Capacity building and empowerment of vulnerable groups - EPALE Community Conference 2023
Stories are all around us. They are there, waiting to be found, told, and shared. Stories have the power to connect. They make us more relatable to others. The magic of stories lies in how they unite people …and this is the heart of the EPALE Community Stories initiative.
Our community of adult learning professionals holds treasures of challenges, experiences and fulfilment in their everyday practice with adult learners. Determination and creativity can play key roles when things get tough and context more challenging.
This panel hosts participants of the Community Stories initiative who are members of the EPALE community. They will lead a collective reflection on how to empower vulnerable groups of learners, build trust, and strengthen their competences. To better know the European Commission’s efforts in the European Year of Skills framework, the panel will include voices from policymakers, and link policies with practice.
Malgorzata Kozak is a policy officer in the unit responsible for schools and multilingualism in the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture of the European Commission. She works on the development and monitoring of European Union policies in the area of adult education, with a particular focus on the implementation of the Erasmus+ programme.
Grethe Haugøy has 30 years of experience with lifelong learning in Norway, Europe, and the USA. She has been a teacher and principal in public adult education, as well as a senior advisor for Vox (Norway’s agency for lifelong learning). As a deputy director at the Directorate for Integration and Diversity, she was responsible for qualifying refugees for work and education in Norway. Grethe has worked for 10 years in international engagements including positions at Cedefop, the EEA and Norway Grants.
Wim Ipers graduated as a translator and interpreter. Since 1998, he has been working as a teacher in adult basic education for Ligo Brusselleer. He is also an award-winning self-made playwright and theatre director, specialising in setting up hyperdiverse grassroots level co-creative theatre productions. In both an education and cultural context, Wim has acquired 25 years of expertise working in prisons and with people in prisons.
Ten years ago, I started providing non-formal education in culture. My work within the Institute Burja focuses on members of various vulnerable groups, especially immigrants from the nations of the former Yugoslavia living in Slovenia. I enjoy peace, tolerance, cultural content and intercultural dialogue. The implementation of our educational activities fulfils all of this.
