Danube Sparrow action, of the Union of Pensioners of the Municipality of Slivo Pole
| Keywords | Knowledge Emotion Communication Participation Practical Application Cultural Heritage Intercultural Individual Prize/Award Bread |
| Target Group | Civil Society Third Age People With Special Needs |
| Type of Action | Competition Baking Action Food Preparation |
| Research | Traditions, Welcome Tradition |
| Location | Pensioners Club Municipality House |
| Pedagogical Aims | Information Practical Application |
| Use of Media | Internet |
| Dissemination | Press Internet |
| Geographical Scope | Local |
| Type of Method | Action-Orientated |
| Knowledge Transfer | Creative Skills |
| Area of work | Food Preparation |
| Location or Venue | Tour Information Centre, 7069 Brashlen, Bulgaria |
| Number of Participants | 200 |
Duration
| From | Until |
| 13/11/2019 | 13/11/2019 |
Short Description
Educational method of learning, communication and cooperatio in:
- Disseminating information about the main areas of interest and the most important, popular or annual activities of their organizations.
- Building strong cooperation with local leaders, policy makers, representatives of business, education, social organizations and encourage them to plan joint activities and various forms of care aimed at improving the life of the elderly.
- Developing cross-border communication and cooperation for joint activities with partners who are sharing common interests from different Danube countries.
- Intercultural, intergenerational learning.
- Uniting people of all ages, other ethnic origins and social backgrounds for preserving peace in Europe.
Full Description
This educational method is based on the baking initiative Danube sparrow of the Danube-Networkers in Ulm 2019 with the motto “Bread Sharing is Caring”. The main goal of this action is to share the Sparrows as a symbol of common European values and the necessity of joint activities for preserving peace in Europe.
An examples of a good practice.
The Union of Pensioners (UP) of the Municipality of Slivo Pole developed this action to an educational method of learning, communicating and cooperating. The main aims of the method was to give possibilities to the participants for:
• Disseminating information about the organization and its clubs.
• Building strong cooperation with local business and other organizations.
• Developing cross-border communication and cooperation with partners from Danube countries.
• Intercultural, intergenerational learning.
• Preserving the ethnic peace in the Municipality and peace in Europe.
The leaders of UP developed a working plan for organizing a cross-border meeting GIVE А HAND OF FRIENDSHIP TO NATIONS ALONG THE DANUBE: CULTURAL TREASURES OF EUROPE – BULGARIA – GERMANY – ROMANIA.
On 10 and 12 November 2019 in Chereshovo, the building of a new leading team of UP was organized by 2 groups of 27 women which included the president of UP, the presidents and active members of 11 Clubs of Pensioners, and the secretary of the Community Center “N. Y. Vaptsarov – 1927”, Babovo. Each of these two groups had a discussion on the goals and the expected results of the baking action, details of the preparing of the sparrows, and the different stages of that process. Every member of the groups had to go through all the stages.
The organizing committee prepared special Letters of Invitation and delivered them to more than 100 persons. The event team purchased gift wrappings, ribbons with the flag of the EU, paper flags of the EU, and paper flags of the European countries to wrap the baked sparrows.
A scenario of the cross-border meeting for sharing the Danube sparrows was developed. It was applied on 13 November 2019 in the Tour Information Centre, Brashlen, Bulgaria. It included:
• Opening ceremony – the speech of the President of UP, folklore songs as a welcome performance;
• Presenting the guests. Brief presentation of the project Bread Connects. Congratulation to Mr. Valentin Atanasov, the Mayor of the Slivo Pole Municipality, for his successful second term election.
• Congratulatory address to the pensioners by the Mayor of the Municipality to the pensioners.
• Presenting of the new bread action “Bread sharing is caring” by Mrs. Carmen Stadelhofer, President of ILEU and DANET.
• Sharing Danube sparrows with the guests, representatives of different organizations such as the Municipality, Local Government, mayor offices, production and agricultural companies, schools and kindergartens, specialized centres and organizations from different Danube countries with the words “I give you my hand for friendship” by members of the clubs of pensioners. Every pensioner had to briefly present themselves, the organization they belonged to and their main area of interests as the grounds for future cooperation.
• A background slideshow demonstrating the preparing of the Danube Sparrows.
