DISSEMINATION STRATEGY. Foreword

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1 . DISSEMINATION STRATEGY Foreword As written in the project proposal the background for promoting and advocating the concept of lifelong learning (LL) by organizing lifelong learning festivals (LLW) derives from the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA V, 1997 Hamburg), the EU Memorandum on Lifelong Learning (2000) and the Sixth World Assembly of the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE, Jamaica, 2001). Dissemination thoughts and plans are lead by the main objectives of the common project: - to take stock of accumulated expertise and develop a plan of action to stengthen and widen the European Dimension of the Liflong Learning Week (LLW) movement; - to initiate (Spain), expand (Bulgaria, Romania) and enrich (Germany, Slovenia) learning festivals while respecting countries educational, cultural and economic context. As declared in the project proposal, the above mentioned main objectives should contain following innovative goals: - from Adult Learner s Week to Lifelong Learning Week (promoting the life-long as well as the life-wide dimension of learning and involving all generations); - from traditional education to equal considering of formal, non-formal and informal learning, encompassing also learning opportunities hidden in activities beyond the educational sector; - from competition among education providers to partnership and collaboration. The general target groups are all learners, young persons at risk, learners in rural areas. Every partner country described its main specific target groups in its National Report. In the project proposal we also pointed out the contribution of the project to transversal policies in terms of the impact of the project on the target group and participation in the project itself: - by promoting equal opportunities between women and men; - by promoting equal opportunities for people with disabilities; - by contributing to the fight against rcism and xenophobia; - by promoting social and economical cohesion. The categories of persons who will directly use the results or implement the outputs from the project beyond the participating institutions are other institutions of the participating countries who will act as multipliers of the LLW movement at the national, local as well as at the international level; these institutions will be either providers of LLW events, sponsors, promotors, representatives of the media or national and local authorities (such as municipalities). Further on results of the project will adress the large public. Results will be used also at the international scale by becoming part of the international campaign for initiating and promoting learning festivals lead by UNESCO. 1

2 Dissemination plan During the meeting in Bonn (May 2003) the project partners agreed on the proposed dissemination structure. In groups we then worked out a first contents list which constituted the starting point for the first dissemination plan draft (May 2003). This first draft has been since then in the project homepage forum to be discussed and commented by all the partners via . This document represents the sum of our exchange and the final common agreement reached during the Meeting in Barcelona (November 2003). During this Meeting the partners decided to add a table/tabular on the project s website to record the concrete dissemination efforts/steps of every project partner implementing this dissemination plan. This table will contain categories like Date, What, Where, Type (for example: LLW, Artikel, Conference, Seminar, TV, Radio, Mailing and so on), Numbers, Level, Who and will be directly updated by every project partner. The following plan shouldn t be seen as a static paper: It is meant to be a living text that can and has to be adapted to specific local needs and will grown and may change following the devolopments of experience and research. The lists order is random. The importance and the consequences of the single points differ from place to place as well as from time to time! Dissemination is very much interconnected with documentation and is almost impossible without it! Lots of professionals and active citizens in the field of lifelong learning are so involved in their daily work that they don t have any time left to document and disseminate the results of their efforts. But: Without a good documentation (fotos, collection of articles, evaluation, edition etc.) neither mass media work nor fund raising are possible. And the involvement of mass media and a constant fund raising are crucial aspects of sustainability! Although the following first two steps seem obvious, it is of great importance to regulary reflect on questions like why should we disseminate what?. In this reflection the principle of sustainability should lead our answers together with the objectives mentioned in the Foreword. Sustainability is the foundation above which our actions start from. Every step should be reflected and considered after sustainability aspects. Another leading tought which should be present in every dissemination step is the european dimension. Following definition of it has been agreed on by all project partners during the meeting in Bonn (May 2003): There is in Europe no general acceptance on what the European Dimension is/should be; so we have to define our own understanding of it. Europe is made by people, the European Dimension is first of all people themselves. On one side the Europ. Dimension in our project work is already the fact that five countries are working together. On the other side we all agree on following common European values/objectives and these represent for us an Europ. Dim.: 2

