DVV International ends its activities in Belarus

After twelve years of successful work in Belarus, the activities of the DVV International country office ended on 31 December 2021 due to a decision by the Belarusian authorities.

DVV International deeply regrets that it needed to dissolve numerous partnerships and discontinue joint projects and programmes. Together with dozens of partner organisations, we have defended the right to adult education and have advocated for the approach of adult education being a public good. By supporting various projects, we promoted the idea of learning cities, and supported adult education centres as an important part of the infrastructure of the lifelong learning system. 

Twelve years of tireless work for the promotion of adult education

Since 2009, together with civil society and public education partners, we have implemented 15 largescale projects and supported over 100 smaller project initiatives. More than 1,000 events have been held for more than 30,000 participants. We worked with elderly people, rural residents, convicts and released prisoners, people with disabilities, educators and andragogues, and many more. It was our aspiration to give all of them the opportunity to develop professional and life skills, both within formal and non-formal education.

We were proud to make the work of our partners visible on our regional website, newsletter and Facebook page, as well as at various conferences, forums and festivals. The first academic course for andragogues was developed and launched, and the city of Vitebsk joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities.

The work continues in another framework

The formal processes of liquidation have been completed. But we hope this is not a goodbye, only a short break. We are grateful to all partners who have contributed their expertise and organisations’ resources to the joint cause for the past twelve years. We know that our colleagues and partners in Belarus still have many concrete plans for the development of the national adult education system. And we would be happy to implement those in cooperation with them – in Belarus and abroad.

Thanks to the German Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation we received the opportunity to develop and implement a new regional project in Europe to maintain contacts and enable our partners from Belarus to remain part of the larger international community of adult educators.