„The Politics of Care – Networking Social Justice Movements in Eastern Europe“ is a youth exchange meeting with social justice activists from Estonia, Finland, Lithuania and Hungary. It was organised in collaboration with the partner organisations Helsingin Sosiaalinen Oikeudenmukaisuus (Helsinki Social Justice Association), Penki, keturi plius 54°+ (Laboratory of socio-spatial experimentation 54°) in Kaunas and Marom Klub Egyesület in Budapest. The applicant organisation is NGO Oma Tuba in Tallinn. The meeting took place May 22-28th, 2017 in Tallinn. The Advance Planning Visit took place March 30-31st, 2017. The participants of the project were active in the broad spectrum of social justice politics, and particularly in these three contexts: queer/trans/feminist politics, anti-racist politics and solidarity with refugees and anti-austerity activism and alternative economic practices. There were 5 participants (prtp.) from each country (including group leader) in the meeting. Age: 4 prtp. between 18-25 years.;12 prtp. between 26-30 years and 4 prtp. over 30 years old. Gender: 12 females, 6 males and 3 non-binary/trans participants. The participants with fewer opportunities were facing economic obstacles, cultural differences and mental health problems. We also had one refugee participating in the meeting.The meeting aimed to articulate feminist perspectives on the current urgencies of our time, such as the autonomy of migration, the upsurge of racisms and fascisms, conservative attacks on gender equality and the crisis of neoliberal capitalism. The objectives were empowering participants in their local social justice work, exchanging experiences and bringing together people who are likely to meet again in near future and organize together. The meeting created a week-long space where knowledge and practices of social justice activism were shared and discussed. The meeting made use of different facilitation methods originating from the realm of informal learning and political education. A strong focus was on participatory discussion methods, including a lot of work in small groups. The experience of discussing their own practices helped the participants to reflect on the potentials and limitations of their strategies in the context of social justice activism. The experience of learning about practices in other contexts provided inspiration and practical tools for the participants in order to develop their own activities in the local context. We created a space for practical skill-sharing so that the meeting could contribute to the capacity-building processes of all partner organisations. This meeting was a space for intercultural learning which put a strong emphasis on sharing knowledges that are rooted in the local contexts from which the participants are coming from. As much as the issues addressed during the meeting hold a political urgency in the European and international context at large, we also used this meeting as a space, where we developed ideas, methods and strategies together. The impulses that were gathered during the meeting were carried back to the local contexts of participants where they have strengthened the capacities of local social justice initiatives. Another result is having created sustainable transnational contacts from which the partner organisations and participants are already benefitting. We have shared a directory with personal and organisational information with theparticipants, that has and will allow us to contact each other on specific matters. There has already been informal meetings and formal cooperation plans are in the making. After completion of our follow-up activities (events and published articles), the general public in Estonia, Finland, Lithuania and Hungary have a better knowledge and understanding of the different initiatives that are taking place in the region regarding the three core themes of the meeting (migration, economic austerity and gender/sexuality).

Context:The VOICE (Volunteer Organizations‘ Input to Community Education) partnership project was set up to follow on a major objective, namely: to promote Community Education (CE) and to showcase the input of volunteer and (inter)cultural centers to Community Education. As the current dominant discourse around education for the economy seems to ignore the value and impact of CE and its importance personal development and strengthening communities, partners want to address this important and innovative resource of learning. The partnership was founded by 6 volunteer/(inter)cultural/neighborhood-centers across the EU, working on local level but representing different traditions of volunteering in Europe. The VOICE partners use this Erasmus project to create a platform for exchange expertise among practitioners from different European countries. During project implementation, 6 transnational meetings were convened, involving at least 18 staff members and volunteers working in CE programs. Furthermore, each partner conducted CE programs at local level, and attracted at least 300 participants in total with at least 90 of them being disadvantaged. Additionally, partners involved other local NGOs, (adult) education providers, stakeholder on local, national and international level.The 6 transnational partnership meeting were used to explore and discuss a) the value and impact of “Community Education”, b) the role of CE providers in local communities, c) Professional development of CE practitioners d) Success factors of CE programs, e) how does CE increase the skills, confidence, networks and resources of participants, and f) how does CE contribute to tackle problems and grasp opportunities, which occur within local communities. Additionally host partners showcased good practices of them in the field of Community Education. All their discussions, results and lead to the creation of an EBook and pdf document with recommendations on how to implement Community Education programs, including partners experiences and expertise in form of ‘good practices’ collection. This eBook can be used as a guideline