The Village Project believes that in the modern world, all children need to learn how to build societies. In traditional societies, community and the role of the individual within it are defined, but in culture of constant change, both human and technological, these definitions no longer work. In a world of change children need to learn how to create community and how to find his or her place within it. The Village program aims to empower primary school children as individuals, to give them better understanding of the community, and to help them learn how to build a world they wish to live in” (Mission of the The Village Project Inc.)

Ala Derkowska met Noah Sobe and Amy Shuffelton (The Village Project Inc) in 1995 while they were introducing their „Village” curriculum for the first time in Central/Eastern Europe as an after-school program in Kraków, Poland during the 1994-1995 school year. Mrs. Derkowska saw the potential benefits of the program immediately, and proceeded to set up a partnership with Amy and Noah which has been training teachers how to start similar programs throughout the region ever since.

In an ever-changing world, the Village Project was designed to empower children in grades 4-7* with the ability to adapt as well as influence the communities around them in a proactive way. It teaches them that they have the ability to effect what is going on around them by encouraging them to use many different and creative skills in the process of problem solving.

To achieve this, the students create miniature villages, starting with „peeps”, miniature people to represent themselves in the miniature world. In order to achieve a common goal, the students naturally find themselves faced with many of the same problems they may find in the real world as adults. With only a loose framework (and minimal or no decision-making) provided by the teachers, students are encouraged to come up with solutions which enable the community as a whole to survive. The following steps usually occur at some point, and provide the framework for the Village Project: 1.) Each participant creates a poster about themselves 2.) ‘Peeps’, or mini-citizens are created to represent each participant in the mini-village 3.) Biographies are written for each ‘peep’ 4.) Plans are drawn up of the ‘peep’s’ homes and other buildings 5.) The land is divided into public and private property 6.) The Village is built !!!

More information on recent VILLAGES and trainings by MTO in Central Europe are available below:

Village training in Calaras, Moldova in 2005

From August 8-15, 2005 twenty-seven teachers participated in the VILLAGE workshop to prepare them to run this after-school program with students between the ages of 8-12 years old. VILLAGE teaches self-government and social responsibility. The project coordinator for this activity was Alexander Lupu, a graduate of the AYSE 2004 program. The activities were originally to take place in his home village of Valcinet or nearby Colicauti, but logistical problems resulted in the workshop being held in a local school in Calaras (population: 3000).

The primary school teachers were incredibly involved and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. In a mere 8 days we managed to build a village on a scale of 1:25, choose its governing system and leadership, open a bank and store with building materials, hold a call for tenders for public works (for the town hall, sanatorium, garbage dump, bridges over the river, and street lights) in adherence with EU regulations, as well as to start such private enterprises as restaurants, cafes, an art gallery, and health clinic. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to actually “live in” and enjoy the village as much time was devoted to the methodology and the practical side of running the program with children. MTO provided the materials for VILLAGE and each teacher received a clear set of steps to enable them to implement the project in their schools. The school in Calaras received all the remaining materials so that they can easily continue the program in their school in the coming year. At the end of the workshop, diplomas were awarded by the mayor of Calaras at a ceremony attended by families and friends of the participants.

Village training in Vidin, Bulgaria in 2007

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Village in Svrljig, Serbia in 2007

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Village training in Nowy Sącz, Poland in 2008