Home About us What is the profile of interdiac?

What is the profile of interdiac?

Introduction

interdiac is a dynamic growing Academy, which supports diaconia and Christian social action in Central & Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It is a network Academy which bases its life on the partner organisations who are all active in different countries right across the region.

interdiac organises learning programmes and supports networking, research and development. This learning community is an expression of the life of interdiac and promotes the open sharing of learning, good practice and research.

Personhood & Agency

interdiac works on the basis that human dignity is inherent in every person because all are made in the image of God. Based on this understanding, the professional approach of diaconal workers should be orientated on preserving human dignity in all aspects. This links to the understanding that people have strengths and gifts and should not simply be considered as service users or as people who lack ‘something’ but as people who become more human by being able to give and receive. Not only that, working processes should enable people to develop their voice, to have their own personal or collective agency to change their situation.

Professionalism

interdiac considers that each person engaged in Christian social practice has their own personal ‘service model’. This means on a very basic level, that they are motivated to work and to incorporate certain values in relation to practice and goals.  This ‘model’ develops throughout life and is not ‘static’! interdiac learning explores these basic aspects of service because they are a resource. On top of that comes a professional service model and interdiac follows some of the key international standards in social, youth and community development. Key to this is working close to everyday life (presence) and working for empowerment and transformation.

Conviviality

In the light of the considerations about professionalism and personhood, interdiac has increasingly focused on conviviality as a core concept for diaconia and Christian social practice. Conviviality is the art and practice of living together across differences and working for life together in peace with justice. It gives a perspective on the practice of everyday life and on professional practice. It also raises questions about the policies which prevent convivial life together and seeks for change.

Theology & Spirituality

All interdiac learning programmes include Biblical and theological reflection, both in specific reflection sessions such as morning prayer and in the development of everyday personal spirituality in the workplace. It is important that every programme considers the theme and the practice from a theological and Biblical viewpoint. This links naturally to the consideration of professional and personal ethics which inform Christian social practice and diaconia. In this way theology, spirituality and ethics are linked in every step of the learning process.

Pedagogy

interdiac has a specific approach to learning which has a number of key features which are applied to all programmes.

Participatory

All interdiac learning programmes are based on a participatory approach. This operates on several levels. Firstly, the themes or topics of learning programmes are designed with the partners in the region so there is a closeness to practice related issues. Secondly, the programmes are prepared and led by teams which also involves participation. Most importantly, the programmes themselves are participatory. This means the approach to learning is orientated on learning from each other and resource persons are equally seen as learners.

Process

In interdiac we relate three aspects of the learning ‘process’ to each other. First of all, we think the whole of life is process of learning from each other and from those with whom we work. It therefore includes learning from differences. Secondly, the development of interdiac is itself a process of learning from each other. This means that when any learning programmes or other initiatives are being developed, there is a process of working together to develop and shape the activity. Thirdly, each learning programme in interdiac is structured as a participatory processes which builds up knowledge skills and competence through dialogue and through encountering practice in a diversity of settings.

Phenomenon Based

Learning in interdiac is a participatory process based on phenomena which means that you will not find the traditional division into ‘subjects’. Phenomenon based learning is focused on a particular aspect of Christian social practice such as working with marginalised young people or working on peace building. These phenomena are approached using different disciplines and approaches to practice in order to develop knowledge, skills and competences which are close to the life world of those affected.

Practice and Theory are Related

interdiac learning is not concerned with accumulating theoretical knowledge, but theoretical knowledge is intended to be related directly to practice. The structure of learning programmes reflects this because after each workshop the course members follow through in their everyday practice, to test out the usefulness of the knowledge gained.

Practice as Research & Research on Practice

interdiac has its own research platform which supports and, in some cases, organises research programmes. But in terms of diaconal practice, interdiac aims to develop a service model which sees everyday practice as research because workers and those they work with are generating a huge amount of information/data which usually is not analysed. Through the integrated learning programmes, interdiac develops the idea of practice as research and through its research programmes it aims to understand more closely (from the perspective of people normally seen as service users and from workers) the issues people face, and which practice approaches are most appropriate.