News
Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2022) on 4 and 5 July 2022 in Lugano
The Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2022) took place in Lugano, Switzerland on 4 and 5 July 2022. This event replaced the fifth Ukraine Reform Conference (URC2022) scheduled before the Russian attack. The path to the reconstruction of Ukraine will require a broad-based political and diplomatic process. Switzerland and Ukraine launched this process in Lugano. …
Democracy is more than a word – healing
Children, women and men who have fled their homes have often experienced terrible situations that long remain a part of their lives. How can one ever experience healing after traumatic or even life-threatening events whilst still understanding that life must go on? How can a democratic culture help to shape this further life positively and to experience oneself as active and valued? …
Refugee week in Athens.
Refugee Week is a global and dynamic movement, a cultural festival celebrating the contribution, creativity and authenticity of people having experienced forced migration. It takes place every year on 20 June, World Refugee Day. This year, it is coming to Greece with an initiative of the Athens Comics Library. …
Strengthening democratic competencies in schools in Kosovo.
On March 28-29 2022, the third workshop of the EDISON Kosovo project took place. Organised by Veton Sylhasi from Pristina and Martin Retzl from the department IPE, Zurich, the overall objectives of this project (implemented by PH Zurich/Department IPE together with the Kosovo Education Centre KEC in coordination with the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation MESTI and the respective municipalities) are to strengthen the democratic competencies in schools in Kosovo and to stimulate and implement relevant developments in local schools according to participatory democratic principles….
“Strengthening Democratic Culture in Basic Education”
Education in contemporary democratic societies aims to prepare young people for the labour market and enhance their personal development, but it also prepares them for life as active citizens in democratic societies….
Unaccompanied minors in search for asylum
It is the story of a modern Odyssey – the journey unaccompanied minors undertake in search for asylum in Europe. This transmedia storytelling follows Jano and his friends Shiro, Durrab, SK and Hammoudi through Europe: from Greece to North Macedonia, on to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and from Italy onto France and The Netherlands….
Despite the war, Swiss-Ukrainian Project set to take next steps
The recent Swiss-Ukrainian Decentralization for Improved Democratic Education (DECIDE) project supports the Ukrainian education reform “The New Ukrainian School” (enacted in 2017) by decentralising school structures. Starting in 2019, the project is designed to last five years and will reach a total population of about 200,000 people….
Situation in Ukraine
We have all been deeply shocked by the situation in Ukraine. This country made a decision to follow the path of democracy and to align its state structure, everyday life and schools accordingly. What is happening right now puts all that in danger….
Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić makes an official visit to Serbia
In an earlier newsletter, we reported on the publication of democracy manuals for families in Serbia, written by Svetlana Lazic and Rolf Gollob, which are based on the living-democracy approach…
6 April 2022: International Day of Sport for Development and Peace
At the UN headquarters in New York on 23 August 2013, the UN General Assembly declared 6 April as the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP) – a decision that represented an historic step in recognising the transformative power of sport and its great potential in advancing positive social change. …
