses, the organisations will plan steps towards achieving this (e. g. partnership building with training institutions, etc.)

3. 5 days in January 2002
The final phase of the Regional “Trainer Training” Course, during which:
- the participants present their homework: their own “Trainer Training” Course, or similar activity,
- Case Studies
In accordance with the responsibilities taken during the preparatory phase, the organisations will present case studies taken from their own practice. The case studies will be presented in both written (English) and spoken form. Our objective is to have the case studies deal with the different levels (neighbourhood, local, municipal, small regional and regional) and areas (poverty, social inclusion, environmental issues, taking part in development schemes, local media, neighbourhood economy, etc.) of community development, and we would like to have them form the basis for a regional compilation of examples by the end of the project.
- in accordance with requests made in advance, we hold supplementary classes on issues that have proved to be difficult or have not been paid enough attention.
Similarly to the previous section, everyone will use their own mother tongue while working, and interpreters will be provided.

2. Local Activities in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania
“Trainer Training” Courses on the Grassroots Level
Following this, the participating organisations will launch their own “Trainer Training” course or other similar activities.
The activities will be held between February – December 2002.

Hungary
The HACD-Civil College will launch the first professional community development training course on both the secondary and the higher-educational levels.

1. Post-secondary Training
Participants: local community activists who choose community development as their new profession, 20 people altogether
The training course contains 40 percent theory and 60 percent practice in a total of 272 hours, which includes consultations with the teachers, as well as homework and practice.
Starting date: April 2002
Closing date: October 2002
Way of scheduling:
7 residential weekend courses (arrival at Thursday evening, studying on Friday and Saturday all day long, until Sunday noon (20 hours/event).
Practice will be organised along the theoretical training, individually and in-groups, under the supervision of teachers.
Exam: December 2002

2. Post-gradual Training
Participants: professionals with a university or college degree who are active in one of the areas of community development, 20 people altogether
The training course contains 60 percent theory and 40 percent practice in a total of 160 hours, which includes consultations with the teachers, as well as homework and practice.
Starting date: April 2002
Closing date: October 2002
Way of scheduling:
7 residential weekend courses (arrival at Thursday evening, studying on Friday and Saturday all day long, until Sunday noon (20 hours/event).
Practice will be organised along theoretical training, individually and in-groups, under the supervision of teachers.
Exam: December 2002

Poland
Local Activity Centres – their plan is being elaborated

Romania
Human Reform Foundation
- 2 workshops in Sovata and Bucuresti for partnership building and joint curriculum development.
Participants: Human Reform Foundation and Romanian Association for
Community Development, 6 people altogether, 2 times 3 days,
- Trainer Training Course for 16 persons in 3 counties, 13 days
- Training course and local community development activities in 8 microregion, for 24 people, 3 weekends
- 5 days long training course for rural teachers, civic theatre actors and journalists
- Small library on training issues

Slovakia
- Local “Training of trainers” programme for 10 people 5 days, to teach VOKA’s existing workshops: Listening Projects, Community Mapping, Project Design and Management, Fundraising, Leadership
- develop two new workshops’ curricula and related materials (development to be carried out by the 4 project participants in consultation with the 6 additional trainers)
- run 2 or 3 local workshops over the year in each of 10 communities or groups of communities
- publish case studies of rural community development and translate these into English
- begin working with the Slovak Ministry of Education to launch a program on civic participation for rural teachers
- create a small library on community capacity building


3. Disseminating and Networking
a, Transnational Seminar
At the seminar, the representatives of the organisations will invite interested community development organisations from the region: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia, Ukraine, Russia, etc, as well as the representatives of the donor organisations and other interested professionals from Europe.
The partner organisations involved in this project will report on their progress and on the situation of community development in their own country and will make recommendations for future co-operation in the region.

