Serbia & Montenegro
***
2002 ***
The 2002 Adult Education Festival in Serbia & Montenegro was organized
in September, following the motto "Discover your Potential". The
new organizational approach based on a network of twenty-seven regional
coordinators resulted in a substantial increase in providers (>450) as
well as in activities (>1000), and cities included (98). While the focus
in 2001 had been laid on the importance of adult education for transitional
processes, the second Adult Education Festival emphasized two topics: the
role of adult education to raise employability chances, and the promotion
of adult education institutions.
Being aware of the crucial role but delicate nature of contact with mass-media,
the Adult Education Society as the overall coordinator put great
emphasis on carefully planing advertisement activities and allocated one
person with adequate experience as media coordinator: Every regional coordinator
had as an assistant (preferably somebody from some local mass media) in
charge of the lokal media in their region. Regional coordinators and regional
media coordinators animated institutions in their regions, coordinated
them, provided them with all the necessary information and distributed
common promotional material supplied by the Adult Education Society (TV
spots, radio jingles, posters, badges, leaflets and the Catalog of Events).
As a result, some 50 local, regional and national TV stations and about
150 radio stations, as well as numerous newspapers included information about
the festival activities.
The importance
of regional activities was strongly emphasized, and special attention and
support was provided for such events. Posters and radio jingles for each
region announced events in that very region. The regional event in the
region of Belgrade, named "Adult Education Stock Exchange" gathered 45
key adult education institutions of the Belgrade region. On that occasion
institutions presented there programs, activities and plans in a multimedial,
dynamic and atractive manner. One special segment of this event was the
"Adult Education Lottery" which included 200 education programs granted
for free to spectators. Similar manifestations named "Adult Education Fair",
"Educational Stock Exchange", "Adult Education Market", etc were organized
in many other cities.
It should be borne in mind that the Adult Education Society
is the representative
of the IIZ/DVV (Institute for International Cooperation of German Adult
Education Society) in Serbia & Montenegro, and that IIZ/DVV provided
the biggest share of the budget for this project. The 2002 Adult Education
Festival was also financially supported by GTZ (German Society for Technical
Cooperation) and by KAS (Konrad Adenauer Foundation).
************
Background...
On 11 - 13 October 2001, the
first Adult Education Festival took place in Yugoslavia. Jointly
organized by the Institute of Pedagogy and Andragogy (Faculty of Philosophy)
at the University of Belgrade and the Society for Adult Education, about
140 local adult education institutions and organizations in more than 30
cities in Serbia and Montenegro were encouraged to organize events in their
municipality. Despite this decentralized approach, activities were equally
arranged in the capital Belgrade. They included, apart from a general presentation
of NGOs active in adult education, a fair of education providers and learning
organizations on the premises of the Chamber of Commerce, an "Adult Education
Lottery" offering courses free of charge at the national and Workers Universities
and private schools, and an introduction to learning opportunities for
elderly people. With the support of colleagues from Western Europe, a number
of academic activities were held such as round table discussions and public
lectures on the strategies to develop and prepare a special law on adult
education. An advertising campaign in all mass-media (newspapers, TV, radio
stations) had been set up to announce the Festival and the events.
The main goal of the Festival was
to inform the public about the opportunities for adult learning, to promote
the idea of lifelong learning, to strengthen the cooperation between institutions
and organizations in the field of education, as well as to draw the attention
of political decision makers to the potential of adult education as a key
resource for transition. The Festival was supported by the Ministry of
Education and financially aided by IIZ/DVV (Institute for International
Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association) and the Konrad Adenauer
Foundation. It is foreseen to repeat the Festival in every year
in the future and to make it a tradition.
Contact:
Katarina Popovic
Society for Adult Education
Vuka Karadzica 12
11000 Belgrade
Serbia & Montenegro
tel: +381-11-634-674
fax: +381-11-625-673
iiz-dvv@eunet.yu
http://www.inebis.com