Moreover, a presentation of the OeAD programme ‘Educational Cooperation with Eastern and South-Eastern Europe’ took place. On behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education (BMB) the OeAD maintains and supports a network of cooperation offices in Eastern and South-Eastern European partner countries. These offices are managed by Austrian representatives for educational cooperation (educational coordinators). On behalf of the BMB and the OeAD these educational coordinators promote exchange and cooperation between educational institutions in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and Austria.
The OeAD cooperation office in Uzhhorod, headed by Anton Leodolter, continues to implement a wide range of projects despite the Russian war of aggression: from psychosocial support for the school system and the digitisation of teaching materials to the further development of schools of vocational education in cooperation with their economic partners for the training of skilled workers.
At the Kyiv-Mohyla Centre for Mental Health the Ukrainian experts presented in particular the ‘Safe Space’ project, which the OeAD implements in close cooperation with the Ukrainian Ministry of Education. Since 2022 more than 5,000 teachers and school psychologists have been trained on site and online and their resilience has been strengthened. The aim is to enhance professional support for pupils traumatised by war and internal displacement. Around 215,000 children have already benefited indirectly from this psychosocial support at school. The education minister Wiederkehr’s visit provided an excellent opportunity to emphasise the urgency, systemic added value and sustainable impact of the OeAD projects in Ukraine.
