The Long-Term Program (LTP) of “Civic Education in Action”

The institution:
The Berlin association Cultures Interactive (CI) has been active for years in nationwide projects for violence and (extreme right) extremism prevention. The civil society youth-culture work approach developed by CI uses the urban youth cultures (for example hip hop, techno, skateboarding, punk), combines them with experiences in civic education and social therapy group work and applies them toward the goals of democratic and civic society education.

The project:
In the FAIR SKILLS project, 15 active social therapeutic and vocational training courses will be developed and implemented with the goal of training dis-advantaged youths to become qualified independent youth culture trainers. The participants acquire key skills concerning youth-culture, citizen and human rights, socialization and didactics, and with these skills can contribute significantly to the civil and social strength of their region. The fellows will be integrated into the design, implementation, documentation and evaluation of the courses MUSIC (with DJing, rap, and singer/songwriter workshops) and MEDIA (with video, photo and radio) as well as in instructor training for devel-oping a community-oriented network for adults in various locations.

Applications are welcome from all countries participating in the fellowship program.

The institution:
As a national human rights institute, it provides protection and funding for human rights domestically through applied research, political consulting, discussions with experts, conferences and human rights education. Implementing and guaranteeing the validity of international human rights standards on a na-tional level are basic functions of the institute. The institute is also a forum for exchange between state institutions and non-state organizations domestically and abroad.

The project:
The participant will be integrated into the existing projects of the human rights education department. Emphases will be placed on the project "Compasito”. This deals with the German language translation of a Council of Europe handbook for human rights education for schoolage children. The fellow will assist the department with the implementation of training session events for disseminators who wish to use "Compasito” in their work. This includes back-ground research on topics such as children's rights, participation and discrimi-nation protection, and organizational work during planning, implementation and training session follow up. The participant will also gain insight into the institute’s various work processes. Since participants will also have the opportunity to learn how the other departments work, they will gain knowledge and experience which encompass a wide spectrum of topics of national and inter-national human rights protections as well as human rights demands on secu-rity policy or human rights of immigrants and migrants.

Applications are welcome from all countries participating in the fellowship program

The institution:
The Gustav-Stresemann-Institut in Lower Saxony has provided youth and adult education courses since 1975; and through its educational work aims to contribute towards promoting international understanding and a sense of civic responsibility and European awareness in youth and adults.

The project:
The focus is placed on a trilateral training cycle through which youth directors and disseminators will be qualified for work with the democracy and tolerance training program “Betzavta-Together”. Participants will be integrated into the preparation, implementation and follow up of the project and become familiar with the program’s fields of application for encouraging youth to participate in civil society processes.

In addition, they will have the opportunity to gain insight on a peer trainer education session for the program "A World of Difference" and other intercultural competence training concepts.

Applications are welcome from all countries participating in the fellowship program.

The institution:
The educational institution HochDrei is a non-profit association for political and cultural youth and adult education. Education is carried out through international meeting programs for youth and young adults as well as project work at schools.

The project:
HochDrei plans to conduct an international conference with young adults in Germany and, if applicable, also in the participants’ homelands. The project “Europe’s family tree” will be focused on exploring the opportunities and limits of the Europe of today. In interviews with people in historic and multiethnic locations, the young adults become familiar with European history and present day Europe. The focus is placed on migration and cohabitation in the multicultural society. Recordings of interviews will be made which are the basis for intense reflection and exchange for what European cohabitation used to mean and means today. The participant will be responsible for the design and organization of the event.

Applications from Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia are welcome.

The institution:
The State Center for Political Education Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is a state institute of political education in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It focuses in particular on the neighboring country of Poland. The state center reports on, among other things, the history of the border region and the political culture and the political system in Poland in order to promote mutual understanding between Germany and Poland.

The project:
The State Center for Political Education Mecklenburg-Vorpommern plans to focus on evoking a mutual understanding for the historical hardship of current societies through a trilateral instructor training program consisting of approximately 2 to 3 seminars. To this day the rehabilitation of the communist dictatorships in Poland and the German Democratic Republic as well as the Vichy regime in France is still a topic of great societal and political importance despite the differences in the countries. In addition, the path to coming to terms with the past and the culture of remembrance should be reported and an ex-change between participants will be facilitated.

The participant will be integrated into the planning and implementation of the seminars at all phases, which will involve becoming familiar with the work of the state’s political education, its methods and the stipulations for event organization.

Applications from Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are welcome.