There was a lecture on personal data protection, a seminar on the risks of politically motivated persecution in Belarus, and an interactive lecture on how the theme of human rights has been reflected in the history of cinema.

“Personal Data Protection. The right to privacy: international standards” was the title of the interactive lecture by Maria Kolesova-Gudilina, representative of the Belarusian Association of Human Rights Lawyers, PhD, Associate Professor at the Harvard University, human rights lawyer.

The lecture was dedicated to the international standards of personal data protection in the information society.

The lecturer spoke about the international regulation of personal data protection issues, some aspects of its implementation in Belarusian and Lithuanian law.

The participants of the meeting were able to understand the concept of personal data in accordance with the international acts and documents in force in this field, to consider the main requirements to be complied with when processing personal data in accordance with the international acts and documents in force and the obligations of the states aimed at ensuring their compliance.

Also were discussed the possibilities of applying the international norms protecting the private sphere to the protection of personal data.

At the end of the meeting, conclusions were drawn on the broad understanding of personal data in accordance with the international norms in force, the need to distinguish between pseudonymised and anonymised data, compliance with the minimum general requirements of personal data processing and the behaviour of the subjects of such legal relations.

“Risks of politically motivated persecution in Belarus and ways to minimise them” was the title of another event held jointly with the Belarusian Association of Human Rights Lawyers.

The seminar presented the current approaches of law enforcement agencies to politically motivated prosecution of citizens, which gave an insight into what formal signs are necessary for law enforcement agencies to initiate criminal cases and what evidence becomes a means of criminal prosecution.

Understanding these fundamentals will help to assess the risks of criminal prosecution. The meeting also included a lively discussion and case studies of the participants.

The Belarusian Association of Human Rights Lawyers in co-operation with other initiatives will continue to participate in the legal education of Belarusians.

The highlight of the final day of the Caravan was a meeting dedicated to films related to human rights issues.

The meeting was moderated by Lukas Kacinauskas, an aspiring film director and screenwriter from Lithuania, and Nazarii Boiarskyi (Ukraine), a human rights activist and informal education trainer.

The interactive lecture presented cases on human rights in the history of cinema.

During the lecture, the participants were able to get acquainted with examples and excerpts from films with human rights. A quiz about films with human rights themes was prepared for the participants. Many noted something new for themselves and wrote down the names of films that are still worth watching or revisiting.

At the end of the meeting, a discussion was held on the prospects of using human rights themes in future films.

The participants actively engaged in the discussion and presented new films with the use of artificial intelligence, full immersion and the possibility to influence the continuation of the film by the viewer and much more.

Most importantly, the participants emphasised the importance of cinema in promoting human rights and similar events to draw attention to the issue.

The Citizenship Education Caravan in Lithuania and Poland took place from 18 to 27 August.

During this time, the Caravan team travelled over 1000 km, working in Vilnius, Kaunas, Vilkaviškis, Druskininkai, Bialystok, Suprasl, Tykocin, Treblinka, and Warsaw.

Several hundred people took part in the meetings organised by the “caravan” team. First of all, they were migrants from Belarus and Ukraine, who had left their countries because of political repression and Russian aggression and were now forced to adapt to life outside their homeland.

The event is organized by a consortium of EENCE experts and organizations in the framework of the project “EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan”, funded by the Federal Agency for Citizenship Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung / bpb) with funds allocated by the German Federal Foreign Office, program “Enhancing cooperation with civil society in the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia”. The project is implemented by the NGO Incubator of Democratic Initiatives (Ukraine).

Read also:

The next phase of the EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan started in Vilnius

EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan in Lithuania and Poland. Day 2. Vilnius

The EENCE Caravan continues its journey through Lithuania. Day 3. Kaunas and Vilkaviškis

EENCE Caravan team led an online tour of the communist heritage park in Grutas

The EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan has moved to Poland

The Caravan team visited Tykocin and Treblinka

Warsaw became the third capital on the route of the Citizenship Education Caravan

The Citizenship Education Caravan has finished in Poland and is returning to Lithuania

Сообщение The Citizenship Education Caravan completed its work in Lithuania and Poland появились сначала на Citizenship Education Caravan 2023.

Discussion lecture “Human Rights Lawyer: Concept and Perspectives”

Human rights lawyer is a new status in the field of human rights protection, which has evolved in the context of marginalisation of the very institution of human rights protection by a number of states as a response to unfriendly actions of states.

