“Common Activities of LT-PS.NET” - In Actio Kulturos centras

“Common activities of LT-PS.NET“ is meeting organised by In Actio which took place from 2nd to 8th of October of 2011 in Vilnius, Lithuania and was dedicated to expand and strengthen cooperation between Lithuanian and Palestinian NGOs. In this project was developed co-operation which started in 2010 and the network was strengthened, the structure was formed based on a democratic basis and long-term business plans. The project consisted of the Palestinian NGO representatives in Lithuania, which hosted the conference, had meetings with the Arab community, Lithuanian governmental institutions, and presented the situation of Palestinian culture and society for Lithuanian community.

The main objectives of the project were to develop Lithuanian and the Palestinian NGO network, to support and ensure the sustainable and equitable partnership and directly contribute to the development of civil society and human rights. The project sought to provide space for sharing experiences of good practice and equal, sustainable and democratic principles based on partnership assurance. In addition, this project promoted the knowledge for Lithuanian society about Palestinian situation and culture, also advised the possibility how to connect to the network.
This project was funded and carried out under the frame of the Foreign Affairs Ministry program “Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion”.

During the project were organised different meetings. Participants met Rimantas Žirgulis – director of Kėdainiai Museum, during the meeting special attention was paid to the history of Lithuania and the Lithuanian Jewish history. Seeking to ensured the continuing dialogue between governmental and non-governmental institutions, to achieve closer cooperation between LT-PS. participants met Šarūnas Frolenko – president of Lithuanian Youth Council (LiJOT) and Sandra Jančauskaite-Aragroug – representative of Department of Youth Affairs under the Ministry of Social Security and Labor.The presentations in the national organizations ensured network dissemination and informed not only about the project, but also the opportunity for organizations to connect to the network.

Meeting with the Palestinian and Arab communities in Lithuania benefited project by helping to understand the real situation which Arabs face living in Lithuania. Later it helped to prepare a follow-up plans of the network.

During the meeting in Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Lithuania participants presented and discussed progress of cooperation, challenges and opportunities, future plans of the network. In the meeting participate MFA Ambassador at Large Ina Marčiulionytė.

During the Conference in European Information office of the Seimas was also held a Fair of NGOs,discussed the situation in the Palestinian civil society, NGOs development cooperation and development opportunities, presented LT-PS NGO network and organizations from Palestine.

Seeking to present network to the society, in a bookstore located in Gediminas pr. was opened photo exhibition “Palestine” and organised cultural presentation about its culture and its features (such as music, food, various brochures and small gifts from Palestine). However, the main attraction of the evening was for Lithuanian society the opportunity directly to communicate with the active Palestinians and discuss photos of the exhibition.

More about exhibition “Palestine” you can find here: