Grundtvig Programme Training Seminar: 12 – 14 September 2008, London
The seminar was organized by Professionals and Volunteers within the community. It was led by Rabbi Chaim Weiner and Gillian Caplin, with input into the seminar sessions provided by Cheryl Sklan, a professional psychotherapist and leadership consultant.
Participants had each been asked to prepare a short presentation about their situation, their activities and their structure. These presentations were shared and discussed.
Up to three participants from each partner organization were invited and the range of ages, experience, skills and knowledge was extremely wide.
The aims of this weekend were (1) to create a dynamic interaction between the partner communities and to generate involvement in the partnership programme and (2) to spend a full day on lay leadership training, focusing primarily on the involvement and support of volunteers within the communities and (3) to get to know each other better and to exchange information about the different situations in the different countries and organizations.
Informal visits in the local area were also arranged as were meals and meetings with local representatives, both of which gave occasion for informal learning. In addition there was a guided tour of London, which gave an historical and cultural perspective on the Jews in England.
An evaluation of the meeting was circulated to all partners, who were then encouraged to reflect on what they had learned and how they could apply this to their home communities. This information was then put on the wiki that has been created for this purpose.
During this meeting we also began to see what difficulties might be encountered during the partnership – e.g. language, cultural differences – which will need to be discussed further during subsequent meetings.