The event addressed the problems of the status of human rights lawyers in the field of human rights protection.

A special discussion was held on the issues of understanding the essence of the new status, the difference between human rights lawyers and human rights defenders and lawyers acting in national jurisdiction, and the prospects for the development of the status and its consolidation in international and national law.

Lecture “Why do you need a lawyer?”

The participants of this meeting discussed topical issues of applying for legal aid, peculiarities of choosing a lawyer, specifics of interaction between a lawyer and a client, and the prospects of the institute of advocacy in Belarus.

Representatives of the Belarusian Association of Human Rights Lawyers answered the participants’ questions about the bar, about the practice of working as a lawyer after August 2020. They also gave recommendations on the safe return of activists to Belarus. The participants of the event asked questions, shared their experiences, and actively participated in the discussion of problematic issues.

Working Meeting ” Citizenship Education in Europe: Experience and Opportunities for Organisations Working with Forced Migrants from Belarus”

The meeting was attended by providers of civic education oriented to work with Belarusians who were forced to leave their country and move to Poland and other countries.

During the working meeting the activities of international organisations working in the field of civic education (Bpb, EENCE, NECE, DARE) were presented.

Problems and perspectives of civic education programmes for forced migrants were also discussed and ideas for cooperation in the field of civic education of forced migrants were collected.

The participants of the meeting noted the importance of such a discussion:

“It’s like a breath of air in these times. The meeting gave us a new perspective on what we do”.

For security reasons, it was impossible to take photos of the participants, which once again confirms the difficult conditions in which forced migrants live (many of them are still threatened with persecution by the Belarusan authorities).

The event is organized by a consortium of EENCE experts and organizations in the framework of the project “EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan”, funded by the Federal Agency for Citizenship Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung / bpb) with funds allocated by the German Federal Foreign Office, program “Enhancing cooperation with civil society in the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia”. The project is implemented by the NGO Incubator of Democratic Initiatives (Ukraine).

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The next phase of the EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan started in Vilnius

EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan in Lithuania and Poland. Day 2. Vilnius

The EENCE Caravan continues its journey through Lithuania. Day 3. Kaunas and Vilkaviškis

EENCE Caravan team led an online tour of the communist heritage park in Grutas

The EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan has moved to Poland

The Caravan team visited Tykocin and Treblinka

Warsaw became the third capital on the route of the Citizenship Education Caravan

Сообщение The Citizenship Education Caravan has finished in Poland and is returning to Lithuania появились сначала на Citizenship Education Caravan 2023.

Yuriy Petrushenko (Ukraine), Head of the East European Association for Citizenship Education, represented the Caravan team as a speaker during the Forum.

The topic of his presentation was “Needs in Citizenship Education of forced migrants in Poland”.

According to Yuriy, among the needs that have significantly increased now were named the development of communication competences, understanding of the global context, trainings for the development of psychological health, family relations.

Requests for environmental education, relations with the authorities decreased. During the discussion the issues of civic education for integration of Ukrainian refugees during the war, for participation in winning the war and for post-war revival of Ukraine were raised. These issues were also of interest during the meeting with representatives of the Ukrainian consulate in Poland, which took place after the end of the forum.

The training “Opportunities and difficulties in conditions of forced migration. Knowledge and skills necessary for life and self-realisation in Poland” was aimed at providing participants with a whole range of useful information:

• use of digital tools facilitating the stay in Poland (E-PUAP, e-gabinet US, e-gabinet ZUS, Internetowe Konto Pacjenta);
• use of European international platforms for young people;
• scholarships, competitions, internships, volunteering, international exchanges;
• legal aspects of stay and work of Ukrainian citizens in Poland;
• how to find your professional vocation with the help of the Japanese system IKIGAI.

The training also included a presentation by teenagers from Ukraine on their projects.

The experts of the meeting were:

1) Sergey Sukhoboychenko, digital education trainer, member of the international Chapter of the Order of Smile. Until March 2014 he lived in Crimea, in Evpatoria, and now he has been living in exile (Warsaw) for 9 years. Chairman of the board of Fundacja Międzynarodowy Ruch Latających Plecaczków.

2) Anton Shakhovsky, for more than 3 years runs an international employment agency that supports workers from Ukraine in finding employment and legalising their stay in Poland. Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Community Foundation, Warsaw.

