[debate-l] IDEA Exchange - call for papers!

[Jurate Motiejunaite]

IDEA Exchange 2007 will feature an Academic Conference and Capacity
Building Workshops. 
 
Academic Conference is part of IDEA Exchange 2007, which will take place
in Kaunas, Lithuania on November 7-9, 2007. The topic of the academic
conference is Debate in the Neighborhood: Community Outreach Through
Debate. We welcome presentations of academic papers, reports, reports on
debate programs and projects related to the topic of the conference. 
 
Proposals: Please submit your 250 word proposal and the paper for your
15-20 minute presentation at a conference to Jurate Motiejunaite at
jmotiejunaite at idebate.org by September 10, 2007. The proposals will be
reviewed by experts from IDEA, Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas,
Lithuania) and University of Amsterdam (Amsterdam, the Netherlands). 
The papers at the conference could deal with a variety of topics, such
as the benefits and drawbacks of introducing debate in the
neighborhoods; the specific debate methodologies to be used for
community outreach; reports on similar projects in other countries, and
others. 
 
Location: IDEA Exchange will take place at Vytautas Magnus University,
Kaunas, Lithuania.
 
Fees: The conference is free for IDEA individual members. For non-idea
members it is 15 euro. The participants need to take care of their own
accommodation and meals. However, the organizers will provide you with
the contact information of a travel agent who will assist you with
finding accommodation in Kaunas. 
 
About Debate in the Neighborhood:
Debate in the Neighborhood (DIN), as a concept, has developed from a
project started by IDEA in the Netherlands. 
Neighborhood is the most immediate space where people of different ages,
ethnic and educational backgrounds meet and live together. Sadly, in
many countries people, especially youth in the neighborhoods are divided
by class, ethnicity and age, so that some of them are not involved in
the decision making processes in their neighborhood or in the country as
a whole. Many neighborhoods are homes and meeting places for
disadvantaged youth, who remain in the margins of democratic processes
and are affected by decisions they did not participate in making. 
The introduction of debate in the neighborhoods aims to provide youth in
disadvantaged neighborhoods with skills and knowledge necessary to
understand the democratic participation, and have the means to
participate in the decision making processes. Ultimately, the
introduction of debate methodologies in the non-formal education of
youth in the neighborhoods, together with debates on actual topics aims
to stimulate tolerance and communication between different age and
ethnic groups in the neighborhoods; to improve the participation of
disadvantaged groups in the democratic processes in the society; and to
improve social cohesion within neighborhoods. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jurate Motiejunaite
IDEA-NL Executive Director
Tel.: +37061119740
Fax.: +370 37384135
 
 
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