Dura Lex, Sed Lex is a pilot project in our Polish Street Law program. Street Law is practical, participatory education about law, democracy and human rights. Through its philosophy and
programs, Street Law empowers people to transform democratic ideals into citizen action. Street Law's programs do not end at the door of the classroom. Each student gains essential
lessons that can be used for life. Looking at the strings of affairs, bribery, thedominance of the mafia, and the helplessness of your average person, it becomes extremely clear that such activities are crucial in Poland as well as in every country involved in this project! One of our partners in Albania is running a program to invite police into schools so that students as well as teachers and parents will be less afraid of the police. All of these countries share a similar
past, their citizens do not trust the government nor do they believe that they do, in fact, have
certain rights. Such projects enable youth as well as adults to understand that civil society is
based on respect for the law, which in turn should be created to serve people rather than work against them (which is very common in this region). Our project involves work withethnically mixed groups, the free exchange of opinions as well as the creation of connections among people.The Dura Lex project actually began in August 2003. A seminar was held in Nowy Sacz for the 6 country coordinators in October and for the 23 teachers in November. Members of the School Plus Network from the following towns were involved: Nowy Sacz, Poland; Mamuras and Lac-Kurbin, Albania; Tuzla and Lukavac, Bosnia; Sofia, Plovdiv, Radomir and Chepelare, Bulgaria; Chisinau and Pirlitsa, Moldova; Deva and Hunedoara, Romania; and Subotica, Serbia. Each country team created its own materials with teachers preparing their own version of the core curriculum which is adapted to the laws of the country and the local situation. From February to June 2004 all groups implemented the Street Law Project in their schools.During this period, project coordinators and trainers Beata Budzik and Bruno Vastmans consulted virtually using an e-mail monitoring system. At the School Plus Fair in March 2004 Street Law groups had the opportunity to present what they had so far accomplished.During the seminar discussion teachers could share experiences with one another. The project coordinator met with all the teams. From March to June 2004, Ala Derkowska and Julie Boudreaux monitored the groups. These monitoring visits revealed that the actual implementation far exceeded our expectation in quality and number! Approximately 50 groups of 20 students are involved in the Street Law Project! This represents more than 1000 persons who are actively involved. In July 2004 all participants took part in an evaluating and strategy planning seminar in Nowy Sacz. It was a chance to show accomplishments, share most interesting experiences and new teaching methods. During the final seminar participants expressed the strengths of the project: teacher empowerment, addressing of important subjects that are not usually part of the curriculum, space for students and teachers to be creative, ability for independent work, research, and good cooperation with other institutions. All participants are eager to continue in the coming year and to find resources for the expansion of the program in the region. Thanks to the interest and support of the East East Program of Batory Foundation, Rita III Program and the very hard work of participants, the project was a great success.

From 28.10 - 3.11.2006 a group of Ukrainian teachers from Kharkov, Uzhgorod and Tarnopil took part in the STREET LAW program. The program aims at civil society development based on law and attempts to accomplish that by raising the level of legal culture, legal knowledge. An important part of the program deals with teaching respect for law and breaking away from aversion, fear, and lack of trust towards the authorities:police, local and central government administration.