Project: fixed post your treasure

The Mezőtúr Cultural and Sport Public Benefit Nonprofit Ltd. was founded by the Municipality of Mezőtúr in 2009. The company has 22 employees including altogether 8 graduates in the field of public education, community development and public collection. Its tasks include public education at local level, the maintenance of the Túr Pottery Museum and the rural heritage building, and the organization of sports events. The headquarters of the company is the town community centre, which houses most of the local CSOs the members of the majority of which are mainly pensioners. Therefore it can be stated that the institution is the centre of cultural life of the elderly community. There is a heritage conservation group that nurtures old traditions; a folk embroidery group, a folk singing group, a photo club – with more than 100 members altogether. It is also in close contact with the Bodoki Fodor Local History Association, which manages the town’s local history collection, and also runs a genealogy club which comprises members of the older generation and has 15-20 core members gathering on a weekly basis. It organizes balls, excursions, quiz events and performances for the groups. The Túr Pottery Museum is the museum of the town, the collection of which comprises the material and documentary material of the local ceramic culture and is one of the largest public collections of its kind in the country. In addition to exhibitions and professional events, the museum education program is a significant part of the institution's work - we have been organizing such events for visitors between kindergarten and retirement age for 15 years now. 3 members of our staff is involved in the organization of these programmes that attract around 500-600 participants a year.

The Martfu city Cultural Center and Library is a complex cultural institution, which is responsible for the rich cultural life of the citizens of Martfű. Equipped with great infrastructure and located in an imposing building, operates the library, along with a local- and industrial history collection, a cinema and the office of the local news media. All areas of culture, education and Leisure is available for all age groups. The goal of the institution’s cultural programs, is to grow the cultural awareness of all visitors, provide opportunity to understand it, provide entertainment and active recreation inside with its community events. It also took the responsibility to host and organize local events, national holidays, twin town meetings and international programs. It’s also the operator of the Martfű house of Craftsmanship, that comprises of a gingerbread baking workshop and a folk furniture exhibition hall. All these tasks are handled by 12 permanent and 8 employees from the public work program. Or main policy is to build cultural development as a significant social development program. We believe that culture have a significant influence on the individual, the community and the Society. We believe, that the meaningful cultural life sustains the healthy working of our community, our modernization progress, and enriches the life of the citizens of our city. The museum collections goal is to strengthen the identity of our citizens, pointing out the importance of cultural heritage. it plays a central role of planning events and programs. Using the past to gain wisdom on problems in the present times: Choice of role in the society, intergenerational relationship, alienation. The institution is a central for civil organizations. It supports more than 10 organizations, most of them comprising of senior citizens. The Cultural Center provides a location for linguistic, scientific, mental-hygienic lectures and courses. Among the Motional, artistic and heritage-preserving groups, the groups related to the library and or local heritage collection, we provide meaningful leisure time activities and opportunity for learning for all age groups. Visitors of regularly scheduled events exceeds 600 and our larger events draws in 2000-3000 people. Elderly people are regular visitors of events, they actively participate in performances, exhibitions, and holiday celebrations, museum and library events as part of a civil group, or individually.

USO is a non-formal education institution with a major role in the community, created in 1994, open to all people in the county, over 55 years of age, from the most varied social backgrounds and levels of education. Uso has around 100 teachers ( 99% are unpaid), 600 students, 160 classes and four staff (paid). Through the various disciplines, it aims to stimulate curiosity, thinking, reflection and critical thinking, with the intention of opening new horizons to its students, making them effective in action, truly participating in the community, in the form of various actions: volunteering, social entrepreneurship, local intervention in different organisms and activities, made available to the whole community. USO offers a wide variety of themes and disciplines, covering Physical Activities (dance, lian gong, chi kung, pilates, ...), various Plastic Arts classes, Performing Arts (Singing, Music, Cinema, Theater and various instruments), Physical, Mental and Emotional Health Education , foreign Languages, Philosophy, History, Geography, Law, Traditional Arts , aiming to foster a more participative life and thus promoting self-esteem. The USO is guided by practices and knowledge of fundamental updating and innovation in cultural development, such as:

• to combat myths related to old age and aging processes
• develop active participation
• motivate social interaction
• provoke generational interaction
• Encourage human values of solidarity and sharing
• preservation of a collective memory
• to relativize judgments, to respect differences, to facilitate integrations, to promote discussions.

Future Focus has been working on the topic of senior education for a number of years now. Basically, the elderly people organise story telling sessions and children from different schools listen to their stories. The stories are then written and compiled into a book which language teachers use to teach English or any other language in which the stories are written. The elderly people really enjoy these sessions as it gives them the opportunity to tell their own stories and experience. It also helps to document information about the different ways of life in different countries. Newark School from Malta is one of the schools we work with.

During this Erasmus + project the children collected the stories from the elderly people and then a number of activities were carried out to teach language and culture. It was a very interesting experience to work with the children, the teachers and the elderly people.

Our organisation helps to organise activities to encourage people to be more active and more often thus reducing the risk of obesity and problems associated with lack of exercise. Together with the Malta Health and Exercise Association we have organised a number of walking activities in addition to indoor activities for the elderly. These activities are very enjoyable and the participation is very good. A number of speakers are invited to give information about different topics that improve the health and quality of life of the elderly.

Active Citizens Partnership es una ONG con sede en el noreste de Grecia y oficina en Atenas. Tiene una amplia experiencia en el diseño y apoyo de programas que abordan las necesidades sociales y de formación contemporáneas a nivel nacional y europeo. Con la ayuda del Estado y de la Unión Europea ha desarrollado medidas para prevenir y abordar los problemas sociales y ayudar a los grupos vulnerables.

Con el fin de proporcionar un servicio de alta calidad desarrolla y opera actividades innovadoras relacionadas con:

- Estudios e investigaciones en el ámbito de la educación y la formación no formal

- Desarrollo y aplicación de la formación mejorada por la tecnología

- Programa de lengua griega para refugiados e inmigrantes

- Asesoramiento y tutoría empresarial con especial atención a los desempleados y a las mujeres.

- Apoyo psicosocial y asesoramiento para inmigrantes, refugiados, personas sin hogar, desempleados de larga duración, personas con características religiosas o culturales, etc.

- Asesoramiento a los trabajadores para mejorar sus condiciones de trabajo

- Programas de asesoramiento para mujeres desempleadas de larga duración y mujeres amenazadas por el desempleo.

- Programas para jóvenes con problemas de aprendizaje de grupos minoritarios.

- Formación para inmigrantes, refugiados, personas con características religiosas y culturales como los gitanos, los musulmanes griegos, los sin techo, etc.

- Programas para reforzar la capacidad de acceso al empleo de personas afectadas por la pobreza y la exclusión social.