Evens Foundation_Annual Report 2011

EVENS FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2011 Living together harmoniously

CONTENTS

OUR MISSION 3 WHAT WE DO 3 ABOUT THE EVENS FOUNDATION 3 CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE 4 PEACE EDUCATION The Evens Prize for Peace Education 2011 Exchange Seminar for Practitioners in Barcelona Belfedar Intercultural Learning Materials

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MEDIA 10 The Evens Prize for Media Education 2011 11 YoungPress.eu: a conference for young European news and opinion-makers 12 Medialabs, Paris (France) 13

EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP 14 The Evens Arts Prize 2011 15 Buurtschatten 16 Trésors de quartier 16 Poetry Unites Contest 17

EVENS FOUNDATION - Contact 18 2

OUR MISSION

ABOUT THE EVENS FOUNDATION

The Evens Foundation initiates, develops and supports projects that encourage citizens and states to live together harmoniously in a peaceful Europe.

It promotes respect for diversity, both individual and collective, and seeks to uphold physical, psychological and ethical integrity.

The Evens Foundation is a public-benefit foundation with headquarters in Antwerp, Belgium and additional offices in Paris and Warsaw.

WHAT WE DO The Evens Foundation initiates and supports sustainable projects, and awards biennial prizes that contribute to the progress and strengthening of Europe, based on cultural and social diversity, in the fields of:

Created in 1990, it owes its existence to the generosity of the late Mrs Irène Evens-Radzyminska and Mr Georges Evens, philanthropists and European enthusiasts. Of Polish origin, they settled in Antwerp after the Second World War and Mr Georges Evens pursued a remarkable career in the diamond industry. Given his great success in business, they decided to give something back to society – through the Evens Foundation.

• Peace Education • Media • European Citizenship

Mrs Corinne Evens – daughter of the founders, the late Mr Georges Evens and Mrs Irène Evens-Radzyminska – is Honorary President of the Foundation.

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CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE The Evens Foundation has its own special niche within the world of European foundations. It is a small family foundation that works for public benefit. Active since 1996, the Foundation focused, from its very beginnings, on European integration and unity. The personal commitment of the founders, the Evens family, and of the members of the Board and committed staff has left a distinctive stamp on the Foundation’s development and the choices made.

the Arenberg Theatre in Antwerp in October, preceded the official launch of the first YoungPress.eu conference for young journalists from all over Europe. The keynote speech was given

by Paul Lewis, an award-winning journalist at The Guardian newspaper in Britain.

The consequences of the 2009 economic crisis and a general desire to make a greater impact resulted in a Strategic Plan for 2010-2011 that focused on three action domains: Peace Education, Media and European Citizenship. Looking back over the past year, we are pleased to how two years’ hard work began to show concrete results, in particular at the Evens events held during the fall.

Given the continuing economic crisis, the Board of Directors has been paying extra attention to the optimal use of resources, always seeking to increase our efficiency and effectiveness. Necessary decisions were made to strengthen our financial base. Among other things, this resulted in the creation of the Friends of the Evens Foundation fund, as part of the King Baudouin Foundation. Meanwhile, by attracting outside experience, we further professionalized our general management.

Last year we also put a lot of effort into preparing our Strategic Plan for 2012-2013.

I am thinking especially of the first Evens Prize for Peace Education, awarded to the Escola de Cultura de Pau at a ceremony in the City Hall of Barcelona in September 2011.

Preceding this event, we organized a seminar for all the short-listed candidates in order to encourage the exchange of examples of good practices in Europe.

Finally, I would like to give special thanks to everyone who contributed to the development and consolidation of the Foundation over the last year: our donors and all external partners, our committed staff, the members of the Board, and especially Corinne Evens for her consistent support.

Next, the fifth Evens Prize for Art was awarded to the Belgian artist Sven Augustijnen at a ceremony held in October at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. This was another highly visible demonstration of our work in the field of European citizenship, as was the third edition of the Poetry Unites contest in Poland.

