The four partners of the project, the Federation of social and socio-cultural centres of France (la FCSF), People and Culture in the Walloon Region in Liège, NUTZ in der Ufafabrike. eV. in Berlin and ARCS – Arci culture solidali in Rome, carry out their missions in a context of change which is difficult to anticipate with regard to the evolution of societal issues (ageing, intolerance, mistrust amongst communities, discrimination…), to the increase in radicalisation and racist political parties in the European space, to social inequalities and to the weakening of modes of organisation and citizen mobilisations. The aim of the project “ Cestpossible.UE – together we can do it” is to accompany the dynamics of engagement and reinforce the citizens’ desire and capacity to act, at the same time as promoting the mixing of different values and enhancing the contribution of diversity. The general objective of the project is to bring together and open a space for reflection between the different actors in adult education, to reflect upon forms of engagement, to generate and encourage the citizens’ desire to act, to create the appropriate conditions for the development of citizen initiatives which contribute to the general interest and social cohesion, as well as to the collective construction of a society which is more just, integrated, responsible and ecological. The four partners propose a work programme conceived as a laboratory of studying, production and experimentation which will enable them more specifically: - to identify and decrypt in the heterogeneity of our practices the fundamental elements which determine successful results (contextual, teaching, cultural, economic methodological, legal…elements) - to identify and pool together knowledge of being, doing and acting, of impulsion, accompaniment and evaluation of citizen initiatives - to capitalise upon the apprenticeships and enrich their pedagogical, methodological and didactic repositories and thus reinforce their pedagogical proposition destined for adult education - to broadcast the achievements of apprenticeship, as well as the tools and resources for the benefit of all the producers of citizen initiatives - to better enhance, make known and recognised the initiatives carried out in their areas, and to promote the creation of links at local, regional and national levels and increase actions within national and international networks With regard to the environmental, societal, economic and democratic challenges to be met, the partners have identified dominant issues which correspond to the specificities and expertise of the concerned parties. Their diversity and heterogeneity concerning the approaches to adopt allow an exploration and analysis of the complementary manner of the fields of intervention of the four partners, that is to say: - with regard to the environmental challenge, to discover the dimension of long-term development in the collective and community-based actions in Germany - with regard to the economic challenge, to identify the implication of the inhabitants in transition actions by the creation of local services in France, and practices of cultural entrepreneurship promoting integration of the disadvantaged in Italy - concerning the societal challenge, to explore the citizen mobilisation which will allow the migrants, the asylum-seekers and refugees to integrate in Italy, as well a multi-cultural appreciation of the collective and community-based actions in Germany - concerning the democratic challenge, to analyse the practices in popular education which allow people to be the actors/actresses of changes on a political and social level in Belgium, plus a panel of actions concerning the inhabitants’ power to act which produce social transformation in France. The intended impact of the project aims at a greater amount of influence in public policy in the educational and social field, a better vision of the practices of the path of engagement which contribute to the emergence of a strong identity between the non-governmental organisations acting in the field of non-formal education.
The project “Cestpossible.UE - Togetherwecan do it! Was initiated and led by four partners: the Federation of Social and Sociocultural Centers of France, People and Culture in Wallonia, NUTZ in der Ufafabrik.V., ARCS - Arci culture solidali. It succeeded in its objective of bringing together and opening a space for reflection that involved more than 100 different actors in the education of volunteers or professionals. The participants, in support of the project's activities, discovered and exchanged views on their practices and methods, particularly those who promote the desire to act and the development of citizen initiatives to build a fairer, united, responsible and ecological society. (challenges to be taken up collectively, environmental, societal, economic, democratic) Started in October 2018, the activities of the first part of the project took place as planned, transnational face-to-face and video meetings, launching seminar, four observation courses, a first production seminar, then a fifth observation internship, at the very beginning of the first pandemic wave. While managing the health crisis in their countries, the partners after a period of reflection and adaptation to this new context, readjusted the second part of the project by adapting their activities which took place online. The program was thus extended by 6 months. The partners invented and created new methods of learning and exchanging practices which were experienced during 2 observation courses and 2 production seminars exclusively online. A digital platform cestpossible.ue / webdocumentary was created and gradually fed during the project with the productions of courses and seminars, as well as the booklet to download. These are digital educational tools made available to members and partners of the respective networks and actors in non-formal education. They make it possible to discover a diversity of approaches and practices of partner associations, through testimonies and interviews, which refer to cultural, political, historical contexts, specific to each country, to the priorities and challenges of the partners, to their know-how and knowledge to be reciprocal. It is necessary to specify that the health situation strongly impacted the quality of the project. This in carrying out activities but also in mobilizing participants and partners. And despite this the objectives are generally achieved. the tools create, the initiatives of the organizations that are inspired by the project, the new cooperation between participants and partners, the uses of the digital tool give us an overview of the long-term benefits.