PROJECT PROPOSAL

1. Project Title
Solidarity Action Group Summer School

2. Organization, contact details, represented by:

Solidarity Action Group (Member organisations are: Mérce, Solidarity Economy Center and
several other activist groups)

3. Introduction / Summary of the most important elements of the project:

Solidarity Action Group (SAG) formed in 2020 in direct response to the coronavirus
pandemic as a platform for collaboration between diverse independent leftist, feminist and
green activist groups, organizations, grassroot initiatives, and academic projects with the
common aim of establishing a working cooperation process and forming a political vision to
meet the challenges of the economic and social crisis. SAG provides a formal avenue for
negotiating both joint projects and coordinated actions. It aims to facilitate the conciliation of
its members' visions for alternative social models both in terms of reproductive work, food
sovereignty, renewable energy, solidarity finance, cooperative housing, and ways of forming
a political base to implement these visions.

After the initial period of directly addressing different social aspects of the crisis and
developing arguments for solidarity economy solutions arose the demand for negotiating
long-term goals and building a framework for more effective collective action and resource
pooling. Organizing a summer school seems a necessary next step in this line of
progression.

Choosing the town Horány as the venue for the summer school serves as a historical
reminder. The place served as a privileged space for Hungarian worker’s movement before
WWII as a venue for cultural life. Taking up on the tradition of organizing the leisure time of
the working class points towards a movement integrated on both cultural, political and
economic levels.

Workshops, presentations and roundtable discussions to be held will serve as opportunities

for SAG organizations to introduce their projects, activities, and fields of research, also to
discuss possible strategies to close institutional gaps between them. Organising these
events and negotiating the agenda for the summer school launched in November with a
planned team of three coordinators. The 28 member organizations have an estimate of 120
active participants in SAG projects, therefore we use the number of 100 to calculate the
optimal number of participants of the summer school. Events will be held in multiple parallel
time frames in order to offer the widest variety of programmes for the participants. The
opportunity for holding workshops is open for all SAG members while roundtable discussions
will present guest speakers and to serve as platforms to discuss more general issues of
political and organisational strategies.

As the inputs concerning summer school agenda from SAG members will be accumulating,
the three coordinators of this project will need an estimated time of a month of labour to work
out the details of the events in terms of all details.

4. Description of aims which will be met in the project:

The aims of the summer school are in alignment with our general vision of strengthening the
collaboration between the members of SAG and overcoming the segmentation of the
networking space that connects these organisations. Facilitating dialogues and joint actions
between SAG member organizations is a long-term project that has multiple milestones
during the course of developing the framework for SAG cooperation. The summer school
provides an opportunity for experiencing this progress on a personal level and creating a
demand for closer cooperation, thereby forming a stronger base of solidarity. The
opportunity for SAG members to introduce their fields of work and networking will form a
next step in the process of vision conciliation for which SAG serves as a platform.

Documenting these events can benefit researchers of social movements and social
movements themselves alike. Outcomes of strategic discussions and vision conciliations will
also be available in written format afterwards.

The Solidarity Action Group Summer School will also provide a great amount of input for the
“History and Future of Our Struggles“ themed participatory action research project of The
School for Public Life.

5. Activities of the project / program:

Date, time and place
The summer of 2021, in a course of four days

Expected program
● 6 workshops to be held by SAG organizations
● 2 round table discussions
● 2 reading sessions
● 4 presentations by representatives of SAG organizations and outside experts to be
invited

6. List of presenters and invited organizations, guests (including annotations):

Members of the Solidarity Action Group:

● A Város Mindenkié (The City is for All)

