We at die Berater® do a lot of transnational projects. Networld is a special one. The project is funded by the European Commission’s Danube Transnational Programme (DTB) and has just started with a kick-off meeting in Kobarid/Slovenia, a hotspot of the southern war front and now and forerunner in WW1 peace work. It is special for three reasons:
Networld pursues the multiplex (multiple and complex) aim to
- Preserve constructional heritage of World War 1, i.e. trench systems, fortifications, war cemeteries and other military and civilian sites and buildings from decay
- Develop and market sustainable cultural tourism strategies based on this heritage
- Find new ways of reaching (young ) people with peace and history education offers on World War 1, making use of new technologies and informal learning Events
Networld will be an immense learning field for the institutions and people involved.
No less than 14 partner institutions from the Danube region plus 10 strategic, supportive partners from a total of 11 countries will work together in the coming two and a half years. These partners are very diversified – municipalities, reginal development agencies, museums, universities, training providers, NGOs – and will bring in their quite different backgrounds, experiences and approaches.
Networld, at last, is an excellent example that the European Union is about something else than imposing silly bureaucratic rules. Through a project like Networld the EU fosters a joint memorial culture on one the most painful events of the last century, instead of indulging in separated national(istic) remembrance and cravings for revenge. At the same time, sustainable regional development is enhanced. And peace and prosperity have indeed always been two fundamental pillars of the European idea and badly need to be held high in our times of populist discontent and Derogation.