The second Evens Prize for Media Education was presented in October to the JFF – Institute of Media Research and Media Education from Munich. The ceremony, which took place in

I hope you enjoy reading this report.

Luc Luyten _ Chairman

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PEACE EDUCATION In the Peace Education program 2011, the first Evens Prize for Peace Education was awarded to the Escola de Cultura de Pau, whose project focused on conflict management training for teachers. We will further develop this approach in the coming years in close consultation with other stakeholders in the field.

Peace education is about teaching and learning the skills and attitudes needed to manage and/or resolve conflicts so that they do not escalate into violence.

It is about developing tolerance, understanding and respect for others, as well as self-respect. It involves an understanding of structural injustice and is inextricably linked to human rights and democracy. It also requires awakening to and accepting one’s own responsibility within and for society.

To raise awareness among educators about positive conflict management, the Evens Foundation also published the French version of Belfedar, a cooperative game developed by the Université de Paix. Following distribution of the game, our partners will be organizing relevant training and workshops.

Above all, the way this learning process is put into practice is of crucial importance.

In the domain of peace education, the Evens Foundation focuses on the educational aspects of conflict management.

This means concentrating on projects and/or scientific research concerning:

Lastly, the Evens Foundation published, in book form, two studies about the intercultural value of educational material in Flanders and the French-speaking community of Belgium.

· New and better insights into the origin of conflict, the conflictual behavior of children and young people, and the resolution of conflict · Attitudes and skills to deal with conflict in a constructive way and consider it as an opportunity · The development of learning material that helps teachers to promote and sensitize people to conflict management and relevant matters, such as the exposure of prejudice

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The Evens Prize for Peace Education 2011 The Escola de Cultura de Pau (ECP), Barcelona (Spain), won the first Evens Prize for Peace Education, which involved 26 projects from 10 EU countries. The ECP was awarded the prize for its teacher training in conflict management, organized in the framework of its peace education program. On 18th March 2011, the ECP was selected as the laureate by an independent jury of experts, from a shortlist of 11 organizations. The prize money of €25,000 will be shared between the awardwinner and dissemination of the winning training program.

The Evens Foundation, which strongly agrees with his sentiments, is grateful to all those who attended and supported the event.

The prize was officially presented to the ECP on 20th September 2011, the eve of the International Day of Peace. The ceremony took place in the City Hall of Barcelona, in the presence of representatives of the City of Barcelona and the Catalan Ministry of Education, a delegation of members of the Flemish Parliament, and the Board of the Evens Foundation.

Website of the laureate: http://escolapau.uab.cat/

In his keynote speech, Mr Federico Mayor, former Director-General of UNESCO and President of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace, stressed the importance of education and, in particular, the role of teachers in changing the world. He also underlined the significance of the moment.

About the Evens Prize for Peace Education 2011 Through this years prize, the Evens Foundation wanted to honor an organization, association or institution that offers training programs to current and/or future teachers in learning how to manage interpersonal and/or intergroup conflict in a positive and constructive way. Learning is considered to be a process of personal change, in the sense that how we learn is as important as the content of that learning.

“The presentation of such a prize at a time of crisis and uncertainty is very meaningful”, he said. “It encourages people to keep working to realize a true culture of peace and at the same time it sets out the course ahead.”

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Jury of the Evens Prize for Peace Education 2011

The Flemish Peace Institute, experienced in the field of peace education research and keen to know more about conflict management education, agreed to co-organize and facilitate the meeting.

· Tomas Baum (chair, Belgium), director of the Flemish Peace Institute · Peter Adriaenssens (Belgium), child psychiatrist and senior lecturer, KU Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven) · Nadia Bellaoui (France), national secretary of La Ligue de l’Enseignement · Magdalena Boguslawska (Poland), director of the Centre for Development of Polish Education Abroad · Maria Carme Boqué Torremorell (Spain), lecturer at the Department of Education, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona · Ilse Hakvoort (Sweden), Lecturer at the Department of Education, Gothenburg University · Philippe Vienne (Belgium), professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Mons, Belgium

During the morning session, the floor was given to the different organizations to present their work to each other, to a delegation of members of the Flemish parliament, and to the boards of the Flemish Peace Institute and the Evens Foundation.

