Member's News
No.43
January 2005
 
    

Inclusion and Friendship Relay
Ales Kranjc Kuslan, Slovenia
 

The Institute Ekvilib, Slovenia, share their project ideas for the development of sport in their region. This is based on a submission put to the Commission of the European Community Phare Small Projects Programme, titled Inclusion and Friendship Relay. The project is coordinated by the Institute Ekvilib, Institute for Culture of Body and Mind, Slovenia, and supported by the Slovenian Sport Office, and the Institute for Fair Play and Tolerance in Sport, Slovenia

Summary
Sports associations in Slovenia represent the biggest share of groups uniting civil and nongovernmental Slovenian citizens. But the associations work mainly on local levels and just in a sport branch. There is a lack of horizontal and vertical connection.
The main objective of the project is to build awareness among the sports associations that Slovenia is becoming the part of the bigger international EU community and that sport could be one of the best tools for generating connections, exchange and friendship among the different nations and cultures within the European community. It could also rebuild relations with former Yugoslav and West Balkan state sports associations.
How to achieve these objectives? By organising seminars to which sports leaders will be invited and by establishing an information system through which the “supply and demand” for “interclub” and international cooperation could be distributed

Main objectives
To build awareness among sports associations and sport as specific social sector that Slovenia is becoming part of the bigger international EU community and that sport could be one of the best tools for generating connections between different subjects of that community.
To build up the consciousness that sports associations should become more open to vertical and horizontal connections and should be actively participating in building the common European civil society.
Horizontal connectivity means broadening sport from physical activity to physical culture and more broadly to unity of body and mind.
Vertical connectivity means building cultural exchange and friendship among the different nations and cultures within the European community nations and rebuilding relations with former Yugoslav and West Balkan states.
To build up an awareness that sport should not be the tool just for individual “well-being” but also the tool for multicultural “well-being”.
To build up awareness that Slovenia and its citizens should take an active role in building the new common European society and that they should play the major part in bringing democracy and high human rights standards to the West Balkan nations.
To provide the managers/leaders of Slovenian sports association knowledge, tools and information system on how to achieve those goals.

Tools and activities
Supporting brochure for the target audience
A supporting brochure will contain the general intention/philosophy of the project, along with an explanation and background to the purpose of the action. The content will also contain the tools, information and management skills on how to reach the goals of the action.
It will be the supporting literature for implementation of the project and at the same time, be the seminar material for participants.
The editorial work will be done by experts provided by Zavod Ekvilib and Zavod za fair play (Institute for Fair play, Slovenia ).
The brochure will be published on paper and as CD.

Advertisement support
A poster with general objectives and information will be produced and distributed to all sport associations and schools with sports hall.
Organising 11 +1 regional seminars/workshops to which representatives of target groups will be invited
At these seminars, we will give participants a general overview of how sport is organised in the EU and which are the bodies within the EU Commission that covers field of sport.
We will present them the general philosophy of sport as an instrument for learning different cultures and people.
We will remind them of past links with sports associations in former Yugoslavia.
We will present them examples of good practice of how sport for all can connect different cultures.
We will present them with the tools of how to start knitting the web of relations between different nations and associations from EU countries and West Balkan countries.
We will collect the data from those associations who would be willing to participate in the project
International internet portal with following applications
  • “supply and demand” for “interclub” and international cooperation
  • list of association with basic information, field of activity and intercommunication projects
  • list of bilateral and multilateral offers
  • list of education projects, conferences, publications which refer to international and multicultural sports cooperation
  • list of calls for proposals which could be applied to
    The content of the portal will be updated by Slovenian and international partners and by active users of the portal
Because sports associations are sill not well enough equipped with internet possibilities, an quarterly paper edition with information from the internet portal will be produced and distributed to national and international sports associations.

Ales Kranjc Kuslan
Manager
Institute Ekvilib
Sisenska 89, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Phone: + 386 1 430 37 51
Fax: +386 1 433 1112
Email: info@zavodekvilib.si
Web: www.zavodekvilib.si




http://www.icsspe.org/portal/bulletin-january2005.htm