The bi-annual CODE Forum 2024 took place in Prague by the kind invitation of Jabok College. It brings researchers, practitioners and teachers together around approaches which relate community development and diakonia. It is a space for the exchange and development of research and practice. The emphasis is on sharing experience and the development of ideas rooted in research and practice.
The 2024 event brought 30 participants together around two main themes, diaconal identity and community development and human agency as a response to change, ambiguity and instability.
The first part of the Forum welcomed the delegates and introduced the Jabok college which focuses on social pedagogy, social work and theology. The two keynote speakers, Heidi Zitting from Diak, Finland and Oksana Prosvirnina from interdiac (central and eastern Europe) introduced the theme of diaconal identity. Heidi emphasised the fact that diaconia was an essential part of the church’s identity and that it had to be responsive to the context in which the church finds itself. Oksana developed a model of practice, grounded in diaconal identity and which responds to the present challenges, particularly in urban neighbourhoods but also in relation to people ‘forced to move and forced to stay’. These inputs provoked group and plenary discussions and led into the paper sessions.
The second part of the Forum focussed on human agency, especially facing complex situations through which people have been uprooted or who are living in different temporary camps or other housing. The day was introduced by a dialogue between Eva Dohnalová from Olomouc and Prague who is working at Palacký University and Tetiana Zubrytska who is a refugee from Ukraine and is engaged with the Prague based Agency for Migration and Adaptation (AMIGA). The theme of the dialogue and input related to the complex issues which surround ‘agency’ from the perspective of refugees.
Read more about CODE Forum activities here.