The Council of Europe and European Union joint project to “Promote human rights education and democratic citizenship (EDC/HRE) in Eastern Partnership countries” held its first steering committee in Kyiv on 22nd April 2015. The steering committee was set-up to supervise the implementation of the project and to provide input and strategic guidance for the development of project activities.

The meeting brought together representatives of education authorities from the six Eastern partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus); Mr Guzman Garcia Rodriguez, representative of the EU Delegation to Ukraine; Ms Katia Dolgova-Dreyer, Head of Unit for Bilateral and Regional Cooperation in CIS countries, the Deputy Head of the Council of Europe office in Kyiv, Ms Olena Lytvynenko and project manager, Mr Mychailo Koriukalov; Ms Ana Perona-Fjeldstadt, Executive Director of the European Wergeland Centre and Council of Europe experts in the field of EDC/HRE, Mr Peter Krapf and Ms Olena Styslavska.

The discussions focused on the upcoming events in the 2015. The participants stressed the importance of regular exchanges, at regional level, of information and good practice on EDC/HRE in national education systems.

The next major event to take place under the joint project will be a launching conference in Kyiv on 4-5 June, where the main issues connected with the integration of EDC/HRE into national education systems will be discussed and examined.

This project is part of the programmatic cooperation framework (PCF) for Eastern Partnership countries which is funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.