Project outcomes

Women's Memories project is not solely oriented on the "product" or on concrete project outcomes; on the contrary it is focused on the process itself. Therefore, there are two forms of outcomes: concrete and process.

Process outcomes

The project process result is the influence of the project on its participants - both the narrators and interviewers. The process of understanding and apprehension starts already within the interview. Most of the narrators (of the two elder generations) recapitulate their lives for the first time ever. The interview helps the woman see her life from another angle as it supports her self-confidence by the simple fact that someone is interested in it and her personality. The interviews are then discussed in the family, with friends and acquaintances…

The interviews have also started looking at their respective lives and their social environment differently, not only during the interview as such but also during its transcription and further work on it. Therefore, numerous team discussions on both national and international level are organized and they form the next part of the process outcomes. Parallel to this, the project is a certain kind of exercise in multiculturalism, understanding history and cultures that are so different and still so similar, and seeing living conditions of women in other countries. Most clichés about the gray homogeneity of the Eastern Europe were quickly overthrown: although the post-Socialist countries have often been seen in one block, the reality is far different and more colorful. Thus, considering this point, the project is highly self-educative.

The process outcomes cannot be undervalued as their aspects surpass the recent comprehension of educational and cultural activities.

Concrete outcomes/ products

• interviews, their transcriptions and additional materials
• archives "Biographies and Recent History of Women in the Central and Eastern Europe" where all interviews both in electronic and printed versions can be used anytime
• publications, films, exhibitions - both on national and international level
• various national and international seminars, conferences and workshops
• case studies, diploma theses - see Literature
• special workshops, i.e. the German team regularly organizes biographical workshops entitled "…when I was little" with Russian-speaking immigrants in Berlin and Brandenburg
• numerous sub-projects and follow-up projects working with material obtained within Women's Memories, i.e. project Gebige

Interviews

All national teams that participated in the international seminar taking place in 1999 in Brač committed themselves to conclude by the end of 2002 the realization phase of interviews and provide them with additional material. Unfortunately, our plans - 30 interviews per generation - were not met by all teams so far (mainly due to financial difficulties). The German and Czech team only managed to fulfill, and to surpass, their commitment to the international project (130 and 170 interviews respectively) while they recently focus on finishing the set of additional material.
The extent of all collected material is unique: by June 30, 2003, more than 460 interviews were realized, majority of them is fully transcribed; the number of pages count over 20 thousand. All interviews include additional information (protocol, biogramme, resume) that is in English and/or German where possible. Interviews, i.e. their transcriptions, form - as a study material - the background to publications. In the near future, they will be processed for specific gender education methods - see Sub-projects.