for promoting CE and to disseminate good practices of partners in order for others to copy them. And within this partnership most partners copied at least one good practice, which was presented by a different partner. It is published on the websites www.volunteertolearn.eu and www.professional-volunteering.eu to be used as a tool kit and inspiration for other NGOs to start their own community education programmes.It is available in English, German and Romanian.Methodology of the joint work:Tasks and activities of the project were undertaken as described in the methodology on the original project application. Upon approval, the ultimate work plan and time schedule were agreed on by the partners during the first transnational meeting (TM) in Passau-Germany when the project officially took off. A total of 6 TM were conducted, each partner hosting one TM. The transnational meetings were a platform for exchange of expertise and experience on CE between partners: The meetings also served as a think tank were ideas around providing, improving, supporting, harmonizing CE were discussed. The result was the joint EBook. Additionally, the meetings were used to monitor the progress made, plan future activities, allocate tasks and agree on the mode of operation and feedback.Parallel with the transnational meetings, partners maintain special web-section for VOICE within their designated websites. The web-section provides information about VOICE activities locally and transnational. Results of this partnership:The two year project has been successful implemented. The VOICE project met all the pre-set project objectives as presented in the original project application and within the agreed time.oThe transnational meetings were convened as planned and each led to a chapter to the eBook.oPartners were able to exchange experience and expertise on CE with a potential of further improving and harmonizing CE across Europe.oMonitoring, evaluation as well as dissemination activities were conducted by partners as initially agreed in the original application. oAn eBook on CE including an input about the community education approach in learning, practical tips on the implementation of community education programs in local communities, the role and success factors of volunteer/ neighbourhood/ intercultural centers as important providers of CE programs, as well as a collection of good practices of learning and training programs offered by the involved partners. This eBook was and will be disseminated on local, regional, national and international level in order:a) to raise awareness for the importance of CE and its contribution to the education system and community development, b) to promote the staff development of CE providers and to strengthen the expertise and skills of CE practitioners

SUBTOPIA, ABOUT SPACES FOR CHANGE AND RESILIENCE is a Strategic Partnership project supported by the Erasmus+ programme via the Belgian/Flemish National Youth in Action Agency JINT.As a Partnership for Creativity project, SUBTOPIA responds to the circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic.SUBTOPIA, ABOUT SPACES FOR CHANGE AND RESILIENCE is coordinated by Vitamine C, Leuven, Belgium together with 8 partners in Europe: Aurora Budapest Hungary, Studio Alta Prague Czech Republic, Kanapes Riga Latvia, Brunnenpassage Vienna Austria, Izolyatsia Kiev Ukraine, DreamTeam Athens Greece, Tandem Berlin Germany and Trans Europe Halles Lund Sweden. SUBTOPIA focuses on how creative and cultural spaces all over Europe are change makers in society and havens for resilience. SUBTOPIA wants to empower both staff and young people of cultural and creative spaces all over Europe to be change makers in their local environment and community.SUBTOPIA helps young generations and professionals to acquire skills and competences that supports the potential of youth, contributing to the resilience of their local environment. At the same time SUBTOPIA wants to unveil new opportunities and perspectives for positive change that can be sought and found in a critical context. In 2015-2016, Vitamine C coordinated the Strategic Partnership CREATIVE SPACES. The key question of CREATIVE SPACES was: “What is the space that young people need to be creative, to develop their talents, to empower?”. Two crucial things we noticed, during and after the project was that these creative spaces not only make a difference for the personal growth and empowerment of young individual people, but1)that these CREATIVE SPACES also make a big difference for their community and local environment: many of these spaces are drivers for social change, they are often freehavens for free thinking, activism, and for resilience. MANY OF THESE CULTURAL AND CREATIVE SPACES ARE WORKING BENEATH (SUB) THE SURFACE TO TRANSFORM SOCIETY IN TO A BETTER PLACE, A BETTER WORLD (UTOPIA), WHICH IS WHY WE CALL THIS PROJECT SUBTOPIA. 2)and – very important – in most of these spaces for change and resilience YOUNG PEOPLE are at the heart of it! They are the ones who provide a continuous flow of new energy into these spaces to change society and TO BE RESILIENT. Based on these needs that we detected during CREATIVE SPACES and based on our convictions and belief in the power of young people and arts, culture and creativity, SUBTOPIA, ABOUT SPACES FOR CHANGE AND RESILIENCE, was born. Of course during 2020, The COVID-19 crisis was an extreme situation that hit the cultural and creative sectors and all who are involved particularly hard!THE COVID-19 CRISIS MADE ALL OF THESE NEEDS AND CHALLENGES EVEN MORE PERTINENT AND RELEVANT. THE MAIN ACTIVITIES during the project are: -4 TRANSNATIONAL PROJECT MEETINGS; -4 meetings of 5 LOCAL YOUTH LAB with around 10 young people; -1 PARTICIPATORY END CONFERENCE, where both groups come together: 10 staff and 10 young people -3 extra special ACTIVITIES TO DISSEMINATE the results of the project (1 in Flanders and via big networks 2 in Europe) and -online and DIGITAL COMMUNICATION via social media during the whole project.There are TWO IMPORTANT TARGET GROUPS in the project