3 democracy, equal rights and participation possibilities, social inclusion, participation in education, an open minded society, employability. Dissemination: Why, What, How, To whom? WHY? Aims of dissemination activities - To disseminate the Lifelong Learning Week (LLW) movement to other countries where the LLW has not started yet - To promote the relevance of the Lifelong Learning according the European guidelines - To promote the life-long together with the life-wide dimension of learning - To reach all the target groups - To contribute to the implementation of LLW and to its widening and developing from ALW to LLW - To stimulate communities to be more active - To reveal the needs to policy makers - To enlighten the public (participants, professionals, politicians etc.) about the LLW movement - To promote education services - To incorporate our experience and outcomes to international LLW Movement - To point out the European and Worldwide Dimension of the LLW - To present good practices - To promote non-formal and informal education as parts of national education - To spread new methods of teaching and learning - To enhance use of new methods of communication with our outputs - For sustainability and further development of results. WHAT? Some of the things we want to disseminate are at the same time tools of dissemination - Articles or papers presenting the main objectives and results of the our project (Widening and Strengthening the European Dimension of the LLW Movement) - Proposals and guidelines obtained in the different workshops and Lifelong Learning Week festivals - Final Project Report - Collective Event: photos, video, workshop results - Manual - National Reports on Lifelong Learning Polices and Practice - National Reports on Lifelong Learning Weeks - Evaluation methods and materials - Evaluation results of the single LLW - Evaluation results of the national LLW coordination - E-bulletin as a good practice example of dissemination - Website as a good practice example of dissemination - Success stories as a good practice example of Lifelong Learning - Good practice examples in the field of Lifelong Learning from the different countries 3

4 - Good examples of partnership and cooperation among education providers - Our good example of international cooperation in the field of lifelong learning - Methods to empower participants (like for example seminars from participants for teachers or congresses organized by participants) - European Dimension in the meaning described above HOW? The process of dissemination will involve - Permanent promotion - Following usual marketing strategies - Using the manual we produced - Through LLWs - Through the common event - Organizing special original events - Organizing (LLW or education related) events in unusual places - Finding a strong idea, a motto - Through a mailing to associations, associations and adult education schools - Through the universities classes, for example in these degrees where the adult education are an important issue - Through the mouth by mouth method - Involving participants in adult education in the dissemination process - Involving social movements in the dissemination process - Articles in professional press - Advertisement in professional press - Articles in general press - Advertisement in general press - Regular press conferences - Regular press releases - Visiting cards - s - Using networks - Meetings - Congresses - Conferences - Leaftles - Posters - Television - Radio - E-bulletins or News letters - Website - Documentation of projects (LLW and others) - Book edition (for example on Success stories or on LLW examples) 4

5 TO WHOM? Levels and target groups of dissemination (3 levels according to the Project Proposal: international, national and local) International - UNESCO/UIE Hamburg - EAEA - NIACE - and other international associations - Aladin, Eurydice - IIZ/DVV offices worldwide - providers and LLW coordinators in other countries National - Policy-makers - Ministries - National UNESCO commission - National agencies SOCRATES and LEONARDO - EU-Agencies - Education institutions - Senior Universities - Popular Universities - Culture institutions - Schools of Adult Education - Associations and social movements - Confederations of participants in adult education schools associations and practitioners movements - University students associations - Social oriented NGO's - Sports institutions - Enterprises on national level - Development agencies - National Media - Embassies Local - Mayor - Town administration - Own organization! - Professionals in public education - Professionals in private education - Schools of Adult Education - Vocational schools - Participants - Associations - Social movements - International organizations - People with influence in culture, society, arts, economy 5

6 - People (individuals) - Especially the mentioned target groups (see Foreword) - Colleagues - Enterprises - Chambers of commerce - Libraries - Supermarkets - Museums - Kindergarten - Groups of active citizens - Local mass media - Local representatives in the parlament (chamber of deputies) Some questions may raise at this point: At which level first? From above or from the grass rooths? Or contemporaneously? To persons or to institutions? We believe that dissemination can be started contemporaneously on several parallel but interconnected lines involving the local authorities as well as the national boards, from the grass rooths as well as from above, involving persons as well as institutions. Some sensitivity is requested at this point though, a feeling for what is requested in which kind of cultural environment. Sometimes it can be helpful to first convince the local authorities to support your project and then it may be easier to gain others; some other time, if you have many good contacts to associations of active citizens and local groups, you can use these to convince the authorities about the importance of your message. But you may also work at the same time in both directions using the possibilities of local or national mass media as well. Surely is the support of the authorities almost worthless if you missed to inform and involve your own family, colleagues or the participants in your organization. This point is crucial and it often is forgotten in big projects. Some examples of grass rooths dissemination steps at every education level (children and adults): Informing the participants of the adult centres about the LLW movement and the celebration of the local lifelong learning week Involving participants in the organization of events Promoting the involvment of participants in the dissemination process. For example, organizing meetings where participants get informations about the actions developed by the centre and after that they will be responsible to spread these informations to others Promoting the mouth by mouth propaganda as a way to disseminate one event in the local level (in the family, in the work field, in the associations, social movements or in the residents associations, etc.) If there are some celebrations in the neighbourhood we can set up a stand where the participants in adult education inform about the Lifelong Learning Week. Opening spaces of debate about general interest themes. In this case we can talk about the celebration of the Lifelong Learning Week and its importance at the European level. 6

7 Dissemination is a permanent and never ending process. To support the first important phase of dissemination and promotion, the partners agreed on keeping the website alive and active until the end of December 2004 and after that find solution to keep it accessable untill December, Sabrina Boscolo Lips For the Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association (IIZ/DVV) 7