The seminar will be organised at a Romanian venue.
Date: January of 2003
Duration: 3 days

Participants:
- Community development representatives from the Region and EU
- 7 organisations from 4 countries with 2-3 representatives each 60 people altogether

The seminar will be organised in conjunction with the final, closing transnational workshop.

b, Transnational Workshop - Conclusions, the Writing of the Final Report and the Settling of Accounts

Participants taking part in the “Community Development Partnership Building Programme in Central and Eastern Europe” programme will summarise their common experiences, will evaluate the work that has been done, and will develop ways to carry on with the co-operation and to build a network, that is, they will make follow-ups possible.

The writing of the Final Report work will be performed by the HACD on the basis of the reports made by the organisations and the project closing seminar, in March-April 2003

The working language of the workshop is English (interpreters will not be provided).

Date: January of 2003
Duration: 1 day
Participants: 7 organisations from 4 countries with 2-3 representatives each – 16 people altogether

4f) Describe your experience and ability to undertake this project.

See the Brief History of the HACD (as the main applicant) in the Start Project

Further experiences:
The Hungarian Association for Community Development (and its predecessor organisations) has two sorts of training experience:
- Training within local projects - organising exchanges of experiences and exchange programs, preparing for tasks (e.g. planning, appraising, launching a local newspaper), from 1984.
- Training of community development workers in the scope of community educators' and community social work' training, mainly at the university level, from 1987.

The change of the political system, civil society becoming more powerful and the increasing need for community development within the society: these were the factors that made us recognise the necessity of establishing an independent training organisation, which would be capable of running residential courses and which, through training professionals and volunteers, would become the main spiritual source of the development of Hungarian community work. We began to establish the Civil College Foundation during the autumn of 1994.

Civil College has done the following since its establishment:
- it has worked out its order of operation as well as it has established its advisory board, management and teaching staff. Recent tutors are: Farkas Éva, Huszerl József, Kas Éva, Kovács Edit, Kováts Andrea, Mészáros Zsuzsa, Péterfi Ferenc, Pocsajiné Fábián Magdolna, Pósfai Péter, Schmidt Melinda, Szolnoki Ildikó, Varga A. Tamás, Varga Matild, Vercseg Ilona;
- The members of the teaching staff are professionals with academic qualifications and considerable experience in community development. They live in different parts of the country, and they are connoisseurs of county-based community development projects. Their engagement with Civil College consists of:
- identifying training needs,
- defining the training curriculum, syllabus and methods
- working-out study-aids, and
- organising pilot-training courses
- The HACD and the Civil College have run a community development training course at the Department of Social Politics of the Janus Pannonius University of Sciences in Pécs. The course is a major specialisation branch for regular students. The course began during the autumn term of 1994, and it finished at the end of the spring term of 1997. The 14 students attending the course were the first community development workers in Hungary to have obtained a university degree in the profession.
- The Civil College has identified its main foreign partner, the Northern College of Yorkshire, which is a residential college for further education, and which accomplishes functions similar to those of Civil College. The tutors of Civil College attended a two-week training course in November 1995.
- The HACD and the Civil College have co-operated with the Eötvös Lóránd University of Budapest since September 1997, and they have led the following courses:
Community Education
- Daily course in the 2nd year, for 2 semesters
- Evening course in the 2nd and the 3rd years, for 3 semesters
Community Work, in the frame of Social Work
- Daily course in the 3rd year, for 2 semesters
- Evening course in the 2nd and the 3rd years, for 2 semesters
In 2000 the accreditation request of the independent professional university training course, “Community Work“ was started elaborated. The accreditation is in progress, and it is hoped that independent post-gradual training will be launched during the school year of 2001/2002.
- Besides the universities of Budapest and Pécs, community development training courses of different length are organised in 31 higher-educational institutions of the country. The courses are partly held by our teachers. Our association has organised 2 seminars in order to harmonise the work of professional tutors, since they base their work on the study materials elaborated and published by the HACD and the Civil College.
- Since its opening in 1997, the Civil College has organised several successful training courses and series of training courses, primarily for local NGOs. The most important programmes are: Democracy programmes, the programmes for the leaders of gypsy community centres as well as local civic organisations’ activists, the Small Grants Programme and the training programmes for developing community economy. Furthermore, the Civil College takes an active part in training community development professionals in higher education.

