Carmen Stadelhofer, Head of ILEU e.V., President of DANET
10 years educational Network Danube-Networkers (2008-2018) – 4 years International Association Danube-Networkers for Europe (DANET)
1. Background
In 1995, ZAWIW (Zentrum für Allgemeine Wissenschaftliche Weiterbildung, ZAWiW -Centre for General Scientific Continuing Education) of Ulm University initiated the European network “Learning in Later Life” (LiLL), the first non-formal internet-based network for seniors education, including by European projects more and more partner organisations from 21 European countries. In 1997 the idea was born to extend to the new EU countries in East and South-East Europe the successful ideas and good practice of LiLL in exchange and cooperation between educational organisations for older adults within the Danube region.
2. Founding of the educational Network Danube-Networkers
In July 2018, ZAWiW and its senior students invited 27 guests from seniors’ educational organisations from all 10 Danube countries on the occasion of the international Danube Festival in Ulm to a 5-day-seminar. The theme of the Festival was “Heimat Europa -Home country Europe” and this subject was taken up in the title of the seniors’ seminar ‘Heimatland – Donauland /Home country – Danube country.’
Participants of the seminar worked together, overcoming strong language barriers, and shared their ideas and hopes for a future cooperation for the development of seniors’ education and for work with older people in their respective Danube countries. A common Resolution was presented and signed by its authors during the closing event of the seminar, the non-formal educational network Danube-Networkers was created. The general aim was to promote in the Danube Region seniors’ education and active social participation as well dialogue between the generations on the structural and pedagogical level.
With partners in Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, ZAWiW had already applied in February 2008 to the EU Grundtvig Programme for the funding of a learning partnership under the title of Danube-Networkers. The learning partnership was selected for funding for the period August 2008 to July 2010. As only EU partners could apply, organisations from non-EU countries, such as Croatia, were invited to participate as “associate” partners.
Personal exchanges in the meetings of Danube-Networkers in the partners’ countries, transnational virtual cooperation and networking, creative writing and time-witness work, computer-based text and image processing, foreign language improvement and ongoing development of a website containing the partnership’s work have been the most important activities to date. Seniors’ groups in the partner organisations have worked jointly on selected themes concerning the river Danube. Through texts, images and video clips, they have documented their personal relationships with the river and also the importance of the river for their country. Learning has mainly taken place in the form of self-directed learning; the learners have played an active role in the selection of subjects to be worked on and related tasks (organisation, coordination of website contributions, translation, etc.). Teachers have supported the learning process through sensible, competence-strengthening methods. One advantage of the methodology has been that older people with limited mobility have been able to take part.
These shared tasks of this first phase of Danube-Networkers cooperation ended in July 2010, outcomes were disseminated through selected articles written by senior students from the different partner countries and published in a brochure and on a CD. The success of this project was a strong impetus to continue and to enlarge the network by new partners in the Danube region.
3. The ‘Danube-Networkers’ Statement to the EU Consultation
The European Council has formally asked the European Commission to present an integrated cross-national EU Strategy for the Danube Region by the end of 2010. They initiated a series of public events starting in Ulm in February 2010 and concluding in Romania in June 2010 and made a public call for views from all kinds of organisations and interests.
In March 2010, ZAWiW of Ulm University, with the support of the Danube-Networkers partners and many other educational institutions in the Danube countries, submitted to the consultation a statement entitled ‘Lifelong learning programmes for older adults as a societal necessity in the Danube Region’. This was a carefully prepared and well-considered document, drawing on and summarising the values, arguments and experience underlying the Danube-Networkers learning partnership.
4. Many European projects fostering European awareness
Parallel to the development of advanced training structures for older and younger people, groups of partner organisations from 5–6 Danube countries devised and implemented transnational projects, involving large groups of seniors from different Danube countries. Numerous contacts and forms of cooperation took place. Steadily an ever greater number of organisations got involved in devising and implementing conferences, qualification workshops and in issuing publications amply using Internet and interactive applications. Outputs and outcomes of these activities are presented on the projects’ websites, see www.danube-networkers.eu/project overview.html.
The coordination of the Network and the responsibility of the projects were taken until the end of 2012 by ZAWiW, since 2013 it is taken by ILEU ( Institut für virtuelles und reales Lernen in der Erwachsenenbildung an der Universität Ulm- Institute for virtual and face-to-face learning in adult education at Ulm University (ILEU) e.V., a non-profit educational organisation.
