When I first started in eTwinning in 2009 I wasn't really familiar with Erasmus+ Partnerships (then called Comenius Projects). I had a vague idea of schools running Comenius activities and attending courses abroad - however my affiliation with the subject was less than it was supposed to be.
During the Workgroup and Management Meetings organized by the CSS, I started to learn about the benefits of having 'dual' partnerships: eTwinning Projects that got so good that they became the basis for Comenius. So I enquired about the National Agency in Malta and introduced myself to the EUPA staff.
For a couple of months - nearly a year - we (eTwinning and EUPA) maintained a very nice, if platonic relationship, consisting of disseminating and promoting mutual activities on our respective online platforms. This carried on until the latter half of 2010. Then, six months into 2011, it all went to proverbial pieces as there was a staff change at EUPA and my former contact persons (the only ones who had a vague idea about eTwinning) left for greener pastures - there was a problem with the Agency's Final Report and until that was settled there was a hiatus on Comenius Partnerships imposed by the Commission.
Come 2012 and the situation at the EUPA started to get 'back to bormal' - NOT. All the previous staff which I had been happily sharing information and resources with sadly disappeared. There seemed to be no way out of this unhappy situation as EUPA staff were very busy re-building their project base.
The crunch came, quite unexpectedly as it has, in November of 2012, whilst I was
writing the Activity Plan for 2013. One of the questions in the plan is always along the lines of "Describe your cooperation with the National Agency".....at which point, I staring at the question in front of me on my computer, I physically flinched. Relationship ? What relationship ? It had all but fizzled out, we had lost contact, and barely on nodding terms.
writing the Activity Plan for 2013. One of the questions in the plan is always along the lines of "Describe your cooperation with the National Agency".....at which point, I staring at the question in front of me on my computer, I physically flinched. Relationship ? What relationship ? It had all but fizzled out, we had lost contact, and barely on nodding terms.
It was then that I I suddenly decided to take the matter into my own proverbial hands, and speed dialed the National Agency. I tried uncessesfully to get through a number of bewildered people who had never, apparently, nor in their waking or life or in their wildest dreams, even HEARD about eTwinning. Maybe one or two even thought we were some kind of tea brew. Finally, trying to muster the little patience I had left, I blurted out: but we are PART of Lifelong Learning, we are European Projects too!
Finally, after speaking to more and more clueless persons, I managed to set up a meeting with a group of people from the agency. Bless their happy hearts, they came prepared with manuals and info packs and happily realized that we had been estranged for far, far too long. A gentleman's agreement was reached on the day and we pledged to start collaborating more and to get involved in common activities.
Three and a half years later, we are actually very happy to have a number of interesting collaborative activities together, including joint workshops for Maltese teachers, seminars for European teachers in Malta, and attendance to mutual conferences. We regularly tag each others' activities on social media for dissemination and look out for each other now; most notably during the recent Brussels bombings in March of 2016. As soon as I heard the news on BBC, I instinctly contacted EUPA and learned that one of their staff members was actually stranded in Brussels. I tried to help them - although mostly I could only offer moral support - and stayed in contact all day, until they managed to get this young lady on a plane and back home late that evening.
That's friendship for you - not quite marriage material - but a solid relationship that will surely last.
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