Building bridges with an educational and cultural festival between Ukraine and Germany

The adult education centers in Poltava and the Fildern region continue their cooperation with a two-week long exchange of experience and knowledge.

As part of the second phase of the Urban-X-Change Network II project, from 29 March to 10 April 2025, the educational and cultural festival ‘Bridges - German-Ukrainian Partnership Project in Education, Culture and Public Diplomacy’ took place, which brought together city residents and promoted active cooperation between the Adult Education Centre of Poltava Region and the Adult Education Centres (Volkshochschulen) of Fildern, Ostfildern, Leifelden-Echterdingen (Germany).

The aims of the educational and cultural festival were:

to promote the development of adult education and non-formal education as a tool for citizens' participation in cultural, social, economic and sustainable development;
to facilitate the exchange of experience, innovations, and cooperation between communities and their stakeholders through public diplomacy;
to direct joint efforts to develop new solutions and strategies for the development of the urban environment in the Poltava territorial community and the communities of German partner cities: Fildern, Ostfildern, Leifelden-Echterdingen.

In the first few days alone, the educational festival was attended by more than 1,100 guests, Poltava residents of all ages - from kids to the elderly. The central event of the educational and cultural festival was the opening of the Festival of Craft Producers: "Secrets of Craft - Combining Tradition and Science.

The second location, a ‘Delicious Scientific Picnic’, brought together people who wanted to explore the quality of the products we consume: how to choose the right food, read labels, and distinguish natural ingredients from synthetic ones. Participants explored dairy products, yoghurts, snacks, biscuits, chocolate, sweets and fruit.

At the third location, ‘Terra Poltava: Fertile soil - generous harvest,’ the participants first listened to a lecture by German professor Dr Ramona Weinrich from the University of Hohenheim. She spoke about the importance of the project to separate household waste and establish a sustainable recycling system based on scientific approaches.

Despite the long distance between the partner cities, the next day, residents of Poltava and Fildern, Ostfildern, and Leifelden-Echterdingen cooked together using various recipes for traditional Poltava dumplings and the German dish Maultaschen via online communication, promoting cultural exchange.

As part of the festival, events took place simultaneously in 4 cities. The programme, called STREAM, includes workshops in the fields of Science, Technology, Reading/Writing, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics.