Why does society change?How does society change? While moral philosophers and social scientists usually focus on former question, those who seek practical knowledge try to understand the latter. We have numerous scholars who tried to answer the WHY question and told us the causes of social change. The notion of HOW one can change society, oddly enough, remains vague. This course is our best effort to demystify the process by which you, your corporation, or your organization can become agents of change.
The program will gather around 40 university students from different cultural backgrounds (USA, EU countries, East Europe and Asia). The teaching team will be a mix of Rutgers University (USA) professors and Croatian and American trainers.
ABOUT GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR ACTIVISM AND CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING (GPACT)
Global PACT is an organization headquartered in New Jersey, USA that teaches program participants WORLDWIDE the knowledge, skills, and disposition necessary for making change in the society. During the three-week training, participants are challenged to identify an issue, develop a project, and design the blueprint of an organization. The lessons learned are applicable to future projects beyond Global PACT for work with any organisation. GPACT summer school programs are performed in collaboration with NGOs in Brazil, Croatia, Costa Rica, Mongolia, Cambodia, Thailand and South Africa.
Anyone can agree that an ordinary person is capable of recognizing a problem, whether it affects a small community or the entire world. If someone discovers a problem that is causing significant harm to humans, animals, or the environment, they have identified an issue. An issue can be something that others are already trying to remedy, or even something that most people have not yet acknowledged. Activists are individuals who recognize that the world is a collection of interdependent communities, and join together to make the world a better place, focusing on one issue at a time. The first step to becoming an effective activist is making the decision to act upon an issue that you care about. Anyone can complain. In fact, complaining is the first step of recognizing an issue; but if you stop at complaining, you’ve done nothing to solve the problem. In fact, like everyone else who just talks about issues, you’re not part of the solution – you’re part of the problem.
Don’t curse in the dark – light a candle! At Global PACT we believe that everyone has the capability and responsibility to work actively for positive change. That is why we focus on educating individuals who are motivated to learn the core set of skills required for identifying, breaking down, and solving issues. There are many ways to be an activist, and how you use your skills is a personal choice – the common ground is taking responsibility for your community and your world.
VUKOVAR SUMMER SCHOOL PROJECT
The summer school of 2009 will be the second time that both local and international students gather in Vukovar, the town on the Danube on the Croatian-Serbian border, and try to tackle the issues of this once both economically and culturally rich multicultural town which has suffered tremendous loss during the ethnic conflict. The war of 1991 not only leveled the town, whose architecture stretched to baroque, but, more significantly, destroyed the relationship between the two most significant populations, Serbian and Croatian, i.e., Orthodox and Catholic. Houses and schools might have been rebuilt, but everyday life is still as divided as in 1997 when peaceful reintegration of the town began, that gave Croatia back the control of the territory and allowed the refuged Croats to return to their homes.
Our three week training combines the practice of group work, workshops that focus on developing initiative skills, be it in NGOs or marketing strategies that benefit the communities such as the one in Vukovar, and practical impact that aims at contributing to bridging the gap between the two sides, sometimes by actions subtle as erasing offensive graffiti from public surfaces in town, something our students did last summer, backed up by both the city officials and the media. Our summer school is a great chance to become involved in something as real as post-conflict activism, as well as an opportunity for the town to benefit from the students' non-partisan approach.
WHY SHOULD YOU APPLY?
■ If you see the community around and think it could be organized better and fairer and feel many things should change for the better, come to the "Empowering the community" training and we will help you to transform your feeling into a vision, mission and a real project.
■ During the training you will simulate an actual international working environment with all its variables and create an unique learning experience in which participants can turn their theoretical university education into practical knowledge and skills.
■ The language of instruction will be English, so you will have the opportunity to improve on your English fluency.
■ Living and working intensively together for three weeks on ideas and projects you feel passionate about will bring all participants together in a special way and create space for great ideas to be born and shared. And it is lots of fun.
PARTICIPATION FEES
Participation fee for EU participants is 750€, and for participants from Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia the fee is 500€. The course fee does not include travel expenses, however the participation fee covers all costs during the three weeks of training (accommodation in hotel Dunav in the centre of Vukovar, two meals in the hotel, teaching materials, two weekend excursions and museum entrance fees). We offer a limited amount of stipends for which you can apply at the same time you send the the application for participation in the training. Application for the stipend is attached in the application form.
Students are encouraged to explore funding opportunities available through non-governmental organizations and governmental sources to assist in their payment of fees and travel expenses, such as the Soros Foundation, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Fridrich Ebert Stiftung, U.S. Embassies or their country's embassy in Croatia. Local businesses, corporations and employers are often a source for additional scholarship help. We can provide a letter of support for you.
VISA ISSUES
All applicants that need a visa for Croatia will receive the invitation letter from pushLAB once they have been selected to participate.
ACCOMMODATION
All participants will be accommodated in double rooms in hotel Dunav in the center of the town. The hotel has been almost completely destroyed during the war but has recently been renovated. It overlooks the Danube river and is very close to the river bank.
HOW TO GET TO VUKOVAR
The best way to get to Vukovar from Zagreb is by train. The train ride lasts about 4 hours. It is also possible to take a bus from Zagreb or any other town in Croatia. The bus ride lasts about 5 hours if you are coming from Zagreb.
VUKOVAR 2008 TRAINING EXPERIENCE
In the summer of 2008, over twentyfive students from Europe and the US gathered in Vukovar to learn about which methods of civil activism can be deployed in order to overcome the difficulties of the everyday life in a town which such troubling history as Vukovar's. This was the first time we changed the location of our summer programe from Zagreb to eastern Slavonia, seeing the small-town setting as ideal for exercising the practical side of the program, such as getting in touch with the local NGOs, interviewing representatives of local government or any relevant stakeholders. Whilst, at the same time, learning about the relevance of such themes as dealing with the past, which is the only way for divided socities to make a significant democratic and economic progress. The participants came up with fdesigning five small-scale projects, and at the end of the training, in colaboration with the local youth, the best project got implemented. Seeing offensive, ethnically dividing graffiti as something that reminds of violence and war burdened past, the students decided this was something they want to combat, sending a message that such signs of offensive behavior is something that bothers Vukovar's citizens.
About the Training