Exchange Seminar for Practitioners in Barcelona

In the afternoon, the Flemish Peace Institute facilitated a round-table meeting for the practitioners and jury members to share lessons learned regarding the strengths of and problems in their work, to examine its European dimensions, and to explore the possibilities for further exchange.

The Evens Foundation decided to seize the opportunity of the Prize for Peace Education award ceremony to invite the jury members and the other selected candidate organizations to Barcelona for an exchange seminar, in order to encourage the sharing of good practice around Europe, to envisage new perspectives, to forge European partnerships, etc. Nine of the 11 selected organizations participated.

To be continued.

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Within the framework of its Peace Education program, the Evens Foundation plans to present this game in various European languages to raise awareness among educators about the importance of constructive group dynamics and positive conflict management. The distribution of the game is the first step in a larger project. In a second phase, our partners will be organizing workshops and training related to the game.

Belfedar “Learn to cooperate while having fun! Preventing violence and managing conflicts differently ... A cooperative game for 4–8 players aged over 10” – Belfedar, an extraordinary new cooperative board-game, is the fruit of a partnership between the University of Peace (Namur, Belgium) and the Evens Foundation.

The game’s French version, which was the first to appear, is on sale at the University of Peace (Belgium and other countries) and Non-Violence Actualité (France).

For more news about Belfedar and associated events (exhibitions, workshops, training, etc), please visit www.belfedar.org regularly.

The game encourages constructive communication and a sense of belonging to a group. It also helps to develop useful social skills in order to prevent violence and manage conflicts positively. These objectives are pursued through amusing exercises designed to better understand both oneself and others, develop self-esteem, and encourage creative expression, and the expression and management of emotions, listening, cooperation, etc.

The 250 challenges offered are active and interactive: mime, drawings, word-games, writing, movement, singing, and so on. The goal is to create a pleasant, playful and encouraging atmosphere as the players employ a variety of means of expression. But the game is not only entertaining due to its diversity, it is also an opportunity for everyone to exercise their particular talents as the players combine resources to successfully complete the challenges.

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Intercultural Learning Materials The Intercultural Learning Materials project was initiated in Belgium in 2007 to raise awareness – in particular among publishers and authors of school books – about the importance of intercultural educational tools that reflect the diversity of Belgian society.

Two research studies into the intercultural value of educational material – in Flanders and in the French-speaking community – were commissioned by the Evens Foundation and carried out in 2007 and 2009 respectively.

The research reports, which show many similarities, both demonstrate that the contents of school books insufficiently reflect the diversity that makes up Belgian society.

In 2011 the Evens Foundation published both studies in book form, with prefaces by the respective ministers of education.

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MEDIA In the media domain, the Evens Foundation will continue to work in particular on projects that promote a harmonious Europe by:

To promote harmonious living together, the Evens Foundation seeks to stimulate efforts to increase media literacy – by raising critical awareness, which implies comprehension and cultural awareness, and by encouraging media creativity.

· Enhancing the media literacy of citizens, with special focus on media education for children and young people

Both of these activities contribute to the development of highly aware, active and responsible citizens. According to the European Commission, media literacy “should help citizens to recognize how the media filter their perceptions and beliefs, shape popular culture and influence personal choices”.

· Raising understanding of how the media influence perceptions and convictions · Encouraging a strong sense of responsibility among journalists and editors, and in particular young journalists, so that they use the power of journalism to reduce conflict and promote harmony in European society · Researching the role of the new social media in both conflict and conflict management

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characterized the Generations in Dialogue project as both powerful and innovative, pointing out that the JFF had developed a strong format that added an intergenerational dimension to well-established media educational strategies.

