Conference “Capacity building for joint funding applications and Active Citizens legacy programme development”
This Conference brought together around 60 participants from 15 countries, representing a diverse range of organisations working with society challenges. The aim of the event was to network, explore partnership opportunities and collaboratively develop project concepts which would enable to build future consortia for joint funding proposals.
Active Citizens is a British Council programme in the area of intercultural dialogue and global citizenship, which began with implementation in 2009. This programme is being implemented in 20 countries in Europe and 8 countries in Africa and Asia. This programme aims to contribute to social change and sustainable development, and at the same time supports grass-root initiatives around the world, and in turn promotes community cohesion and cross-cultural understanding.
In Macedonia, the Active Citizens programme was realized by training workshops for teachers in primary schools, representatives from the civil sector and representatives from the municipalities in order to introduce the active citizenship concept, fostering the spirit of active citizens among the residents in the municipality and their actions. The focus of the subjects was put on equality and diversity, i.e. bringing into the light the concept of equal opportunities and diversity. The Republic Center for Support of Persons with Intellectual Disability – PORAKA participated in the programme, and together with the Association “Open the Windows” and the Municipality of Karpos implemented number of activities under the motto: “MESSAGE: Open the Windows towards Municipality without Discrimination”. Although the programme in Macedonia ended in 2012, some countries are still implementing it.
Therefore, the British Council in Macedonia, once again, invited the Republic Center – PORAKA to participate in an event held in Lviv, Ukraine. The event was held from 17th -20 February 2013 on the topic Active Citizens International Partner networking: Capacity Building for joint funding applications and Active Citizens legacy programme development. The event brought together around 60 participants from 15 countries, representing a diverse range of organisations working with society challenges. The aim of the event was to network, explore partnership opportunities and collaboratively develop project concepts which would enable to build future consortia for joint funding proposals.
The working programme of the event began with introduction of the organizations participating in the conference. Each organization had the opportunity to present its activities through leaflets, brochures, video presentations put on its own stand, and the participants could exchange information, share experiences and best practices. Different activities followed aimed towards exploring fields of mutual interests and sharing experiences and knowledge, and the first day ended with initial identification of project ideas that might grow into joint funding application.
The second day began with presentation of the European Union programmes and funds. Also, the presentation showed which countries may apply in different programmes. It ended with an explanation how to apply for European funds. After this presentation, the participants began with developing ideas for future possible partnerships for joint projects. The day ended with an intercultural marketplace where participants presented the countries they come from. This activity was additional part to the interactive approach of the whole event, and had the purpose to present the different cultures and traditions of our countries.
The different project ideas were presented on the third and last day, as well as the possibilities for their further development.
In the final part of the programme, the participants confirmed that the conference fulfilled the expected results in total, i.e. different possibilities were identified for EU funding and several subject were explored to joint activities, and at the same time contributed towards the level of international networking and partnership was increased.
