Dissemination in Budapest

Blog on the dissemination activity of the Hungarian Partner

On 8th November I participated in the kick-off meeting of a Grundtvig Partnership project, where I was invited to deliver a presentation on our project. The meeting was organized in a hotel in Budapest, the name of the starting project is: CONGENIAL (Connecting Generations).
I was selected for this task by a friend of mine who knew I had been involved in a similar project for over a year and she wanted me to help them with my ideas and practical advice.
As their project is focusing on the same central idea (generational issues) I tried to put – besides the practical issues like website and blog-related information, questions regarding meeting agenda and project management – as much information about our running project as possible.
I showed them our web site and our questionnaires and talked to them about our activities as well as projected them some pictures about our meetings and joint programs. They were mostly interested in the online course material I had designed for the Hungarian group activities not only because some of the coordinators were teachers of English but because some of them are planning to carry out some similar tasks.
After the presentation there were a lot of questions, which showed that they were really interested in our project, of course their main motivation was to learn from our example as much as possible.
After distributing some marketing materials (both the brochure made by the partnership and the leaflet about our activities in Hungary, we exchanged name cards with some of the foreign partners who wanted to get further information or just to keep in touch in case some future potentials arise.
I think it was a useful hour for them when they could get an insight into a running project and hopefully for me as well because this may be the first step for us to   start a dialogue in the hope of future cooperation.
Kate Fazekas
Hungarian coordinator

Minutes of the 4th Project Meeting

Date: 24^th October- 28^th October 2012

Location: Barcelona , Spain

Participants, 43 people representing the 11 partner institutions:

1. Info Project SRL  RO- 5
2. EUROCULTURE CY –3
3. Diocesan Caritas ostraviensis– opaviensis CZ- 3
4. Telek 23 KFT (SITE 23 LTD) HU- 2
5. Polo Europeo della Conoscenza- IC LORENZI IT-3
6. STOWARZYSZENIE NA RZECZ ROZWOJU GMINY ZYCHLIN PL- 8
7. Junta de Freguesia da Vila de S. Tomé de Negrelos PT- 8
8. Znanstveno raziskovalno združenje za umetnost, kulturno-izobraževalne programe in tehnologijo EPeKa SL- 1
9. FONS FORMACIÓ ZONA MEDITERRÀNIA, S.L.L. ES -2
10. Viksjoforsbaletten  SE- 2  
11. Upperby Community Development Centre UK-6

From the very beginning we want  to point out that this new meeting was at least as successful as  the previous ones due  to the quality  of  all participants, to the way in which all teams had prepared the materials for the meeting ,   and also  to the way the host organization managed  to plan  everything in detail.

 All teams were accommodated in the same hotel, very close to the location where the project activities took place.

 

Wednesday, 24 Oct 2012
Arrival of participants to the Hotel IBIS
Thursday, 25 Oct 2012
9:00	Meeting point at HOTEL IBIS (lobby)
9:30	Opening the meeting  -  "Welcome to Spain!" 10:00 Greetings, presentation of participants to new entry
	General state of art of the project
10:30	Presentations of each organization and work done
11:30	Coffee Break!
12:00	Presentations of each organization and work done
13:30	Lunch
15:00	Results on the questionnaire on the Generation Gap
17:00	End session - Free time!
20:30	Dinner
Friday, 26 Oct 2012
	9:00 Opening the second day of the meeting
	9:30 Presentation and debate with different Spanish organizations:  ENCÍS, represented by Muntsa Prat;ESPLAC, represented by Estel Buch i Oriol Castro
11:30	Coffee Break!
12:00	Discussion about the results on the questionnaire on the Generation Gap
13:30	Lunch
15:00	Meeting of the project coordinators (future plans, website,  dissemination)
17:00	End session - Free time!
21:30	Dinner
Saturday, 27 Oct 2012
9:00	Opening the third day of the meeting
9:30	Final ideas, comments, minutes and evaluation of the meeting (feedback)
11:30	Coffee Break!
12:00	Program discussions  and evaluation
13:30	Lunch
15:00	Visit to Montserrat Mountain and to Sagrada Familia

According to the oral and written feedbacks of all participants everybody appreciated the hospitality of the host organization, the way they organized the meeting.

The presentations of each organization and the  work done in the project  was also very good.

The results of the questionnaire presented  by the teams were also very well received  by the participants.

