Summary Of Relay Lab

Who, what and where for Consortium, Relay Visits and Laboratory Partners in Consortium The Consortium on Training and Learning for Community Development consists of 16 partners who are engaged in a European project (See list of partners.) They met in The Hague in the Netherlands in November 2007 and again in Palermo, Italy in November 2008 to plan actions and networking. These partners exchange and share guidelines on training and learning systems that use the core principles of Community Development to develop good practice in training and learning. Opportunities to participate in training are not limited to professionals or progress routes to professions but also promote civic skills and community participation among citizens. The Consortium is engaged in networking using good practice to develop policy - specifically in relationship to the draft European guidelines for training and learning for community development developed in Budapest in 2006 under the European Union Grundtvig Programme. Partners will spread ideas and proposals through additional multipliers. The next stage is to identify a core group of 45 multipliers who will participate in the Seminar on Dissemination in Sofia, Bulgaria 18th –21stMay 2009. Relay Visits on Training and Learning for Community Development A series of relay visits were hosted by Samenlevingsopbouw Vlaanderen in Belgium; by the Hungarian Association for Community Development in Hungary, by Community Development Foundation in the UK; by the Center for Community Organising in Slovakia and by Kommunales Forum e.V. in Berlin. Hosts each took the shared learning from exchanges on selected themes to the next relay point. In addition to the host organizations, partners from Bulgaria, Romania, Netherlands, Norway, Ireland, Italy, France and Spain have also participated in these “relays”. The relay host partner also involved other participants from universities, adult education and non-governmental organisations and included field visits. Full reports on the exchange of experience during each relay are available on this website in TLCD Activities. From Relay to Laboratory The combined experience from the relay visits on Training and Learning for Community Development was taken to a “Laboratory” in Malmo, Sweden on 15th-18th October 2008, hosted by the City of Malmo and CESAM (Centrum för Samhällsarbete och Mobilisering /Centre for Community Development and Local Mobilization). Here partners analysed the most significant elements from the exchanges so far in order to:  

To distil main lessons and results from all relay visits To identify creative methods for networking and dissemination of results

A report on this Laboratory is available in TLCD Activities. Margo Gorman, [email protected] Tel: 00353749723129 [email protected] Notes: This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This summary reflects the views only of the Consortium, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. References: 135744-NL-KA4MP Training and Learning for Community Development Life Long Learning Programme – Key Activity 4 Call for Proposals 2007 EAC/61/2006