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Since 2009 our Foundation is a partner in a 2-year project entitled "Education through serious fun," which shall continue through July 2011. The project is co-funded from the European Community "Lifelong Learning" Grundtvig program (DG Education and Culture), and it is run by volunteers.
"Education through serious fun" consists in the exchange of experiences between various kinds of partners: F+U Sachsen gGmbH from Germany (organisation specialising in training of adults, especially the "underprivileged" groups, the unemployed in particular), Wexford Local Development from Ireland (working, among others, with "marginalised" local communities), Dimotikos Organismos Ygeias Pronoias from Greece (agency of local administration, offering support to persons with various disabilities), and Poland (the Life Farm).
The principle of the project is sharing experiences through informal educational and social activities, with active involvement of learners in all project activities, as well as encouraging and developing mutual respect.
The most important problems we intend to address are: social exclusion, barriers to communication, low self-esteem and confidence.
We want to help the learners, who are threatened with social exclusion, in developing belief in their own personal worth as well as sense of achievement and value they create through their work and participation in various activities. Better and deeper integration, also thanks to a series of international meetings, will be another precious experience of self-development, of advancing sound social values and attitudes towards other participants, who represent European partner countries in this project (Greece, Germany, Ireland, and Poland).
The partners will exchange experiences during mutual visits. Persons with autism, therapists/guardians (possibly also parents) will take part in these "mobilities". Each meeting will be connected with a project coordination session. The project will be documented as a diary-chronicle, and in the end, we shall develop a handbook with descriptions of "model" informal educational activities that we have implemented.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. |
