European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

240 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL, GROUP AND SOCIETYmembers of the local community. Information on this topic is availableat different levels; the EU is setting up different activities to dosomething about it, for instance through the DAPHNE 34 project of DGJustice of the EU. The WHO, World Health Organization 35 has justreleased beginning of October its world report on violence and itsaction plan related to it.The concept of the caring school —some speak of the safe schoolisa complex concept with multiple facets. The caring school is basedon the respect for and the dignity of every human being; it puts at thecenter the identity of every human being as a contribution to thedevelopment of communities focusing on welfare and well-being forall in a spirit of solidarity, co-operation and inclusion.Open schools that co-operate with the surrounding localcommunity and civil societySchools as learning communities will be open to all levels of thesurrounding community. They will be characterized by the community’smobility to and from them. They will collaborate with all the officialactors of that community, such as local or regional authorities. Theywill call on some actors of that local community in accordance withneeds to reinforce curricular or interdisciplinary, crosscurricular or extracurricularactivities or pedagogical initiatives. Learning communities willof course link up with other similar initiatives which exist such aslearning cities or learning regions 36 , etc.This co-operation includes agents of the political world rangingfrom elected representatives at local, regional, national and Europeanlevel. The intervention of and the contact with elected members of thelocal community can be very stimulating for pupils. Co-operation willalso include the agents of the social organizations: representatives oftrade unions, social services and social associations. Co-operation willalso focus on cultural organizations: libraries, museums, theatre groups,34Commission of the European Communities, DG Justice; DAPHNE: protection ofphysical and mental health by the protection of children, young people and womenagainst violence…:http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/project/daphne/en/index.htm35World Health Organisation; World report on violence and health, 3 October 2002;http://www5.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/main.cfm?p=000000011736Norman Longworth; Making lifelong learning work: Learning Cities for a LearningCentury; Kogan Press, London, 1999, 228 pages.