The fourth partnership meeting of the draft program Erasmus + – "Prevention of harassment and abuse" (PREVENT) was organized by 30 September to 3 October 2019. in Matozinos, Portugal. The consortium of 7 partner organizations, continued with great success their joint work to develop a simulation game for young people.
The simulation game aims to inform young vulnerable groups, as such, living with disabilities, migrants, poor people, etc.. and make them more empathetic and sensitive to potential situations of abuse, suffered by these vulnerable groups. Also, it aims to make them think about this topic, as well as discouraging them from being bullies and at the same time giving them some good tools and advice on how to deal with such situations in their daily lives..
The meeting in Portugal was organized for a purpose:
- acquainting the partners with the methods of Theater Forum;
- to test the development of the idea of the Hungarian organization OFOE, to play the simulation game;
- to prepare together for the second test round, which will be conducted by each partner organization in their home country;
- to develop ideas for further development of new characters / characters / situations, developed by partner organizations;
- to determine the tasks and deadlines of each partner until our next partnership meeting in Cluj-Napoca, Romania in March 2020.
Thanks to the active and effective cooperation of all partners, we managed to meet all expectations and achieve all the goals of the meeting. We have also taken important steps forward in the development of our sensitivity sharpening tool. It was very exciting for all members of the partnership to be introduced to the world of Theater Forum from our experienced Bulgarian partner Flower Theater, and discover together the connections between this exciting method and our simulation game.
Furthermore, as an added bonus to our meeting, we had the opportunity to join the celebration of the host organization - АЕ2О, who shared with us his great, special moment. Theirs Second Chance School for many years is the first in Portugal and still the only one, which is part of the network of E2C.
More than 10 years of efforts of АЕ2О were dedicated to recognizing the need to include Second Chance Schools in the public education system. Because of our perseverance and hard work, a new law was published this summer and it established a new legal framework for Second Chance Schools in Portugal. There are two more schools, which open their doors to students this year, who need a second chance in education.
On 2 October 2019. the new protocol was signed at their school, following the rules, established by the new law, and it was a great pleasure for all partners, to be a part of this wonderful celebration, which was also attended by the Secretary of State for Education of Portugal, the mayor of Matozinos, as well as members of АЕ2О.