 The presentations of the two Spanish institutions ENCIS  and ESPLAC were also very much appreciated. All of us came into contact with two organizations involved in very interesting social activities  and events.

 As  all teams were accommodated at the same hotel and all of us had lunch  and dinner together, offered us the opportunity  to socialize  and spend most of the time together.

The traditional moment of a dance in which all participants, young  or  old, got involved  was guided  by two Indian dancers.

 The conclusion of the meeting was again:

"If there is any generation gap,  nobody feels it within our group made  up of people starting  from 18 to 70".

 Many thanks  to  all teams  for their dedication  to the success of the project.

 Mariana Hudrea

Project coordinator

Barcelona Project Reunion Feedback by Georgiana Achim

First of all, I wish to thank you again for the opportunity to take part in this wonderful experience.  Everything was very well organized and everybody worked really hard during this meeting. All 11 teams did their best to present the results on the generation gap questionnaire and after everybody finished their presentations the conclusion was that all the results were similar. This means that everywhere people face the same problems, that there is a conflict between generations irrespective of nationality and that the conflict manifests itself the same for every country.

  The Romanian team had an excellent leader, who made all of this possible and who was the liaison that finally turned the group into a family, where age was not important and who offered us the most incredible experience in our lives.

        What I loved most about this project was the constant communication between the adults and young people. Despite the age difference, everybody could find one or more interests in common and then debate and discuss different aspects of life.  For example, what really brought all of us together was the Bollywood lesson organized by the Spanish team as a surprise. Everybody tried to mimic the moves of the two Indian dancers and strived to keep up. Age was not a barrier. The dance and laughter were the key ingredients for an excellent night and excellent bonding time. 

After hard work came the fun part. Given that Barcelona has many wonders, we dedicated our free time in exploring them. The first of them was Montserrat, an amazing sacred mountain with the most exquisite views and landscapes which seemed to mark the line between Heaven and Earth. The basilica of Montserrat matched the beauty of the scenery. Afterwards, in the afternoon, the Sagrada Familia wowed us with its grandness and unique style. Everybody there could feel the mystical air and enjoy the wonderful light shed by the stained glass.

We got the best out of our last day in Barcelona and visited Montjuic and the Aquarium in Port Velle. Needless to say, Montjuic has probably the most amazing view of Barcelona which is absolutely breath-taking. From there one can see the entire town with its colorful buildings designed by the greatest architects that ever existed and the wonderful blue sea as well.

I returned home joyful because of the divine time I had spent there and knew that someday I would have to return and continue my visit, for Barcelona is one of the greatest cities in the world with a distinctive architectural style.

         For me this was probably the most incredible experience so far, not only due to the fantastical attractions of the town, but also because this project taught me how to understand better the elderly, how to talk to them and how to diminish the conflict between generations. In my opinion, this is a wonderful project which is bound to be successful due to amazing people who prepared and planned in detail everything and due to their determination, their abilities to accomplish everything they set their minds on.

Someday it will be my turn to teach my children what I’ve learned from this experience.

Georgiana Achim

Our first Course Meeting

News from the Hungarian partner – blog entry on 9th October, 2012

                                          

This is the emblem and the building of the Culture House in Erdőkertes

I am pleased to inform you that the first session with the Hungarian „test groups” was carried out last Thursday, on 26th September – and it was a great success!

Erdőkertes Culture House - http://www.erdokertesfaluhaz.hu/ - helped us organize the courses by providing us the premises as well as launching a kind of campaign – they prepared posters and leaflets and informed their partners and the local schools about the event as well as entered a publication in both the local and the regional journal.

Last Thursday we covered the 60 kilometres well in time in order to arrive at the spot and install the projector and the computer.

We were armed with pens and copybooks as well as some snacks to make the course activity more attractive.

The first session was for the younger generation and they were really young: the youngest was 12 and she was really talented and interested in everything.

The older generation was represented in the evening class (finishing at 9), where the oldest was around 65-70 and quite enthusiastic about the program.

Although we did not cover the same material from the online course – accessible from the web site www.telek23.hu – in both groups but we could experience that everybody turning up for class was not only satisfied with what they heard but ready to come back the next time. We will see next Thursday!

We were quite happy and a bit tired when we finally left the place after tidying up and putting away the camera, the video and the projector.

Kate and Andrew Fazekas