3) Nazarii Boiarskyi, NGO Incubator of Democratic Initiatives (Ukraine), human rights defender and trainer of non-formal education, member of the Coaching Pool of the Council of Europe, independent expert of the Eastern Europe Civic Education Network (EENCE).

The event is organized by a consortium of EENCE experts and organizations in the framework of the project “EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan”, funded by the Federal Agency for Citizenship Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung / bpb) with funds allocated by the German Federal Foreign Office, program “Enhancing cooperation with civil society in the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia”. The project is implemented by the NGO Incubator of Democratic Initiatives (Ukraine).

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The next phase of the EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan started in Vilnius

EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan in Lithuania and Poland. Day 2. Vilnius

The EENCE Caravan continues its journey through Lithuania. Day 3. Kaunas and Vilkaviškis

EENCE Caravan team led an online tour of the communist heritage park in Grutas

The EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan has moved to Poland

The Caravan team visited Tykocin and Treblinka

Сообщение Warsaw became the third capital on the route of the Citizenship Education Caravan появились сначала на Citizenship Education Caravan 2023.

The first stop of the Caravan took place in the town of Tykotsin. Here the “caravaners” visited a synagogue built in 1736.

A synagogue is not just a house of prayer, it is first of all a house of knowledge and a house of teaching. Therefore, a rabbi is not primarily a minister, but a teacher.

The main function of the synagogue in the shtetl (town) is to unite the community, a kind of social centre.

From the age of three and a half, boys in religious families learn to read the Torah and are taught to discuss the texts in a reasoned manner.

The next stop was Treblinka….

This was the name of one of the most horrific Nazi death camps in Poland, where more than 800,000 people were murdered by the Germans in gas chambers (only Auschwitz 2, now the most famous death camp, near the Polish town of Auschwitz, had a higher number of victims).

The vast majority of the victims (99.5 per cent) were Jews from Poland, about 2,000 were Roma and Sinti.

The Treblinka camp was located in a sparsely populated area covered with dense forests, a location that was specifically chosen to hide what was happening there from prying eyes.

It was at Treblinka that the Caravan team was able to learn about the history of the horrific atrocities of World War II.

On 5 August 1942, 64-year-old Polish doctor, teacher and writer Janusz Korczak (Henrik Goldschmit) died in the same place.

Having chosen his pseudonym as a first-year medical student, Korczak wrote his main book “How to Love a Child” in the trenches amid the thunder of explosions of the First World War.

His journey, along with two hundred Jewish children from the Orphanage, was from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka death camp, from which no one ever returned.

As a writer who had written the European-recognised fairy-tale novel King Matiusz the First, and as a man who had run the Orphanage for thirty years, he had the right to leave the ghetto.

But having taught the children to live, he could not abandon them when it was time for them to die.

“The Old Doctor”, as he more often called himself in the last years of his life, left with them along the “road to heaven” – as the camp guards called the corridor leading to the gas chamber.

On the road to death, Korczak held the two youngest children in his arms and told a story to the unsuspecting little ones.

The event is organized by a consortium of EENCE experts and organizations in the framework of the project “EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan”, funded by the Federal Agency for Citizenship Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung / bpb) with funds allocated by the German Federal Foreign Office, program “Enhancing cooperation with civil society in the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia”. The project is implemented by the NGO Incubator of Democratic Initiatives (Ukraine).

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The next phase of the EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan started in Vilnius

EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan in Lithuania and Poland. Day 2. Vilnius

The EENCE Caravan continues its journey through Lithuania. Day 3. Kaunas and Vilkaviškis

EENCE Caravan team led an online tour of the communist heritage park in Grutas

The EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan has moved to Poland

Сообщение The Caravan team visited Tykocin and Treblinka появились сначала на Citizenship Education Caravan 2023.

Workshop with a psychologist “Visualisation Board”

Do not underestimate the power of visualisation. According to statistics, those who write down their goals and desires and constantly visualise them mentally, achieve their goals much faster than those who do not.

A visualisation board is a kind of tool that allows you to form your dreams more clearly and make them come true.

The visualisation board will help to focus on what is really important for you and to feel the image of your dreams.

During the workshop, with the help of a psychologist, the participants were able to get acquainted with goal management, learnt how to form their dreams more clearly, made their wish map and, most importantly, learnt how to achieve their goals and desires.

“A dream is abstract, like pink unicorns. A goal is concrete.”

