Grundtvig Programme Meeting: 12 – 14 June 2009, Nice
According to the work schedule, this meeting was organized and coordinated by Espace Maayane Or Culture in Nice.
The hosting partner was very pleased to welcome 29 participants belonging to our partner organizations in France (Paris), Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the UK.
In addition, visitors from Sweden and from the United States interested in our theme and in our international collaboration attended parts of the meeting.
The meeting in Nice focused on several aspects:
- Update of the ‘Best Practice’ projects: Each participant presented a new activity in volunteer work, which was inspired by the ‘Best Practice’ projects presented by each partner organization at the meeting in Budapest. For instance, Maayane Or Culture, motivated by an example in Lisbon, prepared a booklet with typical family recipes, Les Délices de Maayane Or. The booklet was distributed to all participants. Some recipes were translated in English and/or Spanish and/or German.
- The theme of Jewish Heritage was covered by Rabbi Chaim Weiner in two talks and discussions entitled: ‘History of the Jews in Provence’ and ‘Rabbis of Provence’.
- The subject, ‘Intergation and Immigration’: The invited speaker, Dr André Attia, presented a talk entitled ‘Les Juifs d’Afrique du Nord: des origines à l’exode’. An English translation of this talk (prepared by a local volunteer) was distributed to all participants. A long and fascinating discussion followed the talk.
- Visit to Marseille: Due to the busy agenda there was no special travel to Marseille organized, but participants from Marseilles joined the meeting in Nice to learn more about the strategies of volunteer work.
In addition, the question of the organization of the remaining key tasks was discussed and new teams were formed. The evaluation sheets were distributed.
The local community participated notably in the preparation of the meeting. All food was prepared by volunteers. Local members attended several of the events. Interestingly, after the meeting new volunteers joined the usual Maayane Or team.
This project has been funded by the Grundtvig Programme of the European Commission. This report is part of the assignments agreed in the programme.
