MANDELA Partners Meet in Linz for Three-Day Training and Face-to-Face Meeting

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Linz, Austria | 1–3 September 2026

From 1 to 3 September 2026, partners of the MANDELA project – Multilateralism through Negotiation & Cultural Diplomacy Education in the Levant and Africa gathered in Linz, Austria, for an intensive three-day face-to-face meeting and training hosted by PHDL.

The meeting marked an important step in the implementation of the project, bringing partners together not only to review progress and coordinate upcoming activities, but especially to deepen their practical understanding of the educational methods at the heart of MANDELA and prepare for their integration into higher education courses.

From Project Framework to Educational Practice

The first day focused on establishing a common framework for the training and connecting the different strands of the project. Partners reviewed the structure of WP2, the train-the-trainer approach and follow-up workshops, as well as implementation challenges related to WP3.

A central part of the day was dedicated to revisiting the four MANDELA methods – VaKE, Game Changers, Cultural Diplomacy and CoPoweR. The methods were presented comparatively, allowing participants to explore their different pedagogical approaches and consider how each can contribute to the broader objectives of the project.

The programme also addressed COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) course design as a cross-cutting component and explored the framework through which the MANDELA methods can be integrated into existing and newly developed courses at partner higher education institutions.

Learning by Doing: Intensive Method Workshops

Days two and three moved from overview to practice.

Participants were divided into parallel workshops dedicated to the four MANDELA methods. Each workshop provided in-depth training combined with practical work on course integration. The workshops were repeated with different participant groups, enabling representatives of each partner institution to gain expertise in more than one method.

This train-the-trainer structure is particularly important for the sustainability of MANDELA. Participants are expected to take the knowledge and experience gained in Linz back to their institutions, share it with colleagues and contribute to the integration of the methods into teaching and learning.

The workshops also created space for experimentation, discussion and reflection. Rather than approaching the methods only theoretically, participants had the opportunity to experience them as learners, examine their educational potential and consider how they can be adapted to different institutional, disciplinary and cultural contexts.

Connecting Institutions Across Countries and Perspectives

Beyond the formal training sessions, the Linz meeting provided an important opportunity for partners to work together face-to-face, exchange experiences and strengthen the professional relationships underpinning the project.

Reflection and sharing sessions enabled participants to compare experiences across the different workshops and identify connections between the methods. Discussions throughout the three days also addressed course development, implementation challenges, quality assurance and the next stages of the project.

The meeting concluded with a joint session dedicated to sharing results, evaluation, next steps, WP5 activities and the upcoming phases of MANDELA.

The Linz meeting demonstrated one of the central ideas behind MANDELA itself: meaningful international cooperation requires more than exchanging knowledge. It requires opportunities to learn together, experience different perspectives, test new approaches and translate them into educational practice.

With the intensive training phase completed, partners now return to their institutions equipped with new tools and shared expertise to support the next stage of MANDELA – bringing its methods into courses, classrooms and learning communities across the partner institutions.