The project’s second transnational partners’ meeting took place in Caserta from 6 to 7 October 2022, and it was hosted by Arcipelago APS from Italy. Members of the established project team from each partners organisation were present at the meeting, including both old and newer ones. During the meeting, the project team discuss on the progress of the project since the last face-to-face meeting, reviewed shared contributions and defined the next steps.
The 2-day agenda of the meeting consisted of the following areas of work:
- Progress reporting on the research development – stage of good and bad practices collection, interviews and focus groups
- Presentation of the updated structure/skeleton of the PR2 design – first tasks and implementation
- Impact analysis and project evaluation
- Project dissemination and visual elements (logo)
- Project administration and next steps
During this meeting, the partners focused on the progress of the two first results, the research report findings and analyses, as well as the courses collection, structure and implementation, and finally on horizontal activities of the project such as impact assessment, dissemination and administration.
In terms of the research report the partners reviewed in depth the 2 main good practices suggested by each partner, and briefly went through the extra practices analysis. During this stage, the partners were tasked to decide the most optimal way of representation for the chosen practices so that they could be represented in a fluid and multidimensional manner.
Concerning the bibliographical and field research analysis, the partners had already decided from the kickoff meeting to adapt the ladder of participation model to the new findings and analyses. Considering the more ideas were discussed on the way of representation of participation (most prevalent suggestion that of a cube complementary to the ladder) the partners defined 5 new criteria for the transformation of Arnstein’s Ladder of participation (1969) which are namely: 1) Citizens’ control, 2) Partnership, 3) Consultation (quality of dialogue), 4) Placation, 5) Therapy.
All discussions and contributions will be gathered and analysed by the VHS team (who also coordinate this result), and will be adapted and integrated for the publication.
Concerning the 2nd result of the project, AONTAS team who coordinate its implementation and publication, suggested to change the format to “events with learners”. The aim of the result is to integrate political participation as a standard aspect of basic education. This can happen in many ways, but considering the timeline, the most feasible approach is to develop participatory activities which can be then used by organisations in their own educational programs. So, the leaders of the result will provide all partners with a common skeleton for the development of these transferrable activities.