A quote from one of the workshop participants

Advocacy: Explaining Advocacy “on your fingers” workshop

During the meeting, participants learnt:

• what advocacy is and its types;
• the logic of advocacy;
• why to conduct advocacy campaigns and how to set the goal of an advocacy campaign;
• what advocacy tools are available.

After the workshop, participants walked away with ideas for their advocacy campaigns.

“You don’t have to do something global, concrete small steps are enough. Everyone can do it. It’s simple.”

A quote from one of the workshop participants

Training for trainers “My psychological well-being and peer support in a crisis situation”

At the training, participants learned how to work with adolescents on crisis prevention and the programme of training sessions for adolescents; learnt modern forms and methods of forming psychological well-being of adolescents; and were able to exchange experience with colleagues on psychological support for adolescents in crisis situations.

As a gift from the organisers, the participants received practical materials in electronic form on psychological well-being and crisis prevention, including an author’s methodological manual for teachers and a workbook “My psychological well-being and helping peers in a crisis situation”.

“The fear of danger is so strong that the love of home takes a back seat.”

A quote from one of the workshop participants

Training Conference “Voices of Youth: Belarusians of Poland”

During the training, the participants discussed aspects of successful performance in front of an audience and in front of the camera; they presented the main problems of young people and possible solutions to them.

Afterwards, the participants worked on the scripts of their speeches and had a dress rehearsal, following which they received feedback and recommendations on how to improve their speeches.

Among the issues of concern to young people were the following:

• Past or future: we focus too much on the past, but not enough on the future, what it will be like and how to prepare for it;
• What is good and what is bad: what morality to choose, how to interact with those who have different views and worldviews;
• The problem of Muslims in European society (in particular, relations with the Chechen community, with whom there are often conflicts). How to properly communicate and interact with them;
• Suicidal thoughts and inability to cope with mental health issues;
• Problems with changing residence and adapting to a new place;
• Sex education and lack of information on this topic at school and at home.

Meeting of the Historical Club “Belarusian Emigration: History and Modernity”

Why can we learn from previous waves of emigration?

What do we know about the Belarusan emigration of the 1944 wave? Almost nothing. For a long time, emigrants in the BSSR were portrayed as fugitive fascists in the context of propaganda. Unfortunately, after 2020, history is repeating itself.

Together with the historian Alies Kirkevich, participants sorted through, compared, learnt and sought answers to such questions as: 

• What countries did Belarusians go to in the 1940-50s?
• How were they legalised?
• How and what did they earn?
• How did they buy property?
• Were they engaged in Belarusan education and culture?
• Were they involved in politics?
• How did the KGB act against emigrants? How did Belarusians succeed – even abroad?

“There are two Belarus now and they are very different.”

A quote from one of the workshop participants

On the same day, a networking meeting “How Belarusian initiatives can support each other” took place, where participants were able to talk about civic participation, their goals and developed strategies for interaction.

Another day of the Caravan ended in Suprasl.

One of the hotels in this town near Bialystok houses 130 Ukrainians who have been granted asylum in Poland due to Russia’s military aggression.

Together with them, the Caravan participants held an integration evening, during which they drew with the children their dreams and searched for the strength to realise them, discussed with their parents the possibilities of integration and small business development, socialised and sang together with a Polish musical group.

The event is organized by a consortium of EENCE experts and organizations in the framework of the project “EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan”, funded by the Federal Agency for Citizenship Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung / bpb) with funds allocated by the German Federal Foreign Office, program “Enhancing cooperation with civil society in the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia”. The project is implemented by the NGO Incubator of Democratic Initiatives (Ukraine).

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The next phase of the EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan started in Vilnius

EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan in Lithuania and Poland. Day 2. Vilnius

The EENCE Caravan continues its journey through Lithuania. Day 3. Kaunas and Vilkaviškis

EENCE Caravan team led an online tour of the communist heritage park in Grutas

Сообщение The EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan has moved to Poland появились сначала на Citizenship Education Caravan 2023.

Such a number of ideological sculptures in one exposition is a unique phenomenon in the world. It is the legacy of several decades of Lithuanian muralism, which reveals the historical truth about the Soviet occupation in Lithuania.

During the tour of the park in Grutas, the “caravan drivers” were broadcasting online.

This gave everyone an opportunity to see the park and its most interesting exhibits in person, and to hear a story about the history of the park’s creation from the Lithuanian licensed tour guide Mark Psonik.

The walk through the park was accompanied by a discussion of Lithuania’s experience in decommunization and the relevance of this experience for the Eastern Partnership countries.

