House of Europe

National Network
Lithuania
Address

Odminių street 12
01122 Vilnius
Lithuania

Telephone
+370 686 17517
E-Mail
zilvinas@eurohouse.lt
Organisation Type
Non-Governmental Organization
Year of Establishment
1999
Fields of Activity
  1. Democracy and community development
  2. Human rights
  3. International/Cultural relations
  4. Media
  5. Research
  6. Youth and education
General Information
NGO "House of Europe" consists of a board (3 members) and a bureau (1 full-time and 4 part-time employees). Actively working in spheres of non – formal, civic education and public awareness raising since 1999, it has a wide range of partners from governmental (Ministries of Education and Science, Foreign Affairs) and non – governmental (different national NGO platforms) sectors, as well as national and regional media houses. Concerning thematic aspects of projects already carried out, “House of Europe” has valuable experience while working with topics in connection with Lithuania’s integration into the European Union and its’ transitional experience. During last years, our organization found itself more and more involved in projects with a global dimension, nurturing EU – citizenship and working with development education and awareness raising. Concrete projects: Media4Development; I Know Who I Vote For; Model European Parliament Lithuania. Main sources for our funding are EU funded projects.
Mission and Objectives

Our main goals include raising awareness about European and global processes and empowering active citizenship through various trainings, seminars, public campaigns and research. We have a lot of experience and are highly interested in international cooperation with other NGOs, public institutions, media and other social partners.

Main Projects / Activities

Media4Development (2015 - 2017) is a cooperation between organisations from five new EU member states and two NGOs from old member states. The project intends to give journalists from new member states a chance to learn more about global challenges and development cooperation. Lasting three years, the project will enable journalists to attend thorough trainings and workshops to be able to cover global issues in their work; policy-makers will be invited to round-tables and given updates about development issues through bulletins; the public will be made more aware of EU development cooperation though public events and activities etc.
"I Know Who I Vote For" (2015 - ongoing) is an initiative of Lithuanian youth for transparent and knowledge - based voting. Project consists of roundtables with politicians and monitoring of electoral campaigns at the national and local level.  
Model European Parliament (MEP) Lithuania (2003 - ongoing) seeks to educate students about the European Union and current political and social issues in Europe by giving them high quality opportunities to meet and work with their contemporaries from all over Lithuania and/ or EU countries while recreating the work of the European Parliament. "House of Europe" is the official national MEP coordinator appointed by Ministry of Education and Science. 

How can you contribute to the Network in your country?

While working with the aforementioned international project "Media4Development", we started building a network of journalists, NGO activists and private partners interested in further work in developing countries. Some of them already belong to ALF network and some do not, therefore we think that we could successfully act as intermediaries widening ALF network and linking different stakeholders. On one hand, we could introduce Lithuanian media, private enterprises and our partner NGOs with opportunities to work with organizations from the Mediteranean region provided by the foundation. On the other, we could as well help the Lithuanian ALF network to have a more substantial impact in the Lithuanian society, especially through our media partnerships. 

Why do you want to join the ALF Network?

As it was already mentioned, development cooperation and development education are at the top of our priority list. During the first year of  "Media4Development" project it became obvious that to carry our activities properly we need a strong network of lecturers, trainers, partner organizations etc. For that reason, we indulged into research and came to a conclusion that ALF is the network for us not only from a practical standpoint, but value - wise, as well.  What is more, acting as the main network for civic EuroMed cooperation ALF also complements activities that we have already carried out and are planning to do in the near future (documentary about Syrian migrants Lebanon, journalists' study visits to Palestine etc.)  

Contact (1) Full Name
Mr. Žilvinas Švedkauskas
Job Title
Project coordinator
Head of the organisation
Ms. Judita Akromiene