Thematic Area: Regional or Minority Languages

EU Programme: (Inexistent)

Title of the project: Evrošola/Euroschool

Lead Institution/Consortium of Partners:

Introduction

The Evrošola project consisted of a three-day event (beginning on Thursday, ending on Sunday morning) of approx. 400 children and teachers, members of language minorities throughout Europe. Half of the children were members of the Slovenian Minority in Italy, the other half were members of other European linguistic minorities. The three-day event was to take place on the territory of the Slovenian minority in Italy in 1995.

Evrošola is the original name of the project. The title of the project is composed by two words: euro + school, as translated in the language of the hosting community/minority, the Slovenian community in Italy.

Selection of possible EU; finding, collecting and analyzing calls for proposals

Initially, the project proposal was not linked to a specific EU programme call, but it was linked to the idea that such an event was necessary. When such a need was determined, the search for funding started.

EBLUL and the international network of national minorities had already carried out similar projects in other communities, so they relied on previous experiences on where and how collect the funds. Therefore, the proposal was prepared on the basis of previous experiences on how to write EU proposals. The consortium used the available information on the EU website and did not use other bibliographic sources to reinforce its proposal.

Other sources of funding

The EU funding accounted for 20 - 25 % of the total cost of the event, including contributions in kind. The remaining 75 - 80 % of the funding was covered by self-funding and contributions in kind. Obtaining EU funding was important, since it represented an excellent starting point in terms of raising necessary funds for the project from local governments and other institutions.

Partners

The preparation of Evrošola rested on two organizing committees: an international committee and a local committee.

The international committee cooperated closely with the local committees of the previous three editions of the project - the ones that had been realized in other minority communities before 1995, when Evrošola was carried out.

The international committee helped with its suggestions and experiences from previous editions and visited the Slovenian minority one year before the event. Members of the international committee had some experience in working together on previous editions of the project.

In the case of Evrošola the local organizing body was a public authority of the area. The prime responsibility to organize the three-day event rested on this local organizing body - the already mentioned local committee.

Finally, important partners were also the minorities participating in the three day event. They were fully integrated, especially in the programme of the event and to a lesser extent in the phase of the proposal preparation. Once the programme was agreed upon, every participating minority had to come to the event fully prepared (with its own cultural programme, the knowledge of the common song, etc.)

Internal communication among partners was carried out primarily by telephone and e-mail.

The aims/purposes of the project

The aims of Evrošola were as follows:

-To build bonds among pupils and teachers of minority schools in Europe.
-To raise sensitivity for the Slovenian linguistic community by means of a large, imposing event.
-To initiate a closer cooperation among linguistic minority schools.

Collecting and taking into account experiences of other projects

The international and local committees searched for similar projects that could help design Evrošola, mostly among national projects and projects of cooperation among minorities. These previous experiences were fully taken into account when designing the proposal of Evrošola.

The committees contacted those responsible for projects that had already been funded under earlier calls for proposals in the same budget line. These interactions were very fruitful in both preparing the proposal and later on in carrying out the project. Such a step was regarded as an essential part of the EU proposal designing procedure.

The main problems/difficulties

There were no studies or surveys carried out prior to the designing process of Evrošola, since the project was based on the recognition of a need, more than on previous researches. There was a synergy of interests of the people and organizations involved, consisting of a need for better knowledge of the minority reality and a need for closer cooperation among linguistic minorities.

The main problems/difficulties appeared in regard to the participation of the Slovenian community at the project. Although all the participant minorities had to work hard for the event (pupils had to learn a common song, to learn essential words in Slovenian, to prepare a cultural program, etc.), the main problem was to persuade Slovenian teachers and parents to participate in the project. The project rested heavily on the financial burden that ca. 200 families of the Slovenian community had to undertake - in the form of the already mentioned contributions in kind. The 200 children that came from abroad were hosted by Slovenian families. For three days mothers had to turn into cooks and hotel-managers, fathers into drivers. The main beneficiary of the project was the Slovenian community as a whole, while the heaviest burden of the realization was on the Slovenian families.

To meet the interests of the participating minorities, as well as the interests of stakeholders within the Slovenian minority, the need for on-going communication and adjustments had to be met.

Selection of the topic

The project Evrošola fit perfectly in budget line B7-1007, as the previous editions of the project did. It should be acknowledged that previous and successive editions of the project had been carried out with funds originating in the same budget line. Although EU funding was not sufficient to cover the costs of the whole project, it was essential. Since in 2003 the above mentioned budget line was dropped, the project could not have been carried out any more.

Setting up the team to devise and design the proposal

The distribution of tasks among team members of the local committee was very clear and specific. Each team member had to work out and plan part of the project that was summarized in the proposal. Someone's responsibility were for example logistics, cultural program, sports program, accounting or PR and publications.

Determining the work plan and time

The work plan was clear, with exactly defined competencies and duties. The deadlines had to be met and were not flexible.

Funding and Budget issues

The local committee did not have to read the financial statements of the call for proposals and didn't have to follow carefully the EU standards related to travel and accommodation, since the call for proposal at that time (1995) was not so demanding, and nor was the nature of the project. The participating minorities had to raise their own funding for travel costs. Therefore, most of the project costs, included in the budget, were related directly to the three-day event that took place in Italy. The person in charge of accounting was the one who prepared the budget for the proposal.
The project proposal was prepared on time, bearing in mind the deadlines of the call for proposal. The deadline was easily met.

The proposal explained every aspect of the project and was consistent with the European principles and criteria, as for instance the dissemination results (PR, publications), evaluations criteria and process (meeting of teachers and committees in order to prepare suggestions for the next edition of the project), European dimension (the participation of linguistic minorities from throughout Europe), etc.