"Acceptance for cultural diversity - remembering, developing, testingAgainst the background of the current movement of refugees into the countries of the European community, the project pursues the question of how adult education can contribute to promoting the acceptance of cultural diversity in these countries. Didactic concepts and methods were exchanged and tested in a consortium of five partner organizations from Germany, Poland, Austria and Romania. The project proceeded from the assumption that a historical-biographical approach to adult education, as well as learning in a social environment, are particularly suitable for promoting attitude change. In addition it took up adult education's required critical examination of its own offerings regarding cultural ascription and ""unconscious biases"". The goal of the project was to become acquainted with concepts and methods of participative work in the social environment, memory work, and anti-discrimination work in an exchange with partner organizations. The innovative aspect of the project was the attempt to link the methods and the systematic reflection under the perspective of ""promoting the acceptance of diversity,"" and the identification of ""conditions for success"". Four elements were decisive in the project's process: the learning groups of the partner organizations (4 - 10 persons), three European workshops, a semi-public blog for the exchange of evaluations of the learning groups, and the transnational meetings of the project team. In the course of the project three conceptually related learning activities (workshops) were conducted in the Offenbach district in the Frankfurt/Main region, in Vienna, and Warsaw; these took up the aspects of ""participation"", ""memory work"" and ""anti-discrimination work"". The methodology of the workshops followed the principles of subject and experience orientation. The learning groups sent 3 - 7 members to each workshop. There were also day guests. In the workshops the participants presented their own work experiences and concepts, they tested methods of biographical work and anti-discrimination work. At the end of the project it could be determined (in the evaluation) that the participants had enhanced their capacity for action related to the attention to diversity (in school and community), and become sensitized for discriminatory practices. In excursions and discussions they became acquainted with the participative approach to the admission of refugees, and could discuss its conditions and risks. The ""opening"" effect of biographical work has been confirmed, but also the special conditions in a multicultural group became clear.Experience-based learning also pointed out the borders of their own acceptance. Thereby both their own personal prejudices as well as their attitudes could be articulated and brought to reflection. Within the framework of the project we were successful in recognizing various levels of acceptance and in conducting open-result discussions.The results of the project with respect to the identification of ""conditions for success"" have been published in a documentation for further dissemination as ""Recommendations"". The project reached approximately 80 persons working as teachers, counsellors and trainers in adult education, anti-discrimination work, refugee work and staff development of teachers and social pedagogues. Another 120 people involved in the issue as experts, citizens' groups and stakeholders were involved.Feedbacks to the Project:""As a whole, the experiences from the workshop are important in order to be better able to estimate the contexts and conditions of one's own work. In fact the objective European exchange and the cross-linking is the greatest gain for us. The experiences from the workshop will become part of our continuing work. “ ""My participation in the workshop has increased my consciousness and my knowledge of the situation of foreigners in Poland enormously. I use this knowledge in discussions with students in the Department for Pedagogy and Psychology at the university in Białystok."""

Project organizations working in the field of anti-discrimination education feel the need to update their methods and match them better to the individual situation in a given country's region, as well as to strengthen and prepare better their staff in this issue - especially In the current situation of social or ethnic tensions. We want to involve three institutions, of which the 9dwunastych association in Białystok (Poland) and the Anne Frank Educational Center (AFEC) in Frankfurt Main (Germany) represent organizations working directly in the field of anti-discrimination work. The involvement of the big local authority like D.G.A.S.P.C. in Oradea (Romania) will in turn help to work out the tools, that enable better inclusion of excluded groups and work with the majority group from a public institution perspective. We want the model developed in this way can be used by NGOs and public institutions in other countries. All partner organizations work in regions and places with very diverse structures - Frankfurt am Main in Germany is one of the most multi-ethnic cities in Europe, the Podlasie region in Poland has a significant Orthodox minority, and a significant share of minorities such as Belarusians, Ukrainians and Chechens and is at the same time a rural region. The city Oradea in Romania in the Bihor region has a significant share of the Hungarian and Romani minorities. The Frankfurt am Main region is economically one of the richest regions in Europe, while Bialystok and Oradea are the capitals of some of the poorest regions in the EU in terms of GDP. Each of the partner organisations has a slightly different area of activity that complement each other well - each of them will be presented during a three-day international workshop. During each workshop, we want to focus on the selected part of anti-discrimination work. The thematic areas for participating countries are as follow:1. Poland - gender equality, working with youth in the area of anti-discrimination and diversity managment;2. Germany - antisemitism, racism, islamophobia and hate speech; 3. Romania - anti-discrimination in context of inclusion of minorities (like Roma people), inclusion through education (like instruments for educating iliterated adults). During each workshops we will match anti-discrimination tools and methods to the individual situation in the countries concerned and create scenarios, that can be applied in their situation. We also want to subject them to reflection, resulting from the natonal, socio-historical and economic specifics and to test them in international conditions of the countries of Western, Eastern and Southern Europe. So in each organization there will be a team of people forming a working group - (from 7 till 12 people) who will take part in international workshops rotatable. The methods and knowledge gained there will be tested in the time between the international workshops (field work) in working groups. During this time, people from disadvantaged groups with whom the project organisations cooperate will be invited to give feedback. Scenarios of the activities carried out during each three-day international workshop, tested additionally in time between the international workshops, will constitute a basic part of the e-book. The e-book will be one of the main results of our activities, we plan to develop, as well as the increase in the competence of our staff. The e-book will be an element with which each organization will be able to reach a significant number of potential recipients, especially since the organizations in the project have a wide network of contacts - institutions and people they can reach. The 9dwunastych association has contacts with all the most important organisations dealing with anti-discrimination education in the region and country. The partner in Romania DGASPC is a very large public aid institution and AFED in Frankfurt am Main is one of the most well-known institutions dealing with anti-discrimination education in Germany.Our basic working tool will be various methods of anti-discrimination education. We treat them broadly - because anti-discrimination education is not only a set of methods concerning majority-minority and disadvantaged groups. But it is also a very important and effective tool for the social inclusion and empowerment of these groups. In order to build a society that is open and able to function in a diverse social context and to reflect more widely on the benefits of anti-discrimination education.