Phare LIEN

(Basic Adult Education as the Path Back into Society)

The two year Phare LIEN – Basic Adult Education as the Path Back into Society pilot project in Hungary was mainly aimed at basic adult education of the Roma in Hungary and the promotion of their re-integration in the society and the labour market.

By focusing on formal and non-formal competences needed by the Roma for effective participation in society and for learning, the project in Hungary pursued the following considerations:

• raising the level of literacy and written communication as well as communication skills and abilities of the Roma;
• promoting the understanding of responsibility towards the society in which they live and where they enjoy rights and have duties;
• understanding and acceptance of a multicultural environment and
• management of everyday life.

The programme was not only aimed at improving literacy of the Roma in Hungary but also at teachers, researchers and other stakeholders in education to see the Roma minority in the country not as a burden but rather in terms of the prosperity and benefits minorities and vulnerable groups bring to the society.

During the pilot stage of the project in Hungary, 72 functionally illiterate persons and 600 unemployed adults from the Roma community in Hungary took part in literacy programmes at three secondary schools. In addition to the identification of the target groups and its needs, the project also included activities involving active participation of education participants and active working meetings of programme designers and project partners.

The Slovenian Institute for Adult Education disseminated its experience with vulnerable adult literacy programme implementation in Slovenia as a partner of the Phare LIEN project within the scope of project carried out in Hungary. The project involved the exchange of international experience and good practices of the project partners and thus brought new insight and considerations about the possibilities, methods and the organisation of the inclusion and encouragement of vulnerable adult groups to take part in education or join the labour market not only in Hungary but also in other European countries.