After Grutas Park, the Caravan team headed towards Poland, visiting two ecotourism development sites on the way, which contribute to the development of regional travel and eco-education of the population.

The event is organized by a consortium of EENCE experts and organizations in the framework of the project “EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan”, funded by the Federal Agency for Citizenship Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung / bpb) with funds allocated by the German Federal Foreign Office, program “Enhancing cooperation with civil society in the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia”. The project is implemented by the NGO Incubator of Democratic Initiatives (Ukraine).

Read also:

The next phase of the EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan started in Vilnius

EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan in Lithuania and Poland. Day 2. Vilnius

The EENCE Caravan continues its journey through Lithuania. Day 3. Kaunas and Vilkaviškis

Сообщение EENCE Caravan team led an online tour of the communist heritage park in Grutas появились сначала на Citizenship Education Caravan 2023.

The first point on the Caravan’s route on August 20 was Kaunas.

An educational walk “Kaunas: Rethinking History” was held here, led by Mark Psonik, a licensed tour guide in Lithuania.

The tour was primarily aimed at internally displaced persons in Kaunas.

Kaunas is a city of interesting destiny, which has traveled a long and winding road from a fortress to the capital of Lithuania, but only temporarily…

Until 1920 Kaunas led a quiet life of a small trading city. And then a great honor fell on it – to become the capital of the revived Lithuanian state.

Kaunas citizens accepted the challenge with honor.

In 20 years the city’s population grew 4 times and the city became the most Lithuanian city in Lithuania.

During the Soviet period it was the most industrial city of the country.

Transformations in the minds of local residents took place at a crazy speed. The tour participants talked about all this while walking along the streets of this extraordinary city.

Then the Caravan went to a new station – Vilkaviškis.

There are 9.5 thousand people living in this city. It also has a Ukrainian community of 113 people.

It is for them, in partnership with the Center for Ukrainians in Vilkaviškis, the Lithuanian Red Cross (Vilkaviškis Department) and Vilkaviškis District Union of Rural Communities, two Caravan events were held, in which 31 people – every fourth member of the community – took part.

Workshop “How to find common ground with others? The Art of Dialogue”

This workshop was conducted by Kateryna Zeziulina (Ukraine).

Children from Vilkaviškis’ Ukrainian community shared their experience of conflict resolution through theatricalized skits, discussed constructive ways out of controversial situations and learned to negotiate peacefully.

Children presented such stories as bullying situations at school, aggressive reactions of peers, and clashes due to unwillingness to negotiate. During the workshop, participants learned new ways of conflict resolution and wanted to try them out when conflicts arose.

Children especially liked the interactive methods, games and theater skits. It turned out that learning through non-formal education is fun and exciting.

Workshop ” Citizenship Education for Adults: Themes and Features of Learning”

This meeting for representatives of public and educational organizations of the Ukrainian diaspora in Vishkavishkis was moderated by Yuriy Petrushenko (Ukraine).

Participants and participants of the master class were interested in the topics of educational events organized by the EENCE network, as well as in the experience of finding funding for civic education events.

After the master class, participants asked questions related to adult education, civic education, and methods of conducting quality educational events.

The Caravan team also joined the action of the local Ukrainian community and the inspection of the competition of children’s drawings for the Independence Day of Ukraine.

Separately, an informal meeting was organized with representatives of the Lithuanian Red Cross (Vilkaviškis department) and the vice-mayor of Vilkaviškis district municipality.

During the meeting the issues of assistance to forced migrants in Lithuania were discussed, new contacts were established and possibilities for further cooperation were discussed.

Nazarii Boiarskyi, coordinator of the Citizenship Education Caravan in Lithuania and Poland, tells us:

“Originally Vilkaviskis was not on our Caravan itinerary, but we received a message from the local Ukrainian community that they would like to participate. That’s why we are here. It is great that the local government and the Lithuanian Red Cross support the Ukrainian community and its endeavors. It was a pleasure to cooperate and I am sure that new interesting projects are ahead of us”.

The Caravan in Lithuania and Poland is organized mainly for citizens of Belarus and Ukraine who were forced to leave their countries because of repression and war, and for the aducators who work with them.

From August 18 to 27, the Caravan team will visit Vilnius, Kaunas, Vilkaviškės, Druskininkai, Bialystok, Tykocin, Treblinka and Warsaw.