SUBTOPIA, ABOUT SPACES FOR CHANGE AND RESILIENCE,: 1) the STAFF WORKING IN cultural and creative spaces, and 2) the YOUNG PEOPLE THAT ARE CONNECTED WITH these cultural and creative spacesThe output and results of SUBTOPIA, ABOUT SPACES FOR CHANGE AND RESILIENCE, will be the COMBINED AND CO-CREATED OUTPUT REALISED VIA TWO PROCESSES. During the whole SUBTOPIA project, in both these two layers, two processes, the staff and the young people will focus on the same questions, topics, and will work towards the concrete results and output of the project. Each of these layers will have its trajectory, exchanging expertise, developing skills, co-creating content, and so on. But throughout the project we will intertwine and connect both layers, so that AT THE END OF THE PROJECT, THERE WILL BE A COMBINED OUTPUT THAT STAFF AND YOUNG PEOPLE REALISED AND CO-CREATED TOGETHER. THE TANGIBLE RESULTS we expect during the project and on its completion are: -LESSONS LEARNED The results of the most important conclusions and findings of the project. What did we learn about how spaces for change and resilience all over Europe are change makers in society and havens for resilience? -TESTIMONIALSWe are strong believers of the power of testimonials. At the end of the project we want to produce at least 10 testimonials both of staff and young people, in a fresh mix. -ARTISTIC MANIFESTOCreative initiatives and artefacts to express the key messages of what the participants found out about this topic of change and resilience to be expressed.

"<< Objectives >>The final goal of our project is to provide a complex knowledge of democracy and socio-economic issues, for Hungarian young people, which will help them to better understand the foundations of participatory democracy, such as solidarity-based civic life, community thinking, and the possibility of a community budget. , deliberative decision-making or digital democracy. Through this knowledge, participants will create their own projects to increase the activity of their own community. We want participants to pass on their own knowledge to others later in an informal way. They can create educational, participatory, artistic, or other programs that demonstrate an alternative model of democracy based on knowledge and participation that, in the long run, can result in a higher quality, more people-orientated democratic culture.Hungarian democratic culture is highly dependent on the elitist, limitedly democratic political socialization of recent decades and centuries. Fear of politics and alienation has become natural for the younger generations, young people today are less likely to have a say in public life, and domestic research shows that they are very divided, dissatisfied and politically conformist. We believe there are three main reasons for this1, the bad patterns of socialization that lead youth at home, at school, or in their own community,2, the presumed lack of knowledge that we believe is needed to have a say in politics, and the polarized information space that stifles dialogue,3, and the resulting image of elitist democracy that repels young people. The latter problem is particularly important in the 21st century. century, as our daily lives and social media also provide the opportunity for continuous speech and continuous participation - or the illusion of it - so the system, which is basically based on passivity, is not attractive to them.Young people need experiences that can change all three issues. We want to organize a program for young people that1, can create a socialization environment that encourages them to learn and cultivate politics,2, gives them relevant theoretical and practical knowledge that gives them confidence in cultivating politics. The primary goal is not to increase the knowledge transferred in the frontal way, but to help them use their own knowledge in politics. It is important for knowledge to be multifaceted, to illuminate problems from multiple perspectives, but to move away from extreme polarization and go back to the basic values of the Enlightenment, rational dialogue, the groundwork of humanism, reason and science that can advance humanity,3, give young people a bottom-up image of democracy based on digitalisation and everyday activism, which is both a means to an end and a goal worth working at ever-increasing levels. Although we have infinite amounts of raw data, we have fewer and fewer tools to transform the fragmented information space into a coherent worldview. Meanwhile, in our age, the consensus from the Enlightenment is broken that we are trying to talk about public affairs in a rational dialogue, separating facts and values. Our answer to the problem outlined above is to present scientific knowledge and the position of researchers and scientists of our time on various issues to the general public, and to give space for dialogue based on rational debate. Although science is not free from prejudice, and scientific knowledge always carries a kind of contingency - so far, the best models of the world have been created by humanity in this way. We hope that the promotion of science and the transfer of scientific knowledge will help us orient ourselves in the world, give people a sense of control on a personal level, increase the opportunity for rational dialogue, and steer us towards more responsible collective and individual decisions.The XXI. In the 21st century, our goal in the sea of disinformation is to provide young people with the confidence and knowledge to stand up for democracy in word and deed in the long term. The phenomenon of fake news can exacerbate the democratic deficit problems outlined above, destabilize people in their own right, and undermine faith in democracy.In the fight against disinformation, it is not the transfer of specific knowledge that is most important, but the sharing of a vision and information processing methodology that allows them to process the news themselves later and distinguish fake news from actual news.