European partners of the international project of Grundtvig continuing education successfully held their first meeting in Riga, Latvia at the end of September. The program received grant from the European Union. Russian-speaking societies and organizations of Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Finland, Greece, Bulgaria and Latvia are involved with this new project. Workshop participants had the opportunity to meet and discuss different issues with the program.
List of participants:
Aili Mehilyaynen and Toivo Tupin ("Inkeri" society, Finland)
Anna Portnik ("RUSSIANSinUK" community, London, Great Britain)
Dr SergeiRozhkov (Russian Academic Union in Bulgaria)
Marina Ratchina and Dr.Dmitri Piterski ("Russian-speaking pensioners club")
The project aim is to study the social situation of Russian-speaking immigrants of pre-retirement and retirement age and to develop recommendations and guidelines for their integration process into economic, social and linguistic environment of the country.
The project will last up to 2 years. Each country participating has its own additional task lists. Thus, the United Kingdom is responsible for creating a website, Germany is responsible for the galleries and video archives, Bulgaria is to conduct a case study.
Special attention will be paid to older immigrants dealing with problems of isolation and loneliness. One of the partners is the Russian Newspaper ‘Chas’ published in Riga, Latvia. They will publish materials, news and articles about the project. The projects partners will exchange practical experience on how to help immigrants from the ex-USSR to integrate into the democratic structures of their new country.
