”We are a small cultural centre and trying to develop international cooperation which is what motivated us to become an EAEA member,” says Vladimir Kljajić from the Educational and Cultural Center Bozidarac.
”We are lacking international experience and are looking forward to receiving more knowledge and skills to write project applications and run projects, and to have good, reliable partners to cooperate with. We believe EAEA gathers reliable partners together and can help us strengthen our capacity.”
The EAEA General Assembly and Annual Conference already gave Educational and Cultural Center Bozidarac the opportunity to network.
”We have met people of similar cultural centres to ours from for example Norway and Iceland. We are looking forward to the knowledge sharing.”
Vladimir Kljajić hopes to find international networks and cooperation tools for the Educational and Cultural Center Bozidarac.
Support for policy advocacy
An Cosán from Ireland joined EAEA to receive support in European policy advocacy. Liz Waters, the Director at An Cosán Virtual Community College and the President of AONTAS, has gotten to know EAEA advocacy work through her EAEA Board in which she represents AONTAS.
”Representing AONTAS in the EAEA Board has widened my understanding of European policy and I have become really passionate about it. The power of partnerships has become evident. We need to bring the European context into the national and local adult education context,” she says.
Liz Waters from An Cosán especially appreciates EAEA policy work.
Liz Waters especially appreciates EAEA’s immediate response to policy issues and expects the support from EAEA in An Cosán’s European policy, advocacy and strategic work. She is especially looking forward to the cooperation on the upcoming European Parliament Elections next year.
”I would like to see EAEA support organisations like An Cosán in framing the European elections so that we can really engage with our politicians to ensure that they bring adult education to the table.”
I would like to see EAEA support organisations like An Cosán in framing the European elections so that we can really engage with our politicians to ensure that they bring adult education to the table.
Linking adult education and social sectors
Clubhouse Europe is a community based centre that provide employment, housing, social and educational opportunities for people with mental illness. The organisation is international but Clubhouse Europe was founded in the Netherlands. Esko Hänninen, a Social and Mental Health Policy Advisor and one of the founders of the clubhouse movement, has followed EAEA for quite some time.
”I have been ordering the EAEA newsletter and found that there are many linkages between adult education and psychosocial recovery methods. Education is a strong dimension in the clubhouse movement as we, for example, use educational coaches who provide re-education opportunities to people with mental health issues,” Esko Hänninen says.
”We are especially expecting to receive communicational support as we hope to get wider dissemination for our psychosocial recovery method.”
Esko Hänninen and Kinga Jedrzejczak represent Clubhouse Europe.
New associate members of EAEA
· Educational & Cultural Center Bozidarac, Serbia
· Familles Rurales – Regional Federation of Pays de la Loire, France
· Educational Training Centre for Professional and Working Skills, Serbia
· Université Pour Tous du Tarn, France
· An Cosán, Ireland
· Coimbra Higher Education School – Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra CHES/PIC, Portugal
· Clubhouse Europe, the Netherlands
Text: Helka RepoPhotos: Helka Repo