South Eastern Europe

Since the early 1990s, DVV International has been active in Southeastern Europe. Currently, the Institute maintains its own country offices in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.

The main objectives are to modernise the existing structures of adult education and to secure access to adult education as well as to increase the quality of the offers. The focus is on measures that:

• create better opportunities for workers in the national and international labour market;
• to spread tolerance and reflection as a foundation for democracy and civil society;
• to enable and enhance social integration and participation, especially for marginalised groups and particularly for the disadvantaged.

The integration of Southeast Europe into the European Union also gets a special attention. Our partners from civil society and the public sector have different experience as regards the opportunities and challenges of an approach toward the EU in education. DVV International therefore promotes the exchange of experience within Southeastern Europe and the European network. Through tailored study tours, international conferences and the European network of the European Association for the Education of Adults, the Institute brings in technical expertise and supports the rebuilding  of a system in which everyone has access to educational opportunities, remedial education for school-leaving certificates and lifelong learning.

The cooperation and networking between countries is systematically supported primarily at the level of trainers and adult education providers in joint events. An example is the “Andragogical Regional Academy” with a target group of adult educators as well as leaders in the education sector, while most of the week-long trainings get new impetus from regional competencies that spread a variety of topics mediated by training, and exchange: from the basics of adult education to the management of educational institutions.