Call for Applications: Neighbours 3.0 Polish-Ukrainian-Belarusian program for locally active people

BMF

26/02/2016

Application deadline: March 18, 2016

call for application

09.02 – 18.03.2016

Poland, Ukraine, Belarus

What – according to you – is the best place to live? Safe, inspiring, full of people who are kind to each other, who spend time together in interesting and creative way? Is it space, where you can discuss important topics, learn something new and meet people from various cultures and environments? Place, where different theories and ways of life intersect, where people are willing to share their knowledge and work together?

If you have loads of energy and ideas of what to do to create such places, but you don’t necessarily know how to breathe life into them, we invite you to Polish-Ukrainian-Belarusian program for active people locally Neighbours 3.0.

We advise, support, inspire, help, give certain skills and knowledge and create space where you can actually meet similar, active people from Poland, Ukraine and Belarus.

Neighbours 3.0 – new dimension of society

Basic values, on which the program is built, are solidarity, resposibility, equality, diversity, democracy, openness and critical thinking. We support people, who want to experience these values in practice through cooperation with others and realization of their own ideas.

We believe that building good neighbourhood matters, both on a local level – between neighbours from the same street – and international level, between neighbouring countries. We invite young people from Poland, Ukraine and Belarus to meet, learn from each other and exchange experiences. We practise non-formal education, ‘learning by doing’ (learning in practice) through various workshops, common work and project realization.

Who can participate in Neighbours 3.0

Program is aimed at people between 18 and 35 years old, living in Poland, Ukraine and Belarus, who want to start or continue their adventure with activation of local societies.

We invite people from various environments and with diverse education. We are open to students, non-students, volunteers from social organizations and ones who have never heard of them, people with or without a job, inhabitants of urban and rural areas.

We accept applications from individuals as well as local teams, consisting of two people, who have an idea for the project or change in their local community. Projects may have an international character, which means that they can be realized by participants from Poland, Ukraine and Belarus.

We also invite absolvents of Civic Engagement Workshop to cooperation. However there is one limitation: only one absolvent/absolventee(?) is allowed in a team

How do we work?

Program lasts from May 2016 to June/July 2017. During this time participants take part in international workshops, visit other Neighbours and work in local communities. According to the program, local projects and volunteering are tools of social change.

Invited teams come to one of three, seven-day meetings which take place in Poland, Ukraine and Belarus in May of 2016. During these events:

– we get to know each other and get closer through talks and activities

– we discuss chosen topics and issues concerning us, trying to approach them from different angles

– we act together (we organize local debates, create social gardens or learn how to combine old traditions with new technology in practice), integrate with local people and – with trainers help – carry out specific change,

– we work on the main idea of our project and start planning it

When applying, choose one out of following topics:

Topic 1: ‘Old-new borders: migration, integration, isolation’
07.05 – 14.05.2016

Where our internal and external borders really lie? On what basis we create them for ourselves? Which borders and barriers affect acceptance or rejection of other people? To what extent immigrants should take responsibility for integration? How does political changes and catastrophes – in individual countries as well as whole Europe – affect emigration? When country’s borders have human, supportive character and when conservative and filtering?

Important part of the meeting will be an event organized together in public space, during which people with different views will try to peacefully answer above questions.

Topic 2: ‘Transformation of thinking: reality and technology’
07.05 – 14.05.2016

What customs and traditions mean in our life? How new technologies influence our way of thinking? Country – city: refuge of tradition – catalyst of innovation? Contemporary technology and former traditions – enhancer of self and collective development? What we can use, what to ignore, what to resign from, and what to combine?

During the meeting we will have an opportunity to learn old handcrafting techniques and we will try to combine them with hi-tech technologies for local change.

Topic 3: ‘Why do we need neighbourhood? Challenges and solutions’
14.05 – 21.05.2016

What exactly is neighbourhood and what does it mean to me? Where it starts? What distance and space is covered by term ‘neighbour’? What can you do, create, change with neighbour’s help? What’s the difference in creating good relationship with neighbours from the block of flats and with neighbours from Ukraine and Belarus? What old, neighbourly traditions tell us?

During the event we will work to create urban community garden. We will learn how this place works, how to found one and what do we need for it to prosper.

Specific schedule of events: