A partnership project of 5 partner organizations (VSA, Crime Prevention Fund-IGA, Amaka NGO, Baykuş Arts & Literature Centre, Antropos Association) from 5 countries (Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Serbia) based on innovation, common experience and method exchange, knowledge extension and sharing, focusing on the especially vulnerable, disadvantaged target group of offenders, detainees and ex-detainees with a high criminality risk, addicts and those in a marginalised situation, as well as on professionals and experts treating them. Low school qualification and early school-leave is overrepresented in target group characterized by a lack of basic, key and transversal competences, and an overall knowledge and information deficit. Their experience in education is mostly negative, their school career path is full of failures, resulting in low self-esteem and self-respect. Prejudice from the majority society is significant toward this target group, making the outbreak from their marginalised position, and reintegration, rather difficult. The comprehensive goal of present project is to decrease marginalisation of target group of offenders, detainees, ex-detainees and addicts with high criminality risk, and to support their social integration. The project wants to achieve its goal through a strategic partnership working on tools extension, knowledge and experience sharing, and on employing innovative, non-formal creative programs and methods in order to facilitate personality development, motivation and learning need incitement in target group. It also focuses on mitigating their knowledge, information and competence deficit through tasks and activities during and after the project period. The main target of the project is to organize and execute creative programs for crime prevention, as well as to develop methodology and process them in workshops. Also, to achieve personality development, improved manual, transversal, social and labour market competences with target group, thus increasing their life potentials. The development of responsibility and civil competences in target group are also parts of the project goal, as well as training programs for experts (civilians, penal institution employees or volunteers) to extend their methodology and tools repertoire. It wants to achieve network development in this field by developing and improving local and international (re)integration programs. During the project we plan 6 transnational partner meetings in the participating countries, with a parallel edition of 5 Workshop Booklets (in 10 different topics), and the development of 10 intellectual outputs. 20 multiplicator events are planned in connection with these intellectual outputs (4 per country). Project activities and impacts: 1. Publications – Workshop Booklets - related to the thematic workshops. 5 booklets per event: 1a. Ways of using art therapy with marginalised, vulnerable social groups; 1b. Dimensions of Health; 2a. Educating the Educators I. (basic); 2b. Educating the Educators II. (on the implementation of art therapy); 3a. Release Diary (preparation for release by art therapy tools); 3b. Free – as Women? 4a. UNLOCKED: An interactive and digital exhibition in crime prevention; 4b. Game therapies and their possible use in adult learning; 5a. Methodology of the use of Protected and Half-Way accommodation; 5b. UNLOCKED: a project summary publication. 2. Surveys, data collection: collection/editing of best practices on a local and international level, opportunities of implementation. 3. Testing, trial, assessment, feedback, revision, correction. 4. Guidelines and methodology: interrelations between dimensions of (bodily-mental-social) health and learning; methodology development; Release Diary (preparation for release with art therapy tools) as a new methodology of reintegration; Free – as women? – a methodology developed especially for the disadvantaged women group with high risk and criminality factor; UNLOCKED: An interactive and virtual exhibition in crime prevention (new methodology option in prevention and social attitude formation); Game therapies and their use in adult education (non-formal, individual learning paths, method and tool development); Protected and Half-Way accommodations (a complex and synergic support for providing social and life management competences and training). 5. Development of common training material: Ways of using art therapy with marginalised, vulnerable social groups - best practice guidelines; Educating the Educators I. (basic), and also Educating the Educators II. (on the implementation of art therapy). Impacts: decrease marginalisation in low qualified, high criminality risk target group of offenders, detainees, ex-detainees and addicts, increase their access to learning, and introduce knowledge as value. Developing target group educator competences, extending their range of methodology; innovations that can be taken over by experts working in other fields.
The main objective of the project is to reduce the marginalization of the target group of offenders, prisoners and released prisoners, addicts, people with high criminogenic risk, and to support their social integration, primarily and especially through creative, art therapy programmes; therefore, our further objective was to develop methods, expand tools, exchange knowledge and experience. The aim of the project is to apply innovative, non-formal creative programmes and methods - personality development, raising the need and motivation to learn, reducing and addressing the knowledge, skills and competence deficit of the target group - i.e. to expand the methodological repertoire of adult education. To this end, an international strategic partnership has been established. Segmented objectives: - experience the joy of creativity, to increase creativity, self-value and self-respect; - develop responsibility for the values created; - recharge, experience-orientation, attitude forming; - use creative process in the “healing” work of reintegration; - process values, stimulate a change in values; - train professionals focusing on the marginalized group, extend their range of methods and tools, support their professional and mental health.
Criminals, addicts (detainees and ex-detainees) belong to the group of the disadvantaged because generally they had no six month of regular previous employment and/or had no previous secondary/vocational education, and/or a member of the ethnic minority. Tertiary and secondary criminal prevention is thus a mutual interest of all parties, since it has been proven that deprivation of freedom (i.e. detainment and prison) is the most expensive form of punishment. In the long run, the support of the (re)integration process may also stimulate a quality change in the relative security of the majority society. Reintegration processes prevent re-offending and reduce the risk of recidivism. However, they take a long time; require different types of development for the target group and the professionals working with them, and social sensitization is also essential. The organizations involved in the partnership are working in national/local and even international collaborations (especially as the problems of the target group affect several segments/sectors). Váltó-sáv Alapítvány felt that it had maximized the opportunities for local cooperation and that it certainly needed an international platform and impulses to develop.