The event is organized by a consortium of EENCE experts and organizations in the framework of the project “EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan”, funded by the Federal Agency for Citizenship Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung / bpb) with funds allocated by the German Federal Foreign Office, program “Enhancing cooperation with civil society in the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia”. The project is implemented by the NGO Incubator of Democratic Initiatives (Ukraine).

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The next phase of the EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan started in Vilnius

EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan in Lithuania and Poland. Day 2. Vilnius

Сообщение The EENCE Caravan continues its journey through Lithuania. Day 3. Kaunas and Vilkaviškis появились сначала на Citizenship Education Caravan 2023.

Educational walk “Vilnius – the city of solidarity and human rights”

Vilnius, which celebrates its 700th anniversary in 2023, has long been a city where people of different nationalities and cultures have traditionally lived.

This city has now become a refuge for tens of thousands of Ukrainians who were forced to move here because of Russian military aggression, and for thousands of Belarusians who were forced to move to Lithuania because of political persecution by the Lukashenko regime.

During the tour, Caravan participants were able to look at the city through a new lens: looking for and finding stories about human rights and solidarity. They saw the biggest cat in the city, a monument to a man who had never been to Lithuania, a portal to another city, murals to one of the most famous refugees in history and a Belarusian human rights activist, and much more.

The educational walk was led by Nazarii Boiarskyi, human rights activist and non-formal education trainer, member of the Coaching Pool of the Council of Europe, independent expert of the Eastern European Network for Citizenship Education (EENCE), licensed tour guide.

Workshop “How to find common ground with others? The Art of Dialogue”

Interactive tasks, games and theatrical improvisations were prepared for the participants of the meeting by the facilitator Kateryna Zezyulina, an expert on peacebuilding education, trainer of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe.

The meeting with 10-12 year old children from the Ukrainian community was intense.

The children explained in their own words what conflict is, how they understand this word and what they think about it.

“Conflict is when other kids don’t want to play with you”, “…when someone yells at you”, “…when you don’t share candy”. A very simple and very understandable explanation of a complex term by the children.

Then teams of participants and participants played skits from school, playgrounds and family and showed how they usually solve conflict situations. In addition, the children learned from the examples of the characteristics of different animals how conflict can be resolved in a different way.

An important but unobvious impact of the event was the conversations with parents.

Some moms and dads who were present in the room watched the workshop with interest and came up afterwards to ask questions. It was evident that adults were interested in the topic and wanted to learn more about conflict transformation.

Pub-quiz “Eastern Partnership: What do we know about our neighbors?”

The quiz was organized by the NGO “Democratic Initiatives Incubator” and the human rights organization “Legal Initiative”.

The event brought together people inspired by the ideas of freedom and solidarity who were able to have an interesting time, socialize, exchange ideas and play the quiz together.

The main topics of the quiz were the Eastern Partnership countries, human rights, democracy and civic education. And at the end of the game the winners received not only positive emotions, but also valuable prizes.

Interesting questions, sports excitement and reigning atmosphere – this is what was worth coming to the game for.

“My colleagues and I have been playing quiz games at external venues for over a year. Therefore, when we found out that a game would be organized, especially with a topical theme, we immediately registered a team – there was no way we could miss this event. I can say for sure that the quiz was excellent. Nazarii Boiarskyi not only led the game perfectly, but also wrote very interesting questions with the team. Thanks to the division of rounds by topics, everyone could show their strengths, but mostly we tried to answer the questions with collective intelligence and logic.

I would like to say a big thank you to the EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan team for the excellent organization and, in general, for the initiative. I think that such activities are a great help to ….., as well as to spend time in an interesting and useful way.” – a participant of the event shared his impressions.

Educational walk “Vilnius: Rethinking History”

The tour was primarily aimed at IDPs in Vilnius.

The participants of the walk were able to get acquainted with Vilnius. During its 700-year history, the city has experienced many ups and downs, as well as repeated changes of authorities and ideologies.

The history of the city and the country has been periodically rewritten. The last (or maybe not the last?) reinterpretation of history began more than 30 years ago, and it continues to this day, with varying success….

How did the city change after the collapse of the USSR?

How did the processes of Lithuania’s desovietization take place?

What is the reaction of different groups of the population to the de-communization of the country?

The answers to these questions were discussed during a walk through the wonderful city of Vilnius.

The walk was led by Mark Psonik, a licensed tour guide in Lithuania.

The aim of the EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan is to support civic education providers in the EU Eastern Partnership region who are actively working to develop a civil society capable of promoting and defending the values of democracy.

