Turkey hosted the 18th meeting of the Council of Europe’s EDC/HRE coordinators in Antalya on 5 - 6th May. The coordinators are representatives appointed by the Council of Europe member states. Their main function is to foster the development of EDC/HRE in their country and to liaise between national activities and the Council of Europe.

EWC Capacity Building Coordinator Lars M. Gudmundson took part in the meeting presenting the Summer Academy as a training activity which seeks to implement Council of Europe policies into practice, with a special regard to the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education.

The objectives of the meeting were to share information on the latest EDC/HRE developments in the member states, in the Council of Europe and in other international organizations. The coordinators also discussed future co-operation activities to be organized in the framework of the Council of Europe programme “Learning democracy and human rights” 2010-2014. The second day of the meeting focused on how EDC/HRE policies are monitored and evaluated by the member states, with an aim to share practices and identify needs and priorities in this respect.

The meeting was generously and efficiently hosted by the Turkish authorities. Mr. Merdan Tufan, President of the Board of National Education in Turkey, gave the welcome speech. The coordinators were given several examples of good practices in the field of EDC/HRE in Turkey, as well as a presentation of the ambitious three-year project “Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education” in Turkey 2011-2014.