The Launching conference of the European Union/Council of Europe Joint Programme “Democratic and Inclusive School Culture in Operation (DISCO)” took place online on October 8th. The conference was opened by Sarah Keating, Head of Co-operation and Capacity Building Division, Education Department, Council of Europe and Mari Sol Perez Guevara, Co-ordinator for Roma policies & relationships with the Council of Europe, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, European Commission
The conference brought together 27 participants from the institutions implementing the three, multi-partner international co-operation projects selected for DISCO 2020/2021 funding:
- “Embedding a Democratic Culture Dimension in Teacher Education Programmes”
- “Resilience through Education for Democratic Citizenship”
- “The Rights Understanding in Sports Toolkit”
As underlined by Sarah Keating and Mari Sol Perez Guevara, these projects contribute to the resilience of our democracies by supporting teachers, social workers, and trainers in promoting democratic competences. The projects also provide them with innovative methods to work with young people both at school and outside the school environment to strengthen resilience against radicalisation and anti-democratic extremism and to foster inclusive approaches. It was also emphasised that this is the first time that the DISCO Programme engages sports practitioners to promote human rights in and through sports.
The projects started their implementation recently and had to adjust quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their work, engagement and creativity were highly appreciated by all participants in the conference.
