Annual Report 2003

Civil College Foundation

The Civil College Foundation is a nationwide adult training organization which organizes
practical training for citizens willing to act, the members of self-organizing communities, and the
participants of vocational training programmes in community development and community work.
The Civil College Foundation was founded in 1994 by the Hungarian Association for
Community Development, the Community Service Foundation and the Intercommunity Foundation,
as a result of the joint recognition of an increasing demand for training in community development.
The Civil College Foundation is a social organization, registered by the Budapest Court of Justice
on 13 January 1995 under the registration code 5308. On 15 October 2003 the Budapest Court of
Justice declared the Civil College Foundation as a public benefit organization.

The mission of the Civil College Foundation is:

• to provide opportunity for free or first cost education for all, but primarily for the residents
of disadvantaged areas,
• to motivate them to attend training courses,
• to empower them to act locally in an effective way, and
• to contribute to the vocational training of community professionals facilitating this process.

The goal of the Civil College Foundation is to broaden the perspective of active citizens and their
communities, to develop their citizenship skills, and to promote the effective employment of the
skills developed. A further goal is to contribute to the training of professionals with an open and
democratic attitude who are capable of acting in practice.

Most important achievements of the Civil College Foundation

- It has established its operational rules, board, management and teaching staff;
- It has purchased the building of a derelict and ruinous former elementary school building in
Kunszentmiklós-Kunbábony. Having raised 40,000,000 HUF, the foundation had the
building renovated and converted into a modern training centre offering residential training
facility for 24 + 8 people since 1997. The Civil College Foundation organizes courses in
 other parts of the country as well, always adjusting to local needs. At the same time, the
training centre also serves as a community centre that hosts local events;
- The surroundings of the building have been developed on a regular basis ever since – we
have planted a park, an orchard and an acacia grove, built a hovel and benches for open-air
activities, had water installed, wells bored, and have elaborated further development plans;
- It has developed its own curricula, study materials and unique methodology in connection
with general purpose adult training courses. Training themes include: community,
citizenship, democracy, community economic development and community media. The
Civil College Foundation has obtained considerable experience in organizing these courses;
- In the community development model experiment going on around the training centre in the
Upper-Kiskunság area it provides a meeting place, while also functioning as a local folk
high-school. This model experiment provides us with the opportunity to hold the field
practice of a number of our higher-educational and vocational courses in the Upper-
Kiskunság area;
- The Civil College Foundation organizes 3-4 national and international seminars of 2-3 days
length for community development professionals and non-profit organizations.
Organizational development courses for community development organizations are also
held in the centre;
- The foundation has built up its system of contacts and co-operations. It has built partnership
with the adult training institution called Northern College based in Yorkshire, UK, which,
similarly to Civil College, organizes participants through community development processes
and carries on cooperating with them when the courses are concluded. In 1995 the Northern
College received the facilitators of the Civil College Foundation for a 2-week training
course;
- In the framework of the EU Socrates-Gruntvig Programme, the Northern College and the
Civil College Foundation have developed joint training modules on the issues of citizenship
and democracy (“Democracy” Programme, 1999-2000);
- Due to their scale and significance, two other programmes need to be emphasized: the
Romany (Gypsy) Community Centre Programme (1999-2002) and the Central-Eastern
European “Training the Trainers” Programme (2002-2003);
- In 2003 the Civil College Foundation was declared an accredited adult training institution,
 - The training courses of the Civil College Foundation are provided for free or for a symbolic
contribution. The training courses are funded through applying to grant programmes, often
involving the concerned local communities themselves. Annual income is between 11
million and 17 million HUF.

To sum up: we consider even the mere existence and regularly maintained operation of the Civil
College Foundation as a major achievement. In our social environment the participants of adult
training and, especially, general purpose training are hardly given any public support (reduction of
working hours or financial support for course fees) and in the culture of social strata falling behind
or stagnating on a low level learning for knowledge, and not for a certificate, is not attributed any
significance. We find that in these circumstances it is important to have such a high-level adult
training institution that is operating smoothly and regularly, thanks to its committed and mostly
voluntary or occasionally paid workers who work for it.

OKÉV code: 07-0218-02

Accreditation reg. code: 0317

Major Achievements in 2003:

- On 14th May 2003, the Civil College Foundation became an accredited adult training
organization. Hence, the foundation has become a qualified organization, which means
security of quality on the one hand, while on the other hand it provides the opportunity to
access public sources that are only accessible by accredited institutions. The scale of this
sort of funding is not significant yet, but we hope that the tendency will improve year by
year.
- The year of 2003 can be evaluated as a breakthrough inasmuch as we managed to offer the
opportunity to obtain a professional qualification for the first time in our history. At the final
examination of the “Training the Trainers Program” 18 persons were given the “Community
Development Professional – Facilitator, Researcher & Trainer” professional qualification.
Another 10 colleagues have passed the exam who originally went to our courses in 1990-91
and who have had no chance to pass the final exam since. Another 14 women form the
 Upper-Kiskunság region acquired the “community worker” qualification in the framework
of a job creation scheme for women.
- Another major achievement is that, in cooperation with the organizational development
professionals of Partners Hungary, in October 2003 we developed a strategic plan for the
Civil College Foundation covering the period 2003-2007.

