The International Network of Penitentiary Education in the Countries of Eastern Partnership and Central Asia

The International Network of Penitentiary Education in the Countries of Eastern Partnership and Central Asia (PEN)  was created in May 2017 and officially began functioning on July 18, 2017. It consolidated the experiences and cooperation of DVV International and partners in Armenia,  Eastern Partnership Countries (Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova) as well as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan in support of  broadening access to education for prison inmates.

The network is a voluntary association of organizations and individuals that  aims to advance  the right to education in penitentiary and post-penitentiary facilities and  promote  education as an effective means of reintegrating (ex-)prisoners/ inmates into society. The founders of the network are 13 organizations including 12 local non-governmental and state organizations and as well as DVV International) represented by branch offices in 7 countries (Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine).

See more here. 

Active for Education in Prison 2.0

Brief overview of the project
The aim of the project is to expand professional exchange and international cooperation between DVV International country offices, German prison education authorities and local partners in Armenia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. 
The project contributes to the development of the International Network for Prison Education in the countries of Eastern Partnership Region and Central Asia  in Armenia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine and promotes the human rights to education in prisons. As a result, PEN-Network promotes the right to education for (ex-)prisoners in Armenia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. 
The project activities aim to increase the number of NGOs working in prison, strengthen their capacity to work with prisoners and ex-prisoners and organize innovative educational programmes for them. Another objective is to strengthen the interaction of civil society actors with the media and journalists in order to mainstream the rights of prisoners in the media and society.
Direct target groups of the project: 

  •  Members of the civil society organizations from Armenia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine (members of the PEN-Network);
  •  Civil society activists (who will increase their knowledge of educational activities with (ex-) prisoners and implement their mini-projects); 
  • Representatives of the media (who gain an understanding of the human rights situation in prisons and penitentiary institutions); 
  • Prisoners and ex-prisoners (who will participate in educational and awareness-raising activities);
  • Decision makers (politicians, members of parliament, ombudsmen, representatives of public institutions and the penitentiary system).

Indirect target groups: citizens of the participating countries (who will be informed about the topic of the project); (ex)prisoners in the target countries whose rights are discussed and promoted in the public debate.
Country of the project implementation: Armenia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine.
Period: September 2019 - December 2020
Main activities:

  • Analysis of the situation in participating countries (4 baseline studies and development of reference publications) (September-October 2019)
  •  Round tables "Right to education for prisoners" (October 2019)
  • Workshops for civil society organizations "Development and implementation of projects to increase access to education for prisoners and ex-prisoners" (October-November 2019)
  • Study visit to Germany "Education in prison" for mini-project teams (December 2019)
  • Competition and implementation of educational mini-projects for (ex-)prisoners (2020)
  • Competition for best journalistic articles on "Access to education for prisoners and ex-prisoners" (2020)
  •  National presentations on the results of the competition for journalists (October 2020)
  • Maintenance of the PEN-Network website and Facebook page

The project is implemented in cooperation with DVV International. With the financial support of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany.

Active for Education in Prison (1.0)


The main objective is to enhance the capacity of civil society organizations in Armenia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine in planning and carrying out awareness-raising campaigns which promote the rights of prisoners as well as their human dignity, right to education and personal development and to strengthen the internal planning and management process of the “International Network of Penitentiary Education in the countries of the Eastern Partnership and Central Asia” (International network).

Project duration: May – December 2018

The participants are the organizations members of the International network from Armenia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, their partners in the sphere of culture and human rights, representatives of civil society, state authorities and institutions and the media as well as prisoners and ex-prisoners from different countries.

Key activities:

  • Organizing and conducting a workshop on “Promoting the right to education in correctional institutions” for partner organizations in order to improve their competence in advocacy and promotion of the right to education via training, exchanging the best practices and cooperating while planning advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns (August, Minsk);
  •  Implementing advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns with an emphasis on combining traditional information forms with different cultural interactive and visual forms (October 2018, in the participating countries);
  • Creating a video on the role of education in the life of prisoners / exprisoners using visual materials filmed in each country. Presenting the videos during round table and public discussions (November 2018);
  •  Developing promotional materials of the International network (its logo, booklet, website and Facebook page content);
  • Holding introductory and final meetings of the project team.

The project is implemented in cooperation with DVV International. With the financial support of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany.
 

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