<< Implementation >>1, The open university will take place in Szeged between July 24-30, 2023. During the open university, the 70 participants would come from 7 different cities and thus form 7 groups that will be relevant for future project tasks.During the open university, there will be lectures during the day, roundtable workshops, cultural-professional programs in the late afternoon / evening that directly and indirectly convey the values of the program, as well as the knowledge needed for the program, which they can use later in their project.2, The groups will create an independent, local project in line with the project objectives, using the knowledge gained at the university. The exact purpose and means are determined by the groups at the open university. We help the groups with a workshop day at the beginning of their project, where we discuss all the specific problems, clarify the necessary tasks, and look at their internal operation.3. Finally, within the framework of a closing day, we will hold a workshop day in Aurora, part of the Association, in Budapest, where the participating groups can share their experiences, difficulties and successes, as well as their experiences and impressions of the project on a larger scale. We are also curious to see if they plan to maintain some of each project.The participating young people will be recruited from 7 different Hungarian cities. In addition to our partners, our ""Free Spaces"" program will help us to do this, in the framework of which we are already present in several Hungarian cities and we can provide quality programs and cultural space for progressively thinking Hungarian young people. We will recruit 10-10 people from each city so that the groups are equal in subsequent project assignments.We want to recruit young people between the ages of 18 and 30 who want to be politically active, but do not find a place in local activism or democracy, they do not believe in the effectiveness of the tools they currently have in their hands. We want to work with young people who want to do it for their own, local or national community, and promoting a European identity is also important to them. It will be especially important in the program to be able to work with people who want to be not only passive participants but also active implementers of projects.Applicants from groups on the periphery of society, such as participants from ethnic or sexual minorities, are also specifically welcome.During the program, we will strive for gender equality, which is why we want to involve an equal number of women and men from all cities, and if possible, we also welcome non-binary-minded young people to the project.Beyond these, we do not want to impose any other expectations on applicants. Applicants, who will be required to submit a CV and a letter of motivation, will be selected by the local partners / aid organizations on the basis of the above criteria. In the motivation letter, we primarily look at how active, helpful participants they would be, say, partners in the program, rather than just passive participants in it, and whether they would like to address the topic in the longer term. In the selection process, we would like to provide additional assistance to the social strata on the periphery, in writing the CV and cover letter, and they will receive additional support from us, if necessary, to enable them to participate in the program.It will be extremely difficult for groups on the periphery to gather applicants, which is why we want to launch an extra, local campaign for these layers so that they can apply and represent themselves in the program with as much courage as possible.<< Results >>During the program, we want to give participants a complex picture of the world, how participatory democracy works, the foundations of civic activism, critical thinking, and the problems caused and acted upon by disinformation.During the open university, we want to be able to forge a community that we will be able to sustain even after the program, thereby networking the system. We want to keep in touch with the participants in the long run, to involve them in other projects, hoping that they will also implement their own project in the future, in which we can also take part on a voluntary basis.We would like to see project entrants in our program who can stay alive after the project and who move more local people, thus increasing the reach of our program. we want these programs to be an integral part of our erasmu project and, last but not least, for participants to learn the basics of basic democratic thinking, participatory democracy, digital tools, critical thinking, the fight against fake news and community organization, they experience its importance and values ​​on their own skin.At EU level, we believe that the project has indirect significance. We want to create a campaign to promote the Erasmus project and help young people get into their own Erasmus program, even with a project developed under our Erasmus. In the future, if the project is successful, we would also announce it to international participants.- It can also have a long-term effect on the image of democracy in Hungary. In Hungary, the acceptance and extent of democracy is below the EU average, and the democracy indices are showing a worse picture of the country. Through bottom-up projects, the program aims to contribute to the strengthening of democracy in Hungary and, in Europe, in the creation of a new democratic culture.- Finally, we want to expand the program in the future, so that the next step can be taken at EU level, based on international cooperation.we want to make the Marom Association and the Free Spaces, the organizations involved in it, visible in their country and to connect them with the dissemination of democratic ideas. Our goal is to be able to do bigger projects on similar topics in the future, for which national recognition and recognition, which crosses regions and subcultures, will be essential. In addition, the project would be a great help to our members, during which they can develop their administrative, presentation and facilitation skills."