The Caravan in Lithuania and Poland is organized mainly for citizens of Belarus and Ukraine who were forced to leave their countries because of repression and war, as well as for the adducators who work with them.

From August 18 to 27, the Caravan team will visit Vilnius, Kaunas, Vilkaviškės, Druskininkai, Bialystok, Tykocin, Treblinka and Warsaw.

The event is organized by a consortium of EENCE experts and organizations in the framework of the project “EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan”, funded by the Federal Agency for Citizenship Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung / bpb) with funds allocated by the German Federal Foreign Office, program “Enhancing cooperation with civil society in the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia”. The project is implemented by the NGO Incubator of Democratic Initiatives (Ukraine).

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The next phase of the EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan started in Vilnius

Сообщение EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan in Lithuania and Poland. Day 2. Vilnius появились сначала на Citizenship Education Caravan 2023.

Due to political repressions in Belarus and the beginning of Russian aggression against Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of refugees found themselves in these countries and had to organize their lives from scratch.

Among them there are many social activists who continue their activities in the new realities.

To help them adapt, to involve them in the implementation of civic education programs, to show interesting examples of activities in this field – these are the goals of the organizers of the Citizenship Education Caravan in Lithuania and Poland.

“It is very important that citizenship education is accessible to all. People in forced migration often do not speak the language of the host country well enough to participate in educational activities. That is why our Caravan will travel from city to city, creating educational opportunities for forced migrants in them.”

Nazarii Boiarskyi, coordinator of the Civic Education Caravan in Lithuania and Poland

Over the next ten days in 8 cities of Lithuania and Poland, the Caravan will discuss the issues of civic education and democracy promotion in the Eastern Partnership region and neighboring countries, and will host many training events – workshops, educational walks, pub-quizzes, discussions, trainings and other events.

The CE Caravan is organised by the Eastern European Association for Citizenship Education with the support of the Federal Agency for Citizenship Education (bpb) at the expense of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Programme “Expanding Cooperation with Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership Countries and Russia”. The CE Caravan in Lithuania and Poland is administered by the NGO “Democratic Initiatives Incubator” (Ukraine).

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Citizenship Education Caravan will drive through 8 cities in Lithuania and Poland

Сообщение The next phase of the EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan started in Vilnius появились сначала на Citizenship Education Caravan 2023.

From 18 to 27 August, the Caravan team will visit Vilnius, Kaunas, Vilkaviškės, Druskininkai, Bialystok, Tykocin, Treblinka and Warsaw.

The Caravan programme includes workshops, educational walks, pub quizzes, discussions, trainings and other events.

To see the detailed programme of events in each individual city, click on “+info“.

Meet Caravan’s experts in Lithuania and Poland (for security reasons, the names of some of them are withheld)

Kateryna Zeziulina

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Trainer of the Council of Europe Youth Department’s Trainers Pool, member of Youth Trainers Learning Community from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, expert in Peace Education. Author of courses and educational materials for teachers and youth on democracy, human rights, conflict resolution, dialogue and participation.

Yuriy Petrushenko

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Head of the Board of the Eastern European Association for Civic Education, Deputy Head of the Board of the Ukrainian Association for Adult Education, Doctor of Economics, Professor

Lukas Kacinauskas

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Up-and-coming film director and screenwriter from Lithuania. Before taking up film directing, he started out as an actor. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in film directing at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater. His debut film I Was Max (2021) was screened at various European and American film festivals, including the prestigious Karlovy Vary Film Festival. In addition to his creative activities, he consults on screenwriting and editing. Moreover, he teaches film directing in the non-formal education sector. Among other things, he works as a junior programmer at the Vilnius Short Film Festival.

Nazarii Boiarskyi

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Human rights defender and non-formal education trainer working both in Ukraine and abroad. Nazarii represents the NGO Democratic Initiatives Incubator. He is a member of  the Trainers Pool of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, an independent expert of the  Eastern European Network for Citizenship Education (EENCE), and a facilitator of the British Council’s Active Citizens programme. Author of 12 publications on citizenship education and the use of interactive teaching methods.

Caravan is organized by Eastern-European Association for Citizenship Education under support of the Federal Agency of Citizenship Education of Germany (bpb) and funded by German Foreign Office.

Сообщение Citizenship Education Caravan will drive through 8 cities in Lithuania and Poland появились сначала на Citizenship Education Caravan 2023.