BULGARIA
The organization “Friends of Waldorf Education” was founded in 2002 to support Waldorf initiatives in Bulgaria.  Since December 2004, a three year Waldorf kindergarten teacher- and teacher training programme has been offered. Courses take place during vacations three times a year, four weeks altogether. There are 27 students from seven cities in Bulgaria enrolled in the Waldorf teacher training and 12 students attending the Waldorf kindergarten training. 

We have visiting faculty members from Germany and Holland, and a team of students from Germany, Holland and Bulgaria, who, together with the local organizers, are responsible for the training courses. During the summer holiday in 2004 and 2005 in Sofia, a child care program was offered and attended by 60 children.

Seyda Aysel, Munich, Germany, Project Partner, seyda-aysel@gmx.de

LITHUANIA
In a small country on the Baltic, interest in Waldorf education has been growing constantly since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1991(until then, Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union). Parallel with the process of democracy, increasing numbers of parents, teachers and even some politicians began to look for more humane approaches to education.

In 1999 Waldorf kindergarten teacher training was established in Lithuania, first in the capital Vilnius and since 2002 in the second biggest city, Kaunas.  The Waldorf kindergarten training seminar is carried by colleagues from the kindergartens, supported by a government vocational school centre and by the Waldorf Kindergarten Seminar in Stuttgart/Germany.

The 44 students come from all parts of the country. There are already Waldorf kindergartens in eight cities, but many children are waiting for a place in a Waldorf kindergarten. In order to accomplish further development of the work in Lithuania we need help and support to have educational literature translated and for the travel costs of visiting professors from Germany, who regularly teach at the training seminar in Kaunas in co-operation with Lithuanian educators.

Audra Liaudanskiene , Kaunas, Lithuania, saltineliod@saltinelis.kaunas.Im.It
Peter Lang, IASWECE Council Member, Stuttgart, Germany, peter.lang@waldorfkindergartenseminar.de.