IFWEA & Euro WEA
IFWEA
After the second world war, a number of organisations active in
workers’ education came together to form the International
Federation of Workers’ Education Associations (IFWEA) in 1947
and the WEA was a founder member. IFWEA has more than 100 member
organisations from over 60 countries, including:
- Workers’ education associations
- National trade unions
- Global Union Federations
- Foundations and research institutions
- Non- Govermental Organisations(NGO’s)
- Women’s organisations
The IFWEA charter, to which these organisations are committed,
states that we should promote “… free and voluntary
educational work according to the principles of solidarity and co-operation,
justice and equality, democracy and freedom”. IFWEA promotes
educational programmes that are internationalist and democratic
in principle and in practice. IFWEA’s programmes and activities
are based on participatory learning methods and on the recognition
that, in the global economy, workers’ education has to have
a strong international dimension.
IFWEA is governed by its General Conference of delegates from all
affiliated organisations, which meets every four years (the next
in October 2003, in Portugal), and elects an Executive Committee
meeting once or twice each year. The IFWEA Secretariat is currently
based in Oslo, and there are regional co-ordinators based in Peru,
Philippines, South Africa, Bulgaria and Belgium (see Euro-WEA, below).
IFWEA also publishes a regular bulletin called “Workers’
Education” which contains discussions, and reports of work
from the affiliates.
IFWEA Activities
Since 1996, IFWEA’s programme of activity has been dominated
by the need for an educational response to the challenges of globalisation,
and the need to assist the development of regional activity and
organisation in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Central and Eastern
Europe.
The backbone of IFWEA’s work in this period has been the development
of ‘International Study Circles’, transnational learning
between group of participants in several different countries, mediated
across the Internet. With financial support from the UK’s
Community Fund and many other sources overseas, International Study
Circles have been successfully delivered globally and regionally
on a range of subjects, including the impact of transnational corporation
investment on local communities, women in the global food industry,
migrant workers and refugees, the impact of the financial crises
in Asia, and the development of civil society in the Balkans.
The International Study Circle web site contains a comprehensive
collection of education materials, debates and evaluation reports,
available on www.ifwea.org/isc/
More recently, IFWEA has also developed a major partnership with
Solidar, the European federation of development agencies allied
with the labour movement, to establish the Global Network of NGOs
and trade unions exploring the impact and role of the World Trade
Organisation, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The Global Network has enabled IFWEA affiliates in Africa, Asia
and Latin America to develop a wide range of national and regional
education initiatives, supported by the UK’s Department for
International Development.
Euro-WEA
Euro-WEA, the European regional organisation of
IFWEA, was launched in 1993, and now has a membership of 51 affiliated
organisations. Currently these are drawn from 27 countries including
Central and Eastern Europe. Euro-WEA is the only IFWEA regional
organisation with its own bi-annual delegate conference and elected
Executive Committee. It has a part-time Secretary – John Atkins
- based in Brussels.
Euro WEA organises international seminars, conferences, publishes
and disseminates information and encourages exchanges, co-operation
and dialogue between affiliates. Current work priorities include
programmes for migrant workers and refugees, the development of
civil society in Eastern Europe, and the development of dialogue
between workers’ education organisations around the Mediterranean
rim.
The WEA continues to work closely with specific partners in Europe
on bilateral programmes which assist mutual development. This includes
continuing work with the Hungarian trade union confederation MSZOSZ,
providing exchange visits and seminars between experienced practitioners
in workers’ education, and community learning programmes with
Culture et Liberté in France. The WEA’s office in Brussels
has developed strong links with the European Commission and the
European Parliament, providing an important training, project development
and strategic planning resource for the whole Association.
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