Date: 1-3 May, 2019

Location: University of Ruse, Bulgaria

Club Ruse of the international women’s organisation Soroptimist International is a host and organiser of an international conference Soroptimists along the Danube stand up for Europe by Networking, which will be held at the University of Ruse on 2-3 May, 2019.The conference is co-organised by the long-term partner club SI Ulm-Donaustadt, Germany and unites more than 40 representatives of the Soroptimist organisation from Germany, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Belgium.

At 2nd of May guests and plenary speakers at the conference will be Ms. Gerda Rosiers, Chair of the Extension Committee of SI Europe and member of SI Visé, Belgium, and Prof. Rumiana Stoilova from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia.They will present to the delegates some historical milestones from the development of the women’s movement in Europe and in the Danube region, as well as talk about the equal rights of women and men in all professional and life situations today which face our communities in all countries, and the opportunities to overcome discrimination through active social inclusion and mutual support.

After the plenary session the work will continue in working groups, where the opportunities for collaboration in the fields of Social welfare and Health, Environment, Culture and Education will be discussed.In a special workshop “Europe”, a statement will be developed on behalf of the participants in support of united Europe and the Europe Elections in May 2019.

The second day of the conference will start with a Round table Plea for Europe: Why a common Europe is important for women and why it is important to vote in the European Elections on 23 – 26 May 2019. After approval, the common Appeal will be disseminated by the delegates in their respective clubs and communities.

At the end of the conference, the delegates will visit one of the projects of SI Club Ruse “Bread connects our memories and our dreams”, implemented in partnership with Association DANET, academic student club “Young social pedagogue” with the University of Ruse and the Centres for work with children in the street and for family type accommodation.

Carmen Stadelhofer

People of all generations and ethnicities from all Danube countries participate in the project “Bread connects”. For this commitement the Danube-Networkers were awarded in December 2018 with the 1st Place of the “Civil-Society” Price from the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).

Nominated with 5 other European projects, the project “Bread connects” and President of DANET e. V. , Carmen Stadelhofer, and Vice-President of DANET e.V.  Emily Velikova, were invited to Brussels to recieve the award. The final placement of each project wasn´t made plublic before. The joy was overwhelming when it was finally anounced, that “Bread connects” recieved the first place of the “Civil- Society”- Price.

Roggenburg, 17/06/2018
Nine partners from six countries and one goal: Strengthening European awareness through transnational projects and methods. “Building Bridges for Europe” is the name of the project which is financially supported by the EU for two years. The focus of the project is on developing an online toolbox which will contain a collection of proved and tested methods and projects which will support European awareness.

The second partner meeting took place at the monastery of Roggenburg from 15th to 18th July with approx. 40 participants from Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Slovenia and Germany.

For three days the participants adjourned to the monastery of Roggenburg in order to work on the development of an online method toolbox with high concentration after the turbulent partner meeting during the international Danube Festival Ulm/Neu-Ulm. With the help of this toolbox, future organisers of projects and activities shall be given stimulation to support critical thinking and European awareness.

The cooperation was not always easy, there were language barriers, different approaches and interdisciplinary differences were to overcome. An analysis guideline as a basis for the collection of projects and methods is developed. Furthermore, categories and search words were developed which should enable practical and low-threshold approaches to the contents of the toolbox. In between the partner meetings, communication takes place via Internet, a website and a Facebook account also contribute to the distribution of the idea.

The project “Building Bridges for Europe” is conducted by partners of the European umbrella organization “Danube-Networkers for Europe (DANET) e.V.” under the coordination of the affiliated institute ILEU (Ulm). They are accompanied by partners from Bulgaria, Italy, Croatia, Romania and Slovenia. Further partner meetings in Zagreb and Mola di Bari are planned.

For more information about the project: https://ileu.net/building-bridges-for-europe/

We accomplished the goal! More than 1000 Photos were submitted and more than 3000 people participated in the action an send a sign of friendship along the Danube!
This activity showed us: We want to know each other better, we want a united and peaceful Europe!

Find the signs of friendships here: http://bread-connects.tastes-of-danube.eu/give-a-sign-of-friendship/

On 10^th May 2018, the exhibition “Bread connects Europe: Create & bake” was inaugurated at Haus der Begegnung. A jury had chosen 28 exhibits from 79 submissions which represented the topic most aptly. Accompanied by sparkling wine and music, the visitors marvelled at the diversity of realisations which had one thing in common: the view of a conjoint Europe. In many cases the titles and the texts explain what the baker’s idea behind the creation was. Two compositions were found particularly good by the jury – the work of the student and apprentice Goran Gasparovski from Novi Sad, Serbia, who created a sculpture of a bull with Europa and also documented the work process. Also, the work “Brancusi’s Bread” by Netuta Stratulat from Galati, Romania, who implemented the topic based on the sculpture “Monumental Ensemble: Kissing Gate, Table of Silence and Endless Column” by Brancusi. The exhibition will be open to the public until 13^th June 2018 but to give access to everyone who is not in Ulm, all contributions will be published on the website.

As the jury found all contributions worth seeing and interesting, all submissions to the competition will be published in an illustrated book. More:

Bread connects Europe – Create and bake

The 8th Newsletter (December 2017) of the “Danube-Networkers for Europe (DANET) e.V.” is now online!

To the newsletter: https://en.danube-networkers.eu/newsletters/8/