• Closing the Cross-Border Meeting with wishes to the guests to share their experience with their workers, colleagues, and families.
• Visiting the exhibition and tasting some of 23 bread products prepared by the pensioners.
As continuation of this international event, Mrs. Stadelhofer gave three sparrows from the event in Slivo Pole to international groups from France, Italy and Serbia inviting them to join this initiative.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1
Developing a working plan
A discussion with Board of UP of the Municipality of Slivo Pole.
Developing a working plan for:
- Preparing homemade Danube sparrows.
- Team building including the leaders and active members of the Union of Pensioners.
- Organizing Cross-Border Meeting GIVE А HAND OF FRIENDSHIP TO NATIONS ALONG THE DANUBE: CULTURAL TREASURES OF EUROPE – BULGARIA – GERMANY – ROMANIA
Step 2
Team building during baking Danube sparrows
Inviting the presidents pf, the clubs and some active members for baking sparrow in the house of the president of UP.
Step 3
Preparing the cross-border meeting
Inviting more than 100 guest from Bulgaria, Germany, Romania and Poland. Event attendees included the Mayor of the Slivo Pole Municipality, the President of the Committee of Social Activities, Education and Healthcare of the Local Parliament (1 participant), the President and representatives of ILEU and DANET, Germany (4 participants), NGO’s in Romania (1 participant), the President of a company from Poland (1 participant), NGO’s in Silistra, Bulgaria (3 participants); members of the Local Government (3 participants), mayors of towns and villages of the Municipality (9 participants), presidents of production and agricultural companies (18 participants), directors of schools and kindergartens (3 participants), centers of rehabilitation and centres of social protection (3 participants), owners of shops (2 participants), clubs of pensioners (44 participants) in the Municipality, in Marten (2 participants) and the University of Ruse (1 participant), etc.
The organizing committee prepared special Letters of Invitation and delivered them to more than 100 persons. The event team purchased gift wrappings, ribbons with the flag of the EU, paper flags of the EU, and paper flags of the European countries to wrap the baked sparrows.
Step 4
Cross-border meeting according to the developed scenario.
Step 5
Visiting the exhibition and tasting the bread products prepared by the pensioners.
Results
The results of the method:
- developing strong cooperation with business, education, social and government organizations for Bulgaria and different countries for joint common activities with the pensioners;;
- becoming aware of the common values of the European countries and the need for joint activities;
- sharing the main problems of the pensioners’ clubs to the representatives of the local parliament;
- building a new leading team of UP;
- preserving the ethnic peace in the Municipality;
- disseminating information about the main areas of interest and the most important, popular or annual activities of UP;
- preparing photos and media presentations of the project Tastes of Danube: Bread Connects.
The emotion results:
For the organizers: It was interested activity for many people. It encouraged them to participate in new projects. The participants planned joint activities between companies, schools, various centres and pensioners’ clubs.
For the guests: They found it interesting and unexpected by so many activities. They expressed their readiness to plan and take part in future joint activities as for example a theatre performance in two languages, life stories for the children and some other undertakings.
For the media: It was interested in the origin of the idea about sharing baked sparrows since there are sparrow stories in Bulgaria as well. Mrs Veska Uzunova and Mrs. Stadelhofer were interviewed with regard to future activities and projects.
website; gallery; media, posters
Variation of the approach
Applying the method in different regions and countries inviting many participants from all ages as representatives of different organizations which can support creative and motivating environment for the pensioners’ activities.
Partner Organistions
| Name | Homepage | Logo |
| Community Center “N. Y. Vaptsarov - 1927”, Babovo | ||
| Secondary school “St. Paisij Hilendarski” | ||
| Centre for Third Age Education, University of Ruse, Bulgaria | ||
| Institute for virtual and face-to-face learning in adult education (ILEU e.V.), Germany | ileu.net |  |
| Danube Networkers for Europe (DANET e. V.) | danube-networkers.eu |  |
| NGO “Nothing is impossible – 3N”, Silistra, Bulgaria | ||
| Union of Pensioners, Calarasi, Romania | ||
| Union of Writers, Giurgiu, Romania |
Responsbile Organistion
| Name | Homepage | Logo |
| The Union of Pensioners of the Municipality of Slivo Pole, including 20 clubs |