Projects carried out by the Polish network:

In seach of the lost Commonwealth. Uni- or multi-cultural Poland?

Two seminars and a brand new publication on the condition of intercultural dialogue in Poland – these are the highlights of the common project of the Polish Network of the Anna Lindh Foundation.

The seminars are held in two towns which are crucial for understanding the Polish identity of uni/multiculturalism, i.e. Sejny and Krzyżowa. The places have been selected not only for their historical importance but also because of the geographic location (two most distant towns in Poland) but also the fact that south-west Poland (Krzyżowa) and north-east Poland (Sejny). These are regions of unparalleled diversity, populated by Germans, Lithuanians, Jews, Orthodox, Greek Orthodox and Muslim communities. The meetings in both places consist of the following:  information seminar on the ALF, workshops on multiculturalism for new and potential network members, activities directed to ‘discovering’ multicultural heritage of Polish regions (e.g. visiting Orthodox and Greek Orthodox churches, meeting with ethnic and religious minority groups). At the same time the leading Polish scholars and key figures in intercultural dialogue were asked to contribute to a publication which discusses the most important issues connected with multiculturalism of contemporary Poland divided in fours sections entitled Ideologies, Diversity, Culture and Spirituality.

 

Partners : International Cultural Centre in Krakow, International Cultural Centre Foundation, Borderland of Arts, Culture, Nations, The Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe, Society of Friends of Orla Region, SIETAR Poland

 

 

 

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Education for dialogue. Multimedia materials for educators


The project aims at addressing Poland’s diversity: ethnic, national, religious, social and cultural and is a continuation of works that were initiated with the previous common operation, i.e. “In Search of the Lost Commonwealth. Mono- or Multicultural Poland?” that also dealt with ideological diversity of Poland and culminated with the book entitled Towards a new multiculturalism (eds. Robert Kusek and Joanna Sanetra-Szeliga, Kraków 2010). Since most of the organisations of the Polish network operate in the field of education, the decision had been taken to launch a new common operation that would specifically address the educational challenges in the field of diversity.
The main goal of the network common action is to create educational multimedia materials for educators (both formal and non-formal) that would assist teaching and promoting multiculturalism, dialogue and tolerance. Network members are to be both the authors and the beneficiaries of the publication. It will also be distributed among other organization interested in the subject.
The content of the materials will be based on the expertise of the network members. The are three thematic areas proposed for working groups: 1) ethnic and national diversity, 2) religious diversity, 3) social diversity. Members of the working groups will exchange their knowledge and best practices in the field of teaching dialogue and tolerance in a given area. Each working group will be supervised by an expert who will then collect and draw up information suitable in form and content for the publication. Each part of the educational materials will be accompanied by a short introduction, best practices, examples of lessons as well as short films, presentation and interviews with specialists.
Coordinators of the project: Robert Kusek, Joanna Sanetra-Szeliga (ICC), Marta Abramowicz (For a Change Foundation)
Coordinators of the thematic areas:

The second day of the annual meeting of the Polish Network of the Anna Lindh Foundation (October 27, 2010) was devoted to the official inauguration of the new common project of the Polish network. The meeting in Krakow was to introduce both methodology and practical aspects in which the new operation is to be carried out. With the help of partners and co-authors of the project a series of workshops investigated the expertise and experience of the gathered parties in the issue of multiculturalism. The first phase of the project, namely the Krakow meeting, was designed in such a way so that an opportunity not only to share the good practices in the field but also engage all members of the network into one action aiming at promoting the multiculturalism of today’s Poland were created. Members of the Polish Network worked in three thematic groups ethnic/national, religious and social diversity) and shared their experience in a given field under the supervision of a trainer.
 
The results of the workshops in Krakow as well as a meeting held in Rzeszow (January 19-21, 2011) devoted mainly to preparation of audiovisual materials and interviews were collected and edited so as to prepare the second phase of the project - the publication.

The final product of this initiative of the Polish network is multi-media educational materials entitled "Us-Them" to be used both in formal and in-formal education facilitating a process of welcoming new multiculturalism due to proper educational practices aimed at the youth.
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