AR 2013/Activities

Global Education Unit

TeachMDGs

The envisioned project aims to raise awareness about and incorporate development issues in general and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in particular closer into the educational system in four new EU member states (NMS - Cyprus, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Estonia) and to increase teachers’ capacity in development education and the MDGs. Educating the European societies about global inequalities, about the causes and consequences of extreme poverty in especially Sub-Saharan Africa, about global interdependences and about the citizens’ roles and responsibilities within this context is of unprecedented importance considering the complexities of our environment and our interactions on an every day basis.

Overall objectives: 1. Support the integration of MDGs into the education system in the partner NMS; 2. Increase awareness about development issues in sub-Saharan Africa in general and MDGs in particular among teachers, students and teacher trainers in NMS; 3. Contribute to the development of country-oriented teaching resources on the MDGs

Specific Objective: Increase awareness and public support for the Millennium Development Goals through actively engaging teacher training institutes, teachers and pupils in developing local oriented teaching resources promoting the MDGs with a particular focus on sub-Saharan Africa and integrate these into the educational systems in Cyprus, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Estonia through comprehensive initial and in-service teacher trainings.

Expected Results: R1: Increased support across the educational systems and student populations of the project NMS partner countries for the MDGs and for poverty alleviation in especially sub-Saharan Africa; R2: Increased awareness among teachers, students and teacher trainers in project NMS partner countries about MDGs, sub-Saharan Africa and development issues as well as creating synergies with Europe; R3: Increased collaboration among the partner NGOs in Cyprus, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Estonia and their relevant Ministry of Education/ Teacher Training Institutes and Schools hence creating local ownership; R4: Interactive and participatory Teaching Resources about MDGs with a specific focus on sub-Saharan Africa available the national languages of the four project NMS partner countries and tailored to their school curriculum; R5: Teachers in NMS partner countries equipped with tools and skills to raise awareness for MDGs and to promote global solidarity; R6: Educational partnerships established between secondary schools in Cyprus, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Estonia and schools in Cameroon, D.R. Congo and Mali.

Human Rights and Reconciliation – Civil Society Acts Beyond Borders

Overall objectives: 1. Increase dialogue among civil society actors, youth, and local authorities in Israel and Palestine; 2. Increase capacity of CSOs in Israel and Palestine to promote Human Rights and Democratic Participation; 3. Enhance collaboration among civil society actors, youth, and local authorities across Israel and Palestine

Specific objective: Through a comprehensive set of structured dialogue workshops, civil society trainings, as well as multi-communal public debates, round tables and conferences, this project aims to empower civil society actors, youth, and local authorities in Israel and Palestine to actively promote Human Rights and Democratization.

Expected Results: R1: Increased capacity of CSOs to promote and strengthen human rights and their implementation; R2: Increased dialogue among civil society across conflict zones; R3: Increased capacity of local CSOs to resolve conflict and enhance collaboration for common goals; R4: Strengthened collaboration for the promotion of Human Rights across stakeholders and countries

Activities: A1: Project Steering Committee; A2: Interactive online portal; A3: Structured dialogue workshops; A4: Creation of multi-stakeholder Action Groups; A5: Five trans-national Action Plan support workshops; A6: 10-day Training of Local Trainers; A7: Series of Basic Civil Society Strengthening Workshops; A8: Series of non-formal civil society action workshops; A9: Series of Advanced Civil Society Strengthening Workshops; A10: Ten Panel Discussions/ Public Roundtables; A11: Final Human Rights Conference in Cyprus

Humanitarian Affairs Unit

Strengthening Asylum for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Cyprus

As implementing partner to the UNHCR representation in Cyprus, the Future Worlds Center is responsible for monitoring the access of asylum seekers to the asylum procedure of the Republic of Cyprus as well as the access to rights by asylum seekers and refugees, provide individual advice, support and counselling. The purpose of the particular action is to reduce the difficulties of asylum seekers to get access to general information on the refugee concept, rights and obligations under the national asylum procedure, the provision of legal advice and counselling as well as the necessary well targeted interventions with the relevant staff in the ministries to address shortcomings in policy and practice. In practical terms the legal advisors of the project also provide assistance to asylum seekers with deserving cases to prepare their appeals for the Reviewing Authority. The current project is also responsible for facilitating the local integration of recognized refugees and raising awareness over the plight of refugees within the local community.

