Freire is the author of the groundbreaking book ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’, in which he explains, amongst other things, how he views education not merely as the transfer of knowledge, but as a key to liberation, a means of helping people to change their own reality.

Freire believed that education should empower people, not simply fill their heads with facts. He contrasted ‘banking education’, (like a classroom where students just memorize information) with ‘problem-posing education’, where students actively explore, solve real-world problems and become active participants. This approach is closely linked to strategies and initiatives developed within the U!REKA European University.  

South-North

It also inspired Marleen Henny to advocate for a self-critical approach to partnerships in education and research. It is quite common to approach collaborative projects with institutions from the Global South from a position of dominance, Marleen clarifies. The fact that the bulk of the funding for these projects is often provided by the European partners is, of course, no coincidence. “This means that, because of this financial dominance, we sometimes make decisions on behalf of the other partners,” Marleen says.  But the financial picture is not the only explanation for our (often unconscious) dominant behaviour, Marleen emphasises: “We assume too easily that in the Western world, we have our things better organised and that we will therefore “help” our partner from the South. The very term ‘North-South’ already betrays that dominant attitude. After all, we never talk about ‘South-North’. By consequence, partners from the South often consider us as the stronger partners.” But once those partners get to know our work better, they often realise they’re actually doing quite well.

Storytelling

According to Marleen, it is therefore essential in South-North cooperation not to start from the idea that we in the Western/Northern regions are going to improve the situation on the ground in the South, but rather from the conviction that we can learn from one another. “It’s a matter of give and take and of being open to other perspectives,” Marleen explains, illustrating this with an example from a collaborative project in Suriname: “There, the power of stories is traditionally rooted in the culture of certain tribes. Involving a tribal chief in a storytelling project, for example, can offer considerable added value.”

Marleen also emphasises that these insights do not apply solely to the South-North context: “Even amongst U!REKA partners, we must remain vigilant to ensure that our collaboration is based on equality and that we continue to listen to one another. That may sound obvious, but even in a partnership like U!REKA, which is built on a strong history, there is always a risk that – usually implicit and unintended – power structures will have a detrimental impact on the collaboration.”