The prize money of €20,000 will be used to create a new dimension for the winning project. The jury gave a special recommendation to Polska.doc from the Polish Association of Creative Initiatives „ ę “ and to Animateca – The Mediactive Public Library from the Italian Sistema Imprese Sociali, a consortium of social cooperatives.

JURY OF THE EVENS PRIZE FOR MEDIA EDUCATION 2011

The Evens Prize for Media Education 2011

· Evelyne Bevort (chair, France), director of CLEMI, the French ministerial agency for media education · Caroline Pauwels (Belgium), director of SMIT, the academic research team on Media, Information and Telecommunication, Free University of Brussels · Sara Pereira (Portugal), docent of Communications at the University of Minho, former laureate of the Evens Prize for Media Education (2009) · Mark Reid (United Kingdom), head of the Education Department of the British Film Institute, former laureate of the Evens Prize for Media Education (2009) · Mircea Toma (Romania), psychologist, journalist, founder of the Romanian Press Monitoring Agency

JFF – Institute of Media Research and Media Education, Munich (Germany) won the second Evens Prize for Media Education, for which 57 projects from 17 EU countries had been submitted.

JFF was selected by an external international jury of experts for a media education project (Generationen im Dialog), that was organized 11 times all over Bavaria during the last year and a half. It is a participatory project in which socially disadvantaged young people (around 15 participants aged 14- 20) produce a media-related product, such as a television broadcast, an exposition relating to the Internet, a documentary, an audio guide, etc. They collaborate with a group of about 10 people aged 60 and above.

The Evens Prize for Media Education 2011 was under the patronage of Mrs Androulla Vassiliou, member of the European Commission, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth.

The jury described JFF as an exemplary media educational institute, with a long tradition and a healthy and nuanced view of young people’s media use. It

Website of the winning project: http://www.jff.de/generationen

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YoungPress.eu: a conference for young European news and opinion-makers

concluded his talk with a very positive message: “The truth, then, is that the digital era could be ushering in a golden age for journalism. Today’s generation of young journalists can contemplate a future in which the possibilities of what can be reported are massively expanded […] And even though the sale of printed words on paper may be consigned to history, audiences could be larger and more engaged than journalists would ever have imagined. That, at least, is good news.”

In the following days, keynote lectures were given on each of the four conference themes: · The omnipresence of ‘instant’ media – Henk Blanken · High-quality journalism under threat – Stefan Candea · The spread of biased information – Annabel McGoldrick · New models and experimentation by independent journalists – Alex Wood Participative workshops on each theme followed the lectures.

During the final interactive debate with Flemish Minister of Media Ingrid Lieten, European Parliament Member Marietje Schaake, De Groene Amsterdammer publisher Teun Gautier, and Paul Lewis, the young journalists mainly expressed their worries about financial insecurity and the lack of a sustainable professional perspective.

In 2011 Antwerp (Belgium) was the European Youth Capital. The Evens Foundation and StampMedia seized this opportunity to organize a transnational exchange on the challenges for and responsibilities of newsmakers.

For the first YoungPress.eu conference, we invited 100 young journalists from all over Europe to take part in reflection and debate on the future of news broadcasting, using a series of polemical questions as the starting points for the discussions.

Overall, the first YoungPress.eu conference was a great success. The young participants, the speakers and the organizers all expressed enthusiasm about organizing a followup event.

The conference was launched with a memorable keynote speech by Paul Lewis, special projects coordinator at The Guardian newspaper. Although journalism is obviously in a state of transition and some people believe that newspapers as we know them might disappear in the near future, Paul

Website: www.YoungPress.eu 12

Medialabs, Paris (France) Within the framework of its Media program, the Evens Foundation initiates and supports local structures for media production. Young people aged between 15 and 25 are introduced to the issues and techniques of news production.

