Urban X-Change Network second round kickoff in Warsaw

Several people are sitting at a table in a lively group discussion, they have notebooks, pens and documents in front of them. There are other groups in the background who are also taking part in discussions.
Participants of the kickoff workshop in Warsaw

Eight partner organisations from Germany, Ukraine and Poland met in Warsaw on 9 and 10 October for the kickoff of the Urban X-Change Network II project.

Global challenges can only be solved through joint cross-border cooperation – at both the political and societal level. Urban diplomacy and citizen diplomacy play a crucial role in this. They create spaces for exchange and dialogue at the local level, which, especially in times of crisis, is an important complement to bilateral relations. Like its predecessor, the Urban X-Change Network II is aimed at German adult education centres (Volkshochschulen – vhs) and their counterparts in selected partner countries. It offers these centres the opportunity to take a leading role in shaping citizen diplomacy and in strengthening the dialogue on current foreign cultural and educational policy issues through the active participation of civil society in the twinning of communities and municipalities.

The Urban X-Change Network II is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and will run all the way through 2025. Building on existing city partnerships, eight partner organisations have joined forces in a total of four partnerships to develop joint projects: two German Volkshochschulen with two adult education institutions from Poland, and two German Volkshochschulen with two adult education institutions from Ukraine. The NGO Trainers’ Association – sTOP from Poland organised the kickoff event in Warsaw, which made it possible for participants to get to know each other in person for the first time and served as a prelude to developing ideas jointly. 

Cross-border projects and a supplementary curriculum on citizen diplomacy

In addition to the four partnerships, the project aims to develop and present a supplementary Citizen Diplomacy Curriculum. The curriculum is designed to enable Volkshochschulen in Germany to carry out international projects and thus make citizen diplomacy accessible to ordinary citizens. Furthermore, Volkshochschulen and civil society actors are thus encouraged to be more closely involved in town twinning activities.

The partners will start their projects in November 2024. Due to Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine, hybrid formats are planned for the majority of German-Ukrainian partnerships. Final events in the respective partner cities are planned for July 2025.

The Citizen Diplomacy Curriculum is to be published at the end of September 2025 and presented to interested Volkshochschulen in the context of impulse workshops.

More information

Video of the kick-off on Youtube

More information about the project can be found at: https://www.urbanxchange-network.org

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