Local seminar
STEP: STEPS TOWARDS EUROPEAN PARTICIPATION
Best Western “Santakos viešbutis”, J.Gruodžio St. 21, Kaunas

Thursday, 21st of January, 2007

MINUTES 10:30 – 12:30 Morning session

Representative of the Social innovation Fund – Loreta Golubevaitė, welcomed participants of the conference and performed a brief introduction of the activities and expertise of the Social Innovation Fund.
Justina Raudonytė presented the EC project STEP: Steps Towards European Participation: its aim, objectives, partnership, workflow, results and outputs, including project website.
Loreta Golubevaitė made introduction to the products selected for the dissemination:
· The Guide – Multicultural Voices in adult education in Europe (project “WHO SPEAKS”),
· The Documentation (Project “Participation of migrants in further education”),
· The Guidelines (Project “MOSAIC”).
Three workgroups were formed:
First workgroup – moderated by Loreta Golubevaitė discussed the Guide – Multicultural Voices in adult education in Europe of the project “Who Speaks”.

Feedback from the first workgroup:
1) The Guide is a useful tool mostly for NGOs who could apply the given ideas in their everyday work;
2) The most important steps for integration are stressed: language learning is one of the most topical issues for Lithuanian situation;
3)Participation of migrants in adult education is of great importance for their successful integration. Inability to speak local language is often the biggest barrier for the participation;
4) Situation differs significantly depending on the status and level of education of immigrants: there is a variety of tools / methods / strategies for increasing participation of immigrants;
5) Networking of adult educators is essential for effective involvement of immigrants into society.
Second workgroup – moderated by Justina Raudonytė discussed the documentation of the project “Participation of Migrants in Further Education”.

Feedback from the second workgroup:
1) The situation analysis of other European countries provided in the Documentation is very useful to analyse as long as scope of immigration is constantly increasing in Lithuania;
2) Analysis of further education opportunities for migrants in other European countries is useful for Lithuanian further education institutions, who seek for optimal ways to involving more immigrants.
3) Migrants in Lithuania have problems with the general education system and the acceptance to universities. Therefore, this outcome should be disseminated first of all at higher education institution level.Third workgroup – moderated by Audronė Kisielienė discussed Guidelines of the project “MOSAIC”.

Feedback from the third workgroup:
1) The document has quite difficult and sophisticated language – not easy to understand for target group;
2) The counselling services for immigrants are still fragmented and not well-developed in Lithuania, however this document provides valuable theoretical and practical approach about how to work in a multicultural context;
3) The counselling and awareness rising on the topics of immigration is important for both: immigrants and the host community;
4) A very important topic to discuss in the welcoming stage is the understanding of cultural difference;
5 )In general, this product has big potential for dissemination in Lithuania.

13:30 – 16:30 Afternoon session

Loreta Golubevaitė presented the methodology of Dialogical Discussion Groups and explained how the groups worked in Lithuania. The general results of the Dialogical Discussion Groups carried out in Kaunas were also introduced within this session.
The discussion about Dialogical Discussion Groups as a dissemination tool was initiated. The seminar participants agreed that idea of the dialogical discussion groups should be further disseminated.
The migrants and people from host community gave their feedback about the participation in the Dialogical Discussion Groups. They agreed that it was a good experience and brought new perspective on their perception of the migration issues.
Discussion of relevant topics from Dialogical Discussion Groups was initiated and moderated by Justina Raudonytė. The topics that most often emerged in the dialogical group contributions were:

· Problem of Lithuanian language learning: lack of services, lack of motivation, etc.
· Active participation in society, which is one of the most important conditions of integration.Discussion about possibilities to create new Dialogical

Discussion Groups was initiated in the plenary session. The participants discussed ways how the local NGOs could attract the multicultural groups of immigrants, refugees and ethnical minorities and to ensure a fruitful egalitarian dialogue.

back