The starting point and background of the Cre-Com project is the social distance required as a result of the pandemic that broke out in early 2020 and the series of restrictive measures required for this. In this situation, professionals and organizations that organize informal learning activities for adults have suddenly stopped their entire activities for an indefinite period of time. After a brief relief, the second wave of the epidemic made it clear that they could not expect to return to their original activities for a long time. While formal subsystems of education have rapidly adapted to the use of digital tools and methods and much of education has moved to virtual spaces, this shift has been much more difficult for the adult learning sector. Here, too, especially in the case of formal training (eg language courses), the transition took place quickly, but those so-called informal learning programs, the essence of which is the coexistence and the common experience of activities and experiences, have not been found to date. The reasons for this are manifold, but according to our survey, they are not to be found in the absence of digital competencies or tools, but in the difficulties of transposing the nature of activities into virtual space. All this is a problem not only because groups of people cannot expand their knowledge in this way, but also because these activities are typically not only for learning purposes but much more necessary for the general well-being of the given communities and the supportive functioning of social groups. Examples of such programs are cooking clubs, where in addition to learning to prepare healthy meals with modern techniques, these events are also forms of social togetherness for participants. In the current situation, however, with their disappearance, a vacuum has been created, which also greatly worsens the mental state of communities. Informal learning programs are implemented in different contexts in different countries. While in many countries these are largely the responsibility of local authorities or one of their institutions, there are regions in the EU where NGOs and, in a self-organizing way, the population set up these programs themselves. However, regardless of their implementation, in all cases we find some kind of organization behind the programs and most educators, adult education professionals are the direct implementers who methodologically support the programs. Our project is aimed at these organizations and educators, program organizers, in which we develop an online modular training course and an action plan methodology for organizational and program development purposes. The project involves Romanian, Dutch, Portuguese and Hungarian partners, who represent a high level of excellence in the areas represented by the project. The training and the action plan cover the current special circumstances, but in general, regardless of the circumstances, they also contribute to the development of professionals and organizations to be able to innovate with a creative and innovative approach. In all elements of the project, we focus on digital and virtual implementation. At international partner meetings, we review project management processes and organize a multiplication event at the end of the project in all 4 partner countries to disseminate the results. However, beyond these, all project activities, from development processes to testing, are implemented virtually. As a result of the project, we will create tools that achieve measurable impacts and ultimately improve the well-being of small communities as a result of innovative and creative seed practice practices in community programs.
Based on the above mentioned issues and the needs we identified during the preparation of the project, we wanted to achieve the following. Our goal was for local communities to once again fulfil the social functions they faced before the current epidemic. -> To do this, community organizations need to be able to formulate a new strategy adapted to the circumstances. They need to formulate new elements in their strategy, both in terms of content and the circumstances and methods of implementation. -> And they need to be able to implement the formulated strategy. Trainers, program organizers and volunteers who enable the birth of community programs also have a key role to play in the implementation and planning of the strategy. So the goal of our project is also to make them prepared and able to use their existing and newly learned knowledge and resources in a creative way.
The project is a response to the changes that occurred as a result of the 2020 pandemic outbreak. At that time, all aspects of our lives were being distanced, physical contact and encounters were being severely restricted, and everyday processes were being moved online. Digital education solutions were immediately developed in almost every country, followed immediately by major industry and policy developments to support the education process in schools. At the same time, other learning, community-building and leisure activities have simply ground to a halt, leaving a huge void. The starting point for our project was this vacuum situation, in which community programme organisers in small municipalities tried to do their best, but in many cases the lack of knowledge and experience, methodological skills, approaches and the inflexibility of organisations, their inability to change, their inability to adapt quickly and effectively were obstacles to their adaptation. In developing the project, we therefore identified a lack of opportunities for self-development of the digital and methodological skills of professionals involved in the organisation of community programmes and the tools needed to make work organisations more flexible.