The project idea came into being in the religious organizations in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Latvia and Slovakia. It continues positive experiences of previous cooperation on the project in program Grundtvig - Learning Partnerships. Rural areas are more disadvantaged than urban. People living there have fewer opportunities to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. Ambition of the project is to exploit the potential of small rural church congregations to bring educational opportunities in rural areas with reference to sustainable development.. Aim of the Project is to create a comprehensive educational program enabling staff and volunteers from congregations to educate target groups in rural areas. The fulfilment of this objective will contribute to the development of basic and transversal skills of adult learners and thus will support solving issues of unemployment and social exclusion. Number and profile of participants: Slovakia: 12 people – 2 coordinators and 10 employees and volunteers Germany: 10 people – 2 coordinators and 8 employees and volunteers Denmark: 15 people – 2 coordinators and 13 employees and volunteers Sweden: 15 people – 2 coordinators and 13 employees and volunteers Latvia: 7 people – 1 coordinator and 6 employees and volunteers Description of activities/metodology: The project is structured into four work packages WP1-4. In each package there are described activities and responsibilities of partners for particular parts of the project. Progress of the project will be monitored through project meetings, e-mail communication, and Skype - conferences. The time course of the project is set out in the schedule. The educational program is designed for three levels of knowledge - "beginner", "intermediate" and "advanced". The process of teaching the various levels will take place in three stages: 1 / Phase of making the new material accessible - direct teaching 2 / Phase of strengthening and upgrading of skills 3/ Phase of control and evaluation of the level of knowledge - to assess the effectiveness of the learning process, draw real conclusions for further educational progress and if necessary modification of the didactic process Day to day management of the project on the multinational level and coordination of the information flow between partners will provide the project coordinator. At the national level this coordination will be provided by responsible persons of each project partner. Description of expected results and impact: During the course of the project a educational program with teaching materials in paper and digital form will be created. The concept of the educational program will be verified on the first transnational educational event. Subsequently the concept will be modified and completed; the comprehensive educational program will be re-verified on the second transnational educational event. After introducing of the necessary last changes resulting final intellectual output will be prepared. Potential long-term benefits: Project participants i.e. employees of participating organizations (small rural congregations) and volunteers become lecturers and receive educational tool that will be used in church communities and beyond to adult education. Educational tool will be used appropriately to the needs of the target groups in the particular partner country. The project involves five partner organizations from five countries with a specific cultural backgrounds and different experiences with the issue of adult education. Each of the organizations has developed various programs, tools and methods of adult education. Nonetheless, all project partners agree on the need to establish a universal educational program specific to rural areas, to enable organisations better fulfill their role as educational institution in communities. The wide range of opportunities in European society can be used better and the potential synergistic effect may be significant. The results will far exceed those that would be achieved by working in isolation at the national level. The project focuses on potential of religious congregations and is based on the situation in most rural areas. Created educational tool for adult education can be potentially used and be beneficial also for other groups of people in society. The resulting intellectual output of the project will be multilingual comprehensive educational program helping to eliminate differences between people and cultures in general. The project also has the prerequisite for a European wide impact by supporting small communities to engage in major issues of unemployment and social inclusion.
Project idea came into being by Church organizations in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Latvia and Slovakia and its main goal was to build on good practices from further cooperation on the project in program Grundtvig -Learning Partnerships. Rural areas are disadvantaged compared to cities. People living here have less opportunities to gain necessary knowledges and skills. Ambition of the project was to use potential of small church congregations to bring learning opportunities in rural areas with respect to sustainable development. The aim of the Project - “to create complex educational program allowing to employees and staff from church congregations to teach goal groups in rural areas” - has been fulfilled. This created a base for development of basic and transversal skills on the field of adult education and could contribute to manage the problem of unemployment and social exclusion. Number and profile of participants: Slovakia: 8 people – 2 coordinators and 6 employees and volunteers Germany: 7 people – 1 coordinators and 6 employees and volunteers Denmark: 6 people – 2 coordinators and 4 employees and volunteers Sweden: 7 people – 1 coordinators and 6 employees and volunteers Latvia: 6 people – 1 coordinator and 5 employees and volunteers Description of activities/methodology: The project was structured into four work packages WP1-4. In each package there were described activities and responsibilities of partners for particular parts of the project. Progress of the project was monitored through project meetings, e-mail communication, and Skype - conferences. The time course of the project was set out in the schedule. The educational program was designed for three levels of knowledge - "beginner", "intermediate" and "advanced". It is planned, that the process of teaching the various levels could be organized in three stages: 1 / Phase of making the new material accessible - direct teaching 2 / Phase of strengthening and upgrading of skills 3/ Phase of control and evaluation of the level of knowledge - to assess the effectiveness of the learning process, draw real conclusions for further educational progress and if necessary modification of the didactic process Day to day management of the project on the multinational level and coordination of the information flow between partners was provided by the project coordinator. At the national level this coordination was provided by responsible persons of each project partner – national coordinators. Description of results and impact: During the course of the project an educational program with teaching materials in paper and digital form was created. The concept of the educational program was verified on the first transnational educational event. Subsequently the concept was modified and completed; the comprehensive educational program was re-verified on the second transnational educational event. After introducing of the necessary last changes resulting final intellectual output was prepared. Potential long-term benefits: Project participants i.e. employees of participating organizations (small rural congregations) and volunteers took part on two educational activities and received educational tool that they can use in church communities and beyond to adult education. Educational tool can be used appropriately to the needs of the target groups in the particular partner country. The project involved five partner organizations from five countries with specific cultural backgrounds and different experiences in adult education. Each of the participating organizations developed part of the educational program and/or provided adult education methods. A country-specific universal education program has been created to enable organizations to better fulfil their role of educational institutions in the communities. A wide range of possibilities has been used in the environment that exists in European society. The results of cooperation far outweigh those achieved by national isolation work. The project focused on the use of the potential of the church congregations and was based on the situation in most rural areas. However, the educational tool to provide adult education is usable and beneficial to other groups of people in society. The resulting intellectual output of the project is a multilingual, comprehensive educational program that will help to bridge the gap between nations and cultures in general. The project encouraged small communities to engage in co-operation on major issues of unemployment and social inclusion.