EAEA Grundtvig Award 2013. Active citizenship and transnational solidarity – Adult Education as a tool against nationalism, chauvinism and xenophobia

Each year the European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA) celebrates innovation and excellence in adult education. The EAEA Grundtvig Award highlights projects that produce new ideas, new partnerships, new methodologies and a new understanding of how we can work in adult learning.

In 2013, EAEA was looking for projects that tackle a specific aspect of civic learning: "Active citizenship and transnational solidarity – Adult Education as a tool against nationalism, chauvinism and xenophobia". 2013 was the European Year of Citizens and we, as adult educators, saw this as a platform to promote and discuss
civic education and active citizenship.

The economic crisis in Europe has contributed to a decrease in European cohesion. We believe that this question is also valid outside Europe – can adult education promote transnational solidarity and fight nationalism and xenophobia? We believe that adult education can be a powerful tool. Therefore, in 2013, we looked for projects that supported this point.

We looked for projects that confronted these tendencies and found new ways of promoting transnational (and European) solidarity and cohesion. We were seeking excellent projects that could be examples for other adult education institutions.