Results of the action: Strengthening Asylum in Cyprus is an ongoing process of awareness raising, and legal support services. Nevertheless the expected impact concentrates on the protection of the beneficiary population, with particular sensitivity towards women refugees and children, including adolescents. In addition, associates, volunteers and friends working with the action have carried clothes and gifts drive for asylum seekers, refugees and their families while solid outcomes of the action also include a booklet with information for Asylum Seekers and Refugees on applying for Asylum in Cyprus.

New Media Lab

Cyberethics GIV - Cyprus Safer Internet Center. Island-wide services for Safer Internet Awareness, Helpline and Hotline

CyberEthics concerns the safe use of Internet in Cyprus, and serves the needs of all people that live on the island (i.e., also Turkish Cypriots and other minorities) addressing not only issues of pornography, but also racism (currently on the rise in Cyprus), gender discrimination and inappropriate use of peoples’ images. It operates as a combined Awareness Node and a Hotline. The project also aims to engage actors from the government and the civil society, thus contributing towards the eradication of cyber crime through informed actions of European citizens and public institutions that aim to change behaviours, mentality and attitudes, giving special emphasis to rural and less developed areas of the country.

Objectives: - Act as node of awareness network in Cyprus. - Devise a cohesive, hard-hitting and targeted awareness campaign using the most appropriate media, taking into account best practice and experience in other countries. - Establish and maintain a partnership (formal or informal) with key players (government agencies, press and media groups, ISP associations, users organisations, education stakeholders) and actions in their country relating to safer use of Internet and new media. - Promote dialogue and exchange of information notably between stakeholders from the education and technological fields. - Where appropriate, cooperate with work in areas related to the Safer Internet plus programme such as in the wider field of media and information literacy or consumer protection. - Inform users about European filtering software and services and about hotlines and self-regulation schemes. - Actively cooperate with other national nodes in the European network by exchanging information about best practices, participating in meetings and designing and implementing a European approach, adapted as necessary for national linguistic and cultural preferences. - Provide a pool of expertise and technical assistance to start-up awareness nodes (new nodes could be ‘adopted’ by a more experienced node). - Take an active part in European-level events and in the organisation of national, regional and local events for the Safer Internet Day. - Cooperate with the hotline present in the country, if any, and Europe Direct.

EU Kids Online III

Currently the program is in its third phase aiming to complement and build upon the previous work conducted. The goals are:
• To collect and analyse new research lines that build upon the findings of EU Kids I.
• To conduct an in-depth analysis of the data collected during the second phase of the program (EU Kids II).
• To carry out a comparative qualitative study on how children and teenagers use the internet which will lead to the development of new and innovative methods.

e-Hoop - Unified e-Hoop approach to learning differences

The e-Hoop is an online hub that promotes the advances of technology for lifelong learning. Its aim is to provide a flexible tool that can be tailored to the learner’s individual needs. Its unique adaptability allows users to insert their own learning material and use it according to their specific requirements. It is thus an innovative and practical application which fosters an inclusive learning environment by specifically targeting at socially and educationally disadvantaged groups.

The specific objectives for the universal learning environment are:

1. To provide educators with an easy-to-use, open-source, dynamic, modifiable and expandable tool which they can adapt to their own learning materials and teaching requirements.
2. To take full advantage of broadband technologies and open source paradigms.
3. To attract educators with innovative tools and paradigms.
4. To create a learning environment that will be fun for any learner.
5. To provide motivational tools for learning thus decreasing dropout rates.
6. To combine diagnostic with educational tools; therefore being able to adapt learning to the specific needs, background knowledge and cultural differences of the learners.
7. To provide an educational tool that is adaptable to the learning preferences and styles of the learner exploiting contemporary research and already developed tools

Mingle - MIgrant Language and SociaL Integration

MINGLE (MIgrant Language and SociaL Integration) is a project co-funded by the LifeLong Learning Programme of the European Union, and is conceived as a way of integrating migrants into society and particularly the workforce of the receiving country. The target groups are migrants from Romania and Bulgaria to Italy, Greece and Cyprus, respectively. Learning the language of the host country will help the target groups to secure a relevant job and very importantly facilitate their integration into the new country of residence and workplace.

The project’s main goal is to enhance migrants’ quality of life and facilitate their integration to local society by improving their access to language training courses and other guidance and counselling material. Such marginalised social groups will be therefore assisted to become active members of the receiving society