Arnaldo Serna
Arnaldo Serna, Coordinator of the PROFADEL International Network
[The International Cooperation Centre (Trento, Italy) and Ciedel (Lyon, France) are members of PROFADEL network – http://profadel.net/]
PROFADEL international network brings together training centres from three continents, 7 countries: France, Italy, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Togo, and Peru. Since 2000, we have been strengthening skills through mutual learning, based on our experiences in the field of local territorial development.
The distinctive value of our network of training centres for agents of local development lies in our pedagogy based on the model of Participatory Experiential Learning, which recognizes life as the great teacher.
Experiences are sources of knowledge and learning, but this does not happen spontaneously. In order to learn, it is necessary to actively follow a process, participating not only with one’s head but with the whole being: history, culture, emotions and practices.
Furthermore, each experience that a person brings, combined with what others bring, constitutes enrichment and allows training participants to find better solutions to the problems that real life poses. In this sense, it is not a matter of learning something for the sake of knowing, but of learning to transform and improve our reality.
This is why Participatory Experiential Learning is relevant, because it promotes change in people’s lives.
Higher education is commonly associated with classical education, starting with a classical pedagogical model such as school, where the teacher teaches, exposes his or her knowledge and students try to benefit from it. Applying the model of Participatory Experiential Learning led our training centres to question the coherence of their own training, so that our trainers became real facilitators of the training processes and supporters of mutual learning. To reach out to a greater number of agents of change, the training centres of the PROFADEL network innovated their training method and brought Participatory Experiential Learning into virtual training environments. This is why PROFADEL participates in the global process of reimagining education as a means of transforming the world where we would like to live together peacefully, with well-being and justice, in a sustainable way.
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Read the other articles of the second newsletter:
1. Local Administration and citizens governing their territory – Giovanni Gardelli, Director General, Unit for the Coordination of Local Authorities, Regional and Mountain Policies, Autonomous Province of Trento
2. The Nicosia Initiative: A Way When There Was No Way – Benedetta Oddo, Nicosia Initiative Coordinator
3. Overview of the role of universities in enhancing the efficiency of municipalities – Dr. Khaled Souissi, Project Officer, University of Zintan
4. The relationship between “project” and “development” dynamics – Stefano Rossi, REBUILD Operational Manager, International Cooperation Centre
