On June 20-21, 2014 the final event of the project “Living History of my Village” took place in the Belarusian village of Grabovka, Gomel District. The project, which has been implemented since 2012 with the assistance of the European Union and DVV International, aimed at the development of rural territories by using elements of local culture, history and natural potential and supporting local cultural and historical initiatives.
More than 100 people attended the event – representatives of local and regional authorities, institutions of education and culture, NGOs and rural action groups. A number of foreign experts were present as well, among them members of the DVV International Country offices in Ukraine and Moldova, as well as representatives of Adult Education centres in Hannover and Goslar (Lower Saxony, Germany).
The main objective of the event was to draw conclusions from the project and discuss the prospects of further regional development as well as possible mechanisms of cooperation on the local and international levels. Besides that, the participants presented the results of their activity (including implementation of 18 mini-projects) and discussed tendencies of rural development in Europe and Belarus.
Among other things, reports on the social-economic potential of the Gomel region as well as Belarusian and foreign practices of regional development were presented. The invited guests shared their experience in rural development: Sigried Hornauer, mayor of Sternenfels (Germany), described the results of implementing the concept of 7-star-village, and Martin Westphal, head of the Adult Education centre in the town of Goslar (Germany) presented the successfully implemented project “VITALISE”.
In addition, master-classes were offered, held by the participants themselves. The topics they covered were oral history, museum pedagogy, new methods in non-formal education, etc.
The event was organised by the Regional Office of DVV International in the Republic of Belarus and the Gomel District Executive Committee.
The participants after the closing ceremony.
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