Best practices

The mind-set of every human being is shaped by its solidarisation process. A large part of the latter takes place in schools. Therefore, the project, which was running from April 2007 to March 2009, aimed at the establishment of educational tools and mechanisms on peace education through 15 schools in Israel, Jordan and Palestine.

The Labour Diploma Course is a one year educational programme for trade union and community activists with a mission to empower workers and their trade unions as well as community based organisations. It aims at enabling them to influence policy making processes in Namibia and South Africa.

Over years now the Political Academy of the Austrian People’s Party organises in cooperation with the Robert Schuman Institute a series of seminars for young politicians from South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. The last two courses in 2008 focused on the topic „Media and Politics”. The topic in 2009 the topic is “City campaign management”.

Training in sign language have been provided for 40 students from 4 different universities in Sofia. The main aim of the course was young people, who studies and future professional occupations will be related to people with disabilities, to be involved in the active participation in the process of creation of hospitable and sustainable environment for people with hearing impairment in order to facilitate their integration in the civic society.

ISTAME-Andreas Papandreou has successfully completed in 2008 an Action Project under the aegis of the Ministry of the Greek Ministry of Employment and Social Protection concerning awareness raising of citizens in regions with social exclusion and environmental problems.

Taking your life in your own hands necessitates capacity building right from the start. In order to achieve self-sustainable living conditions for peasants and craftsmen in the communities of Santiago Atitlán, San Pedro La Laguna, San Juan La Laguna, San Pablo La Laguna, Santa Clara La Laguna and Santa María Visitación a capacity building with and for the Federation of Mayan People and its members was started.

The idea of this project was to make employers aware of discrimination at work (due to sex orientation). A conference was an especially important part of the project. Its members shared the most effective methods of preventing discrimination.

The “Ovidiu Şincai” European School is a project of the “Ovidiu Şincai” Institute organized under the aegis of the Council of Europe. It annually recruits 40 young participants selected from a wide spectrum of the Romanian society, including future decision-makers, representatives of parliamentary political parties, judiciary, public administration, journalists, businessmen/women.

In the context of the friction in Southern Thailand between Thai majority and the Muslim Malay minority, the project helps with mutual understanding and acceptance as well as introducing a minority rights protection system. Through awareness raising measures, the population of the South will be enabled to fully participate in democratic processes.

“Summer School – Lesson of Democracy” held in Gdansk, Poland in July 2007 was the first event that inaugurated annual se­ries of lectures and workshops addressed to young people from 18-26 years old (in­cluding young political leaders and debu­tants in local government).