Training courses
The courses of the Civil College Foundation are implemented in cooperation with the Hungarian
Association for Community Development. We consider it a priority to hold general purpose
training courses for local residents attending the local social development schemes of the
Hungarian Association for Community Development. The spiritual and physical
infrastructure of Civil College is also put at the disposal of the association.

Most of our Civil training courses are weekend courses, and courses may cover several weekends.
The duration of our community entreprise development training courses is 2x5 days.
The courses of Civil College are characterised by the common experience, sharing and discussing
experiences collectively, and joint planning. Training participants usually come from local projects
organized by our nationwide organization, and they cooperate with our organization or the nearest
community development professional or organization both before and after training.

In 2003 most of our training courses were connected to our Local action (Small Grants) Programme
and community media (radios). Approx. 200 participants have attended 9 residential courses of 3
days each.

“Small Grants Program” Training Courses in 2003:

Community Training Courses:
23-25 May 2003, training course for the community activists of the villages of Tomor and Hét, and
of Nagykőrös. Facilitators: Péter Peták, Ferenc Péterfi
14-16 November 2003, training course for the community activists of Szegvár. Facilitators: Ferenc
Péterfi and Vercseg Ilona
Democracy Training Courses:
7-9 March 2003, Training for Youth Leaders from Pest County. Facilitator: Péter Pósfay
30-31 May – 1 June, 2003. Local Media Training for community activists from Bér, Tomor and the
18th District of Budapest. Facilitators: Péter Pósfay and Matild Varga.
Community-Based Job Creation Training:
21-23 March, Gömörszőlős. Preparing the local community workers of the Dialogue Association
for job creation within the non-profit sphere. Facilitators: Ferenc Péterfi and Péter Pósfay.
Training courses on community radios:
További 4 képzés adatai?……………………………………………………………………………………

Vocational training
The field practice of community development vocational training takes 4-5 days, which can
eventually be prolonged on a facultative basis. Community worker vocational training courses take
60-120 hours. Those passing the exam are given a professional qualification. Vocational further
training courses take 15-60 hours, and a certificate is given to participants. The training courses of
the Civil College Foundation are usually attended by 14-32 participants.
- In 2003 we carried on with our regular courses in higher-education,
- We elaborated a curriculum suitable for community development specialization for the
Social Politics Department of the University of Pécs, thus strengthening local network-
building,
- Vocational further training courses were organized for community workers. The courses
were attended by a total of 40 participants.
- We prepared the post-gradual university training programme “Community and Civil
Studies” for accreditation,
- See our “Priority activities” above.

Organizational Development
At the organizational development course organized by Partners Hungary in October 2003, the
Board, Vocational Advice Body and teaching staff of the Civil College Foundation developed their
strategic plan (vision, organizational values and mission, see above), analysed their present
situation, and defined their most important strategic policies and responsibilities, including:
Programme accreditation (general purpose adult training courses); establishing a “virtual university
department” for training community work; developing new curricula; introducing a separate credit
system; developing training co-operations; and integrating basic computer skills development into
curricula. The strategic plan contains an accurate schedule for carrying out tasks and a financial
plan as well.

Seminars and Conferences

On 13-16 February 2003 we organized an international seminar for the Citizens’ Network.
On 27-30 November 2003 we held the opening seminar of the international seminar “Community
Development Network-Building in Central-Eastern Europe”, which was attended by all 10
organizations taking part in the programme.

On 30-31 October we organized the first “Community” Conference in Kunbábony. From this point
on, the conference will be organized on an annual basis in honour of Tamás A. Varga, the founder
of the Civil College Foundation.

Most important sponsors and partners:

• Northern College, Barnsley, United Kingdom – professional cooperation
• Hungarian Association for Community Development, Budapest – professional cooperation
• Hungarian Institute for Culture – professional and technical co-operation
• ELTE TFK, Department of Cultural Management, Budapest – curriculum development
• ELTE BTK, Institute of Sociology and Social Politics, Department of Social Politics and Social
Work, Budapest – curriculum development
• Regional Labour Development and Training Centre, Kecskemét
• Association of Community Workers in the Upper-Kiskunság
• Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Cultural Institute, Miskolc
• Welfare Service Foundation, Jászszentlászló

Financial Report