2014
Youth Agora of Pomerania – project financed by Civic Initiatives Fund 2014
Budget for the project: 35,187.05 PLN, including grant of 31,987.05
The main aim of the project was to include youth into progressive thinking about building a regional community. We carried out 8 Oxford debates which were supposed to fire up the discussion and get participants used to the climate of thought exchange. We reckon that provoking participants to choose their side in a vivid debate- in the Oxford debate’s framework- is crucial in promoting the culture of social dialogue as one of the foundations of democracy. Topics of the discussions were influential and often controversial, directly influencing participants in their daily lives as they reached adulthood and become more and more active in political life. The subjects of the talks were among others: the role of Catholic Church in the state, the meaning of ‘small homeland,’ the emigration of young people, public space, the family policy of the government and social economy described in detail in the project’s schedule. The project endorsing the culture of dialogue entered youth- dominated spaces- universities, high schools, two small Pomerania towns and other suitable venues. It fostered thinking big and ahead about universal values in the local community. It is a continuation of spontaneous public debates held at Workplace Health and Safety Room in Gdańsk Shipyard in 2012 in an entirely new, youth-oriented shape.
2013
Local community’s public space for intergenerational dialogue
The project was coordinated by Kasia Michalak-Magda. It was carried out with the following partners: Senior’s Club of Friends of Dąbowa- Dąbrówka in Gdynia and The Third Age University of Atenenum University in Gdańsk. The project was also supported by School no. 14 in Gdynia, Dąbrowa District Council, The Third Age University of Gdańsk of Gdańsk University and Regional Cooperation Centre of Gdańsk University.
The project aimed to increase the level of activity among senior citizens (aged 60+) and youth (from 10 to 25 y.o.) in the field of intergenerational dialogue and development of the local community by creating an experience exchange and intergenerational mentoring platform. The aims of the task can be summarized as:
- Educating seniors and youth about differences in understanding the concept of local space caused by age difference and joint description of problems with it.
- Enhancing senior’s potential by acquiring new skills in modern forms of knowledge exchange between generations with the help of the youth (intergenerational mentoring)
- Boosting communication skills among youth and seniors by creating an intergenerational dialogue platform- a framework for direct cooperation of seniors and “juniors.”
- Fostering the idea of voluntary work to enrich the lives of participants.
The project is extensively documented on our webpage – http://biser.org.pl/?page_id=23