List of tutors in the training programme - HACD-Civil College, Hungary:

Ilona Vercseg dr. - Subject: A Framework for Interpreting Community Development
Ferenc Péterfi - The History of Community Development and Its Main Trends
Ilona Vercseg dr. - Values and Ethics in Community Development
Tamás A. Varga - Community Development as a Professional Activity – The Role of Community Workers
Anna Csongor - The Levels (group level and grassroots level) and Areas (work with target groups) of Community Development
Péter Pósfai - Working Methods in Community Work
Mrs. Herpai, Ágnes Márkus - Local and Regional Development
Attila Kiss - Management in Community Work
Mrs. Pocsaji, Magdolna Fábián - Practice and Skills Development
Zsuzsa Mészáros - Analysis of Projects and Case Studies

The Human Reform Foundation in Romania has the following experience in community development:

· 14 persons (cultural house leaders) trained initially in community development by the Hungarian Association of Community Development - 1996 (Trainers: Ilona Vercseg, Ferenc Péterfi )
Community development project was run in Eliseni (a small village with 500 Gypsies and 500 Hungarians) in 1997/98 - project manager: Zoltán Balla
· Community development training for rural young leaders – 1996, 1997 (Trainer: Zoltán Balla)
· Basic study in Cristur area about the perspectives of general development of the micro-region - we have used community development methods as well 1998/99 - by Zoltán Balla and István Szilágyi)
· Taking part in community development training courses in Kunbábony, Hungary, organised by the Civil Kollégium - 1999
· “Civil Revival” project –regional community development programme. May-October 2000
· 32 persons became capable of facilitating community development projects (at regional level)
· establishing Regional Community Development Association
· establishing Regional Community Development Agency

The Romanian Association for Community Development had developed projects on training in community development issues:
- March 1999-Training for advanced facilitation skills. The training was conceived in order for members of RACD to obtain advanced facilitation knowledge and skills.
- August 1999- Training for Community Facilitators in Valcea County – in partnership with Valcea County Council, World Learning Romania and R-SDF.
- October 1999- Training for Community Facilitators in Botosani County - in partnership with County local authorities and World Learning Romania.
- December 1999- “Training Centre for Community Development”.
The project aim is to permit RACD to become an organisation capable to offer quality community development services to organisations and communities. Financed by Open Society Foundation Romania.
- March 2000- Training for Community Facilitators in Botosani County for Youth Organisation Botosani.
- August 2000- Training on Project Planning and Redacting for Romanian Ministry of Youth and Sports.
- August 2000 – Training on Community Development for young people from rural communities in Gory County- financed by Romanian Ministry of Youth and Sports.
- August 2000- Pilot training course for rural schoolteachers for developing Community Development as school subject in rural area.

VOKA is a membership organisation dedicated to rural capacity building. As such, it has experience creating and sustaining networks, creating and delivering training courses, and working with international partners.

Specifically in terms of creating and conducting community development training courses, in 2000, VOKA:

- helped local communities conduct 10 Listening Projects (community surveys)
- created and taught 2 workshops on Community Fundraising created and taught 2 workshops on Community Mapping
- created and taught 2 workshops on Project Design and Management
- began development of a workshop on community leadership
- gave consultations on rural community and NGO development
- published manuals on Community Fundraising, Community Mapping and Project Design and Management
- participated in the development of a European-wide distance education program on rural tourism

See the enclosed CVs!

4g) How will you evaluate the success of the project? How will beneficiary groups and other stakeholders be involved in the evaluation process?