● aHang (theVoice)
● Auróra (Auróra Community Centre)
● Autonómia Mozgalom (Autonomia Movement)
● Átalakuló Wekerle (Transforming Wekerle)
● Deviszont Közösségi Tér (Deviszont Community Centre)
● ESSRG - Environmental Social Science Research Group
● Extinction Rebellion Hungary
 ● Fordulat Társadalomelméleti Folyóirat (Fordulat Journal of Social Theory)
● Gólya (Gólya Community Centre)
● Hallgatói Szakszervezet (Student’s Union)
● Helyzet Műhely (The Working Group for Public Sociology “Helyzet”)
● Közélet Iskolája (The School of Public Life)
● Magyar Permakultúra Egyesület (Hungarian Permacultural Association)
● Mérce (“Mérce” Independent Media Outlet)
● Magyar Természetvédők Szövetsége - Föld Barátai Magyarország (National Society
of Conservationists – Friends of the Earth Hungary)
● Nők Egymásért Mozgalom (Women for Each Other Movement)
● Partizán (“Partizan” Left Wing Media Outlet)
● Periféria Központ (Periféria Policy and Research Center)
● Polányi Károly Globális Társadalmi Tanulmányok Kutatóközpont (Karl Polanyi
Research Center for Global Social Studies)
● Szikra Mozgalom (Szikra “Spark” Movement)
● Szolidáris Gazdaság Központ (Solidarity Economy Center Budapest)
● Táncsics - Radikális Balpárt (Táncsics - Radical Left Party)
● Társadalomelméleti Kollégium (College for Social Theory)
● Tudatos Öregedés Alapítvány (Hekate Foundation)
● Utcáról Lakásba Egyesület (From Streets to Homes Association)
● Város és Folyó Egyesület (City and River Association)
● Védegylet Egyesület (Védegylet Association)

We also plan to invite other organisations and members of other parties to hold
presentations.

7. Coordinators / list of people responsible for project coordination:

● Head of the Project Team: Virág Hellenbarth, Hallgatói Szakszervezet (Student’s
Union)
● Programme Coordinator: Bertold Villás, Hallgatói Szakszervezet (Student’s Union)
● Operative Coordinator: Péter Somogyi, Szikra Mozgalom (Szikra “Spark” Movement)

8. Project partners (if applicable):

● Hallgatói Szakszervezet (Student’s Union)
● Szikra Mozgalom (Szikra “Spark” Movement)
● Szolidáris Gazdaság Központ (Solidarity Economy Center Budapest)
● Táncsics - Radikális Balpárt (Táncsics - Radical Left Party)

9. Target groups:
The project has three target groups in line with our vision of multi-layered model of social
impact:

1. Members of the Solidarity Action Group as listed above

2. Members of cooperative organizations and clients working in direct contact with SAG
member organizations who will benefit from the enhanced efficiency of SAG
cooperation and resource pooling
3. The general public both as addressee of SAG public awareness campaigns and in
terms of social change
10. Project outcomes (eg publication, video, press release, articles ...):
● Written summary of the outcomes of the vision conciliation
● Video documentary of the events
11. Detailed budget, including information about the partner’s own contribution to it
(financial/material/volunteer work):

Item Unit Cost/ Total in Total in Comment

document HUF Euro

Head of the Project Team 1 person / 20 7 EUR / hour 300 000 850 EUR In contract
- Virág Hellenbarth x 6 hours HUF with RLS

Programme Coordinator - 1 person / 20 7 EUR / hour 200 000 560 EUR In contract
Bertold Villás x 4 hours HUF with RLS

Operative Coordinator - 1 person / 20 7 EUR / hour 200 000 560 EUR In contract
Péter Somogyi x 4 hours HUF with RLS

Venue in Horány 3 nights / 100 7 EUR / 750 000 2100

participants person/nights HUF EUR

Catering (1 meal for 2 8 meals / 100 3 EUR / 860 000 2400

days + 3 meals for 2 days participants meals / 100 HUF EUR
for participants) participants

Honorary for moderators 2 (1 100 EUR / 70 000 200 EUR

of roundtable discussions moderator for person HUF
each
roundtable)

Video documentary onsite 2 days 280 EUR / 200 000 560 EUR
(video, camera, technician day HUF
for 2 days)

Post production of video 1 150 EUR 50 000 150 EUR

documentary HUF

Travel costs for expected 4 people 30 EUR / 43 000 120 EUR

presenters person HUF

Total 7500
EUR
Name, position and signature of person applying on behalf of the organization

Name: Virág Hellenbarth

Position in organization: Member of the Student’s Union

Signature:

Place and date: 2020. november 7.