About the People & Politics (Pepol) programme

The learning partnership ‘People and Politics' will provide learning exchanges between citizens, local politicians, citizen organizations and trainers, as well as local administrators. The focus is to exchange and improve methods for citizen participation, which led to changes in community issues.

The project will demonstrate how participatory methods contribute to the revitalization of local democracy and a sustainable development of neighbourhoods. This will help people to explore different cultures and to practice intercultural dialogue through different methods. 

Aims and objectives of PEPOL learning partnership
The aim of the partnership is to provide learning exchanges between citizens, local politicians, citizen organizations and trainers, as well as local administrators working for a sustainable community development. The focus is to provide examples of methods and activities which have been used to create dialogue between politicians and people which led to changes in community issues.

Participatory methods
Each partner will provide at least one example of participatory methods in which forms for intercultural dialogue and decision making for local change was achieved. All partners will therefore take care of involving local partners and describing how they worked in multicultural / multilingual communities.

Local case studies and activites
Each host country will create an activity in which representatives from neighbourhood organisations gather with decision makers. Such gatherings include for example a Social Forum, a citizen's festival and conference or a "democratic dialogue workshop". Some activities will also include adult education organisations, politicians, researchers and the facilitators for community development. All involved persons will be learners and at the same time experts contributing with their own experiences.

The Pepol website
The partnership will set up a website for the dissemination of these methods which will be used for pedagogical purposes and to stimulate cooperation throughout European agencies on common community issues. The website will present more than descriptions of methods but also describe how social and economic contexts determined which methods were chosen. In addition, each partner will disseminate information and results from ‘People and Politics' in his/her home country and networks. The partnership and website may serve as a link to a European context for the revitalization of local democracy.

The expected impact on the organisations / institutions participating in the Learning Partnership as a whole
It is an intention to establish a "living" electronic communication network for participatory work within the partnership, reflective of the situations and languages used by all the partners. Visual aides as well as written descriptions will be useful tools in order to demonstrate the dimensions of intercultural dissemination.

The use of this network will be an extension of the project's duration and can be used long after the project is finished. Each organization will continue to practice its programmes and methods during the project and use the website tool as a referral and electronic meeting place to connect with others who are working with capacity building. Each organization will be able to collaborate for future learning projects and study visits.

The expected impact on the local community / region where each organisation / institution is located
In most partner countries, the local community will be directly involved in receiving information about the processes and exchanges within the partnership. This impact will be a way to integrate the feeling of "Europe" within the local communities and will contribute to lifelong learning. The local contexts can illustrate how local issues in each country are related and have a link to other European issues. Issues such as urban growth and social diversity as well as health, social and political intercultural issues are of interest to local sustainable development. This added awareness to local communities can be helpful to an understanding how local issues are often linked to an international context.

Read the full People and Politics general information

The People and Politics programme coordinators:

Susan Guerra Unit for Sustainability, Sagene Municipality District, The City of Oslo Norway	Gianni Orsini Fundació Desenvolupament Comunitari Catalonia/Spain	Kirsten Paaby The Ideas Bank Foundation Norway	Maté Varga The Civil College Foundation Hungary

More photos of people involved in the People & Politics programme here

List of the associated partners in the People and Politics programme