Wednesday 27 October 2010

National Seminar on Global Education: we need a common vision!

On 22 and 23 October, the National Seminar on Global Education brough together the key stakeholders in the field and assess the state of art of global/development education in Cyprus and raise public awareness on the basis of the EU strategy “European Consensus on Development Education” as well as the Council of Europe’s current process towards adopting a recommendation on global education. The aim of the seminar was to prepare the basis for a future national global/development education strategy and respective plan of action.
The seminar included introductory speeches related to the topic, interactive workshops that offered practical tools for the participants, as well as a structured dialogue workshop during with the participants discussed and identified the main challenges to promoting Global Education in Cyprus - namely the lack of a common vision, the lack of political will, and the lack of planning, coordination and joint strategies.

The seminar brought together approximately 50 participants such as teachers, representatives from ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representatives from non-governmental organisations dealing with global/development education at national, regional and local level, as well as foreign experts from the European Multi-Stakeholder Group on Development Education and the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe.

This seminar was organised by the Cyprus NGO Platform “The Development”, in which FWC holds the position of the secretary and the Representative to the Development Awareness Raising and Education Forum of CONCORD, in partnership with the North South Center of the Council of Europe and the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture. The activity took place in co-operation and with the support of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe and the European Commission.

A report of the outcomes of the seminar will be available shortly. For more information, please contact the NGDO Platform or the FWC representative in the platform.

Development Education and Awareness Raising: FWC participates in EU conference in Brussels

FWC Head of Global Education Unit, Ms. Kerstin Wittig, participated in the European Conference "Development Education and Awareness Raising", organised by the European Commission and held in Brussels on 11 & 12 October 2010 with the purpose to engage European Union stakeholders in discussing and developing proposals that lead to improvements in the Euroepan Commission's support for Development Education and Awareness Raising (DEAR)
The conference brought together 100 invited individuals and representatives of governments, organisations and networks with an interest in Development Education and Awareness Raising from within and outside the European Union and its member states, including from:
  • European Parliament;
  • government departments in the EU member states;
  • networks and organisations of Non-State Actors and Local Authorities;
  • international networks and organisations active within in the European Union;
  • European Commission Directorates;
  • academics and Development Education and Awareness Raising practitioners
The conference programme included a variety of working groups that elaborated specific proposals, based on the European Commission's DEAR Study Interim Report. Emphasis was put on the necessity for increased Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue, for more cooperation and complementarity among the different stakeholders, and for a political commitment to DEAR.
For more information about the DEAR Study and discussions, please click here or contact Kerstin Wittig.

TeachMDGs First Project Newsletter published


The TeachMDGs project has issued its first newsletter! This newsletter aims to inform you about the EU-funded TeachMDGs-project and keep you up to date with its activities and publications.

How can you and your school participate in the project?

Are you interested in Global Education and the Millennium Development Goals? Are you a teacher? A student? A teacher trainer? Get involved in our activities, be part of our team!
We are looking for motivated and active teachers, teacher trainers, university students who are studying to become teachers, pupils, NGO members who are experienced in the topic of the MDGs, as well as other interested and active citizens! There are plenty of ways to be part of the project, either in the phase of developing teaching resources, in becoming a trainer, in bringing a global perspective to your school or your classroom, in participating in trainings, in establishing school partnerships… we are also open to new ideas about how to promote MDGs in the school environment!

You can download the newsletter from the TeachMDGs.net website by clicking here.
For more information about the project, please contact the project coordinator Kerstin Wittig.

Linking Trade and International Development - Training for Cypriot NGOs

The “Trade & Development” training, which was held in the context of the MeDevNet project, brought together 15 participants from various NGOs across Cyprus to explore how trade in linked to international development, what role Corporate Social Responsibility plays and how we as citizens and NGOs can contirbute to greater global justice in trade and trade-related areas. THe training hosted the international expert Dr. Petra Kreinecker, from the Network Social Responsibility in Vienna, Austria, and Mrs. Petra Daniel who is a senior instructor of Social Sciences, School of Social Sciences and Humanities European University Cyprus.
For more information about future trainings and about the project, please visit the MeDevNet.org website or contact the project coordinator Selen Mesutoğlu.

Borderstories: Cypriot, French and German Youth explore borders and walls in Berlin


How do we perceive borders? How do they influence our view of the other side, of the life behind the line, behind the wall? How does the fall of a wall or the shifting of a border influence our society? How do the borders and barriers in our minds influence our social actions and interactions? How can experiences around borders of one society be related to other societies?
These are some of the questions that more than 20 participants from Cyprus, France and Germany discussed and explored during a week-long intercultural training course in Berlin (18-25 September 2010). The training was the first in a series of 3 training courses, which are organised by Future Worlds Center, Lichtschliff e.V. (Berlin) and Une Terre Culturelle (Marseille), and which are sponsored by the Franco-German Youth Office.
The training focused on non-formal intercultural learning methodologies with a special emphasis on photography - in small, mixed groups, the participants created their own concept of how to approach borders through the photographic lense. The week-long training culminated in an Photographic exhibition.
The next training will take place in Nicosia from 30 April until 7 May 2011.
For more information, please visit the Borderstories Blog or contact the FWC coordinator.

The Millennium Development Goals In The Context Of Development Cooperation Projects

The MeDevNet Project has been working on improving the capacity of Development NGOs and the synergies between NGDOs and local authorities with the trainings and activities it has been organizing so far. The “Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) in the Context of Development Cooperation Projects” training took place on 27 and 28 July, and introduced the participants to the MDGs, to development theories, EU Development Policies, as well as to good practices in development cooperation projects. The trainers of the training were key experts of Development. At the training, where also EU representatives attended as trainers, participants had the chance to interact with other NGOs who have the same interest, and got more involved in the Development Issues.
For more information about the project, please visit the www.MeDevNet.org website or contact the project coordinator, Ms. Selen Mesutoglu.

FWC volunteers participate in media trainings in Turin


Two active volunteers from FWC participated in media trainings held in Turin from 12-16 July, organized by the polish organization Salesian Missionary and Voluntary Service in the framework of the EU-funded project MDGs-Media for Development goals.
Ivan Charalambous and Jacob Ketuma took part in the workshops along with participants from Poland and Czech Republic which are the partner countries of the project.
The training which lasted for 5 days (from 12th to 16th July) was intended to equip the youth with the technical skills required for creating multimedia materials on Development issues. The participants attended workshops on film and radio production. They explored different ways of shooting and had the chance to practice them with the help of experienced trainers. They learnt about the construction of a documentary and explored the practical aspect of putting all the different elements (video, music text) together. They also had the chance to explore how a story is created and how a documentary can be constructed with the voice recorder and other relevant equipment.
Both volunteers will utilize the knowledge and skills gained during school trainings expected to be implemented this Auntumn in the framework of the project. In the upcoming workshops, the youth leaders will act as trainers to upper secondary school students with the aim of empowering them to create media materials on the MDGs.
For more information contact the project coordinator at nicolina.markidou@gmail.com