The objectives are to: · Enhance the young people’s ability to reflect critically on dominant media discourses · Develop their creative capacities and propose a platform for expression · Involve the young citizens in the public life of their locality In 2011, the Evens Foundation supported two strong projects, each with its own distinct approach: StreetPress is an online, participatory media platform maintained by young journalists in Paris. To enlarge its network of correspondents, StreetPress runs a training program to initiate young people into the job of reporter, in the spirit of citizen journalism. In 2011, with the support of the Evens Foundation, StreetPress developed a new project: Street School, an introduction to journalism for young people from various social backgrounds (to be launched in 2012).

The association Plus Loin is developing non-formal learning projects in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. The Evens Foundation and the association coordinate the project Fais tourner l’info in which young residents learn to analyze the media and produce their own reports and documentaries on current issues and topics concerning local social life. A dedicated Internet site and Facebook page, which the young people set up and manage, serve as an online medium for them.

The project is supported by ARCADI, Établissement public de coopération culturelle, Île de France.

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EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP Major steps have been taken toward creating a peaceful, democratic and multicultural society in Europe. The Evens Foundation seeks to contribute to this process by raising people’s awareness of the need for peace-building and by collaborating with those who work to maintain harmony in European society.

The Foundation also seeks to empower citizens and encourage them to take an active part in shaping the future of Europe.

In the European Citizenship program, the Evens Foundation focuses on projects at both local and European level.

At local level, the Foundation has initiated and supported peacebuilding initiatives in the three cities where it is represented: Antwerp, Paris and Warsaw. At European level, the Evens Arts Prize contributes in its own way to our mission of promoting ‘living together harmoniously’ in Europe.

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The Evens Arts Prize 2011 In 2011, the Evens Foundation awarded its fifth Arts Prize to Sven Augustijnen (Belgium). The artist was selected by an independent jury from a list of 20 internationally acclaimed artists, nominated by representatives of major European art institutions.

The artist’s work both undermines and expands the traditional codes of documentary practice and questions the narratives underlying current political and social practices in Europe.

The public presentation of the award took place on 17th October 2011 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The award-winner’s film Spectres was screened at the event.

The Evens Arts Prize of €15,000 was presented by Alain Seban, President of the Centre Pompidou. The screening was followed by a discussion with Sven Augustijnen; Bernard Blistène, Director of the Department of Cultural Development of the Centre Pompidou, and the philosopher Dork Zabunyan.

In 2011, solo exhibitions of work by Sven Augustijnen took place at the Wiels Center for Contemporary Art (Brussels), the Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, the Kunsthalle Bern and de Appel Amsterdam. A special screening of Spectres was held at the Tate Modern (London) on 22nd November 2011, co-organized by the Evens Foundation.

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Buurtschatten The Evens Foundation and Samenlevingsopbouw Antwerpen, a community organization in Antwerp-North, founded the Buurtschatten project, which is based on the ABCD methodology (asset-based community development) and Can Do (community development based on resources from within the community).

The Foundation has given the project continuous support, both in shaping the project and in financing a community fund. This fund is designed according to the overall guidelines for community foundations; that is, a fund that serves a geographically defined area, is set up to address local needs, and is governed by a group of local residents, who are the real experts and decision-makers. The overall project is managed

by Samenlevingsopbouw Antwerpen.

TrĂŠsors de quartier In 2011, the Evens Foundation continued to support TrĂŠsors de quartier, in partnership with the city of Sevran (France), in the northern suburbs of Paris. The project involves an innovative practice of collaboration between a private foundation and a municipality. In line with the Buurtschatten project, it is based on the active participation of residents.

It encourages them to work together to develop their neighborhood, while reinforcing their social ties.

Buurtschatten challenges residents to realize their own projects that improve the quality of life in their community.

Residents indeed have a fantastic ability to enthuse others about their ideas, and the perseverance to put them into effect.

Buurtschatten provides a framework and, if necessary, financial support for such projects.