Thousands of people from all Danube countries participated in projects. Until 2012 the projects had been more academic orientated, since 2013 they are more civil society orientated. These projects prove that older adults, women, disadvantaged groups and people who have previously not been in contact with other European countries, especially contacts between Southeast and Western Europe become interested in European cooperation. The key to success: low-threshold activating methods and taking into consideration the different conditions of each country and organization as well as the language barriers and emotions.
5. The founding of the International Association “Danube-Networkers for Europe (DANET)”
For to ensure the continuation of the well-done work the main partners of the educational Network decided to found an international non-profit Association “Danube-Networkers for Europe (DANET”) e.V.- It was founded in March 2014. It is a European not-for-profit umbrella association of educational organisations and individual experts dealing with and promoting education and scientific research, particularly in the Danube Region. It works in strong cooperation with the educational non-formal Network Danube-Networkers. DANET is coordinated by the member „Institute for virtual and face-to-face learning in adult education at Ulm University (ILEU) (e.V.)”.
Aims of DANET:
- providing access to learning opportunities and general education in an European context for citizens of all ages based on innovative practices based on scientific findings and theories
- implementing and disseminating new approaches by qualification training for teachers and multipliers in general education enabling universities and educational organizations to provide accessibility and innovative methods to formal/ non-formal education for older and younger generations in all life conditions
- promoting trans-national, cross-cultural and intergenerational dialogue in Europe, particularly in the Danube Region, as a must for mutual understanding and respect and to foster unity in diversity
- supporting particularly seniors, women, low educated people to be active in civil society, integrating their knowledge, skills, and competencies into new, mostly collective tasks, civic activities, and actions, enabling them to the use of new technologies.
6. The impact of Danube-Networkers’ cooperation on a local, national and international level
In the Network are involved more than 100 civil society organisation, Universities, and schools in 11 countries in the Danube region. The diversity of the target groups, the number of people involved, the low-threshold approach combined with a very small budget are an absolutely unique setting.
The ongoing project “Bread connects” (2017-2019) is a follow-up project of the DANET`s “Taste of Danube. Bread Wine Herbs” (2015-2017) and the project „The Wanted Danube“ (2013-2015) which was awarded the European Citizen Price 2015 by the European Parliament and the Lily of Europe 2015 by “Europa Professionell” (Europa-Union Germany).
To use local/national knowledge and traditions as a starting point helped releasing the fear of an “European usurpation” and to awaken interest in European cooperation and therefore, to get to know each other’s’ everyday culture. The last three big projects since 2013 as well as the previous projects of the Danube-Networkers show that „Europe“ has positively changed for the people involved. The networking on local, national and European level helped to get more and more organisations and people of all ages interested and involved in these projects. A crucial factor that enormously pushed the feeling of “togetherness (“Wir-Gefühl” in German) of the people involved was the Citizen Price of the European Parliament for “The Wanted Danube”. Publicity work by mass-media (print, radio, television, Internet) was made and supported a lot wide-spreading the idea of saving intangible cultural heritage by common doing, cooperating and demonstrating
By common actions, they learn to share European values such as respect for human dignity, democratic rules, responsibility for others. The experience of having things in common, as well as working together online and by meetings in person, helps diminishing prejudices and to foster European awareness and identity because they feel what “United in diversity” actually means. Symposiums, qualifications and advanced training for people in charge and for multiplications have been very important – as well as the momenta given by experts and scientists, they have been implemented into the project after a thorough pedagogical reflection.
Diversity is integrated as an existing fact. The low-threshold method helps people to see and feel that “European thinking and acting” does not lack personal and national identity – on the contrary, it can be an interesting and enriching experience and shows the European unity and promotes diversity
European awareness and identity will be fostered by cooperating with groups of local groups of different ethnics and various groups of other European countries. The intercultural and intergenerational dialogue will also be promoted since there are plenty of opportunities to participate There are opportunities for less privileged people, elderly, women, unemployed people, and people with special needs but also people with a higher educational interested. The diversity of the methods of general adult education and social work can be adapted to the different needs and capacities of the target groups. The local actions also help to unite people.
The Danube-Networkers are proud to work with universities in the fields of pedagogic, social work and international studies as well as international experts and students in this project. They work together with a mutual benefit: The academics get insights for their professional future (on a local and European scale) and they also contribute as multiplicators in the socio-cultural environment for our project.