We will know that this have been achieved if:
- the things listed in Point 4d) will have been carried out,
- the feedback of the evaluation mechanism are positive. Proposed steps:
1. We will survey every participant of regional and local training courses through using questionnaires. This will be done in every country taking part – please find enclosed the Evaluation Sheet (it is subject to change during the project),
2. At the local courses, the teachers or programme facilitators will write evaluation reports,
3. The leading partner organisations (HACD, Human Reform, RACD, VOKA) will evaluate the work of their organisations, involving everyone concerned,
4. At the project final seminar the representatives of the leading partner organisations from the 3 countries will perform evaluation,
5. The leading partner organisations will write evaluation reports,
6. The project will be summarised in comprehensive report, which will be prepared by the HACD.
In case a positive partnership plan will be born for a Follow-up Programme.


4h) Explain how your project and partnership take into account issues of gender and equal opportunities.

Since we are active in community development, we consider the issues of gender and equal opportunities very important in every aspect of our work. The people interested in community development are mainly women at a disadvantage, and thus we must pay special attention to this aspect.


4i) How will useful information and ideas be shared with others?

1. On the WEB.
Hungary
The Intercommunity Foundation – Community Databank will open a permanent column on the home page of Hungarian community development, and it will publish useful information about the project.
Romania
All project lessons learned will be presented on RACD’s future web page.
Slovakia
Information on the project and activities within Slovakia will be published on VOKA’s website and announced in such WEBsites that reach out to the NGO community as www.changenet.sk

2. In local publications.
In Hungary, we will publish project info in the Parola, the quarterly of community development in Hungary. The partner organisations will publish this info in their own media and in the electronic and written press – on their own home pages and in their publications.

In Romania each stage of the project will be introduced in local and national media.

Information on the project and activities within Slovakia will be published in VOKA’s Quarterly (published in Slovak with English summaries) and in local and national print media.

3. Orally
The most important sharing of information will be the event of the Transnational Project-closing Seminar in January 2003.

Furthermore, the partner organisations provide information about the important steps taken during the project at every meeting (General Assembly, board meetings, meetings with partners co-operating with us in other projects, seminars, conferences, etc.).

Each stage of the project will be promoted through the local networks of the participating organisations.

Oral information will be conveyed to representatives of rural organisations and communities at the 2003 VOKA conference, in the quarterly meetings of VOKA’s Board of Directors and the twice-yearly meetings of its Membership, in occasional presentations and meetings with outside groups, and in meetings with existing and potential partner communities.


4j) What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of your partnership? How will the project build on these strengths and address the weaknesses?
Strengths:
Several years of community development practice in different countries of the region.
Each partner has a different experience in community development practice which can be shared among partners and used as learning.
The recognition of the necessity of partnership and network building.
A fairly long past of contact and sympathy among the organisations.
The appropriate training practice.
Accredited curricula and study materials.
Each partner will undertake different local activities as follow-up of the regional training of trainers which also can be used as case studies for all partners involved in the project
The existing elements of network building – correspondence on the Internet, home pages, etc.
There seem to be enough funds available for the complete realisation of the project.

Weaknesses:
The partner organisations are overwrought.
In our countries there is a lack of people who are committed to community development to such an extent that they are ready to sacrifice their holidays for learning, and who can be temporarily replaced at their workplace for the duration of the project (replacement problems).
The partial or complete lack of speaking English.

The strengths make the project, partnership work and collective training possible. We would like to emphasise that the Mott Foundation is interested in the programme as well, and that, at the local courses, we will make use of the resources of participants as well.

Reducing existing weaknesses:
- Being overwrought. Our budget makes us possible to pay for project co-ordinators in each partner organisations.
- Everyone will use his or her own language during the regional trainer training course. Although this will increase expenses, it is a good way to secure success.

4k) What risks are there in the project? What might stop it being successful?
In case we manage to overcome the weakness, the project can certainly be carried out.


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