In contrast to the traditional approach of focusing on problems and gaps in problem areas, the project starts from a positive angle: activate local resources and the competences of the inhabitants in order to start development from the inside. The residents propose ideas to improve life in the neighborhood, and then a residents’ jury selects the best projects and entrusts the inhabitants with implementing them. A community fund, created by the Evens Foundation and the city municipality, provides financing.

In 2011 we focused in particular on the expansion of the project to other districts in Antwerp and on exploring ways to make the project self-sustaining. We concluded our funding of this project and we are pleased to see that it receives the recognition that it deserves.

Meanwhile, residents have continued to propose and implement their ideas to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood, including a sewing atelier, a public protest against bus traffic in a neighborhood with many children, an art project in which children portray older people in the neighborhood, and a storytelling project about migration, including the stories of longtime residents confronted with an influx of migrants, as well as many other initiatives.

In 2011, projects included: a fitness club open to all and supervised by a team of young volunteers, garden workshops that brought children and adults together, open-air cinema, and a public terrace.

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Poetry Unites Contest Poetry Unites is a project initiated and coordinated by the Evens Foundation in Poland. It consists of a series of fiveminute films in which a poetry lover speaks about his or her life in the context of presenting a favorite poem. Since 2006, the films have been broadcast on Polish TV to millions of viewers.

Poetry Unites – My Favorite Poem contest The fourth Evens Foundation contest for the best essay, titled My Favorite Poem, was launched in Poland under the patronage of Polish Minister for Education Katarzyna Hall and Polish Minister for Culture Bogdan Zdrojewski, and in Germany under the patronage of Minister for Culture Bernd Neumann, on 1st November 2011 The contest is open to all schools and all grades in Poland and Germany. Three best essay awards were given in each country.

The winners will be featured in short films, which will be shown on public TV. They will also be invited along with their teachers to the concluding contest gala event at the Akademie der KĂźnste, Berlin on 9th June 2012.

The jury in Poland, headed by Adam Zagajewski, a poet and professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago, chose winning essays from 270 entries. The jury in Germany, headed

by Michael Kruger, a publisher, poet, intellectual and Director of Literaturwerksatt Thomas Wohlfahrt, chose three winners from 280 entries.

The contest was announced with the cooperation of the Literaturwerkstatt in Berlin, the Polish Ministry of Education and the Polish-German youth organization DPJW.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

· Corinne Evens – Co-founder and Honorary President · Luc Luyten – Chairman · Yolande Avontroodt · Angélique Berès · Jacques Ehelberg · Daniel Kropf · Ernest Van Buynder · Xavier Vidal

· Luc Luyten – Chairman · Corinne Evens · Xavier Vidal

Editor Guido Knops

THE EVENS TEAM Guido Knops – General Program Manager

Antwerp · Tim Verbist – Program Manager Media · Marjolein Delvou – Program Manager Peace Education · Jan Morrens – Project Manager, Webmaster (to 31/10/2011) · Caroline Coosemans – Office Administration

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Paris Warsaw

Evens Foundation © 2012 Evens Foundation www.evensfoundation.be

· Joanna Krawczyk – Program Manager Poland (from March 2012) · Ewa Zadrzynska – Project Manager Poetry Unites · Magdalena Braksator – Project Manager

LAY-OUT www.in-depth.be

· Anne Davidian – Program Manager France

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Evens Foundation Stoopstraat 1, 5th floor B-2000, Antwerpen T +32-3-231 39 70 F +32-3-233 94 32 antwerp@evensfoundation.be Paris office 7, rue Charles V F-75004 Paris T +33-1-44 54 83 90 F +33-1-44 54 83 80 paris@evensfoundation.be Warsaw office Ul. Wilcza 8 m 10 PL-00-532 Warszawa T +48 22 621 6683 F +48 22 629 4022 warsaw@evensfoundation.be

www.evensfoundation.be