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index » ethics & working methods

code of conduct:

working methods:

All volunteers and cooperators of Circolibre commit themselves to the following principles.

1. The basic goal of Circolibre is to live in joy and friendship with the means of circus. Therefore we visit places in the whole world which are socially and politically segregated or disadvantaged in order to overcome internal and external borders in a playful and astonishing way, with laughter, but also with sincerity.
2. We differentiate humans not by age, sex, religion, culture, social layer or political background and strive to deal critically and consciously with such categorizations.
3. The participation is voluntary and free for the participants visiting from other countries.
4. We do not strive for financial vantage, although, we shouldn't suffer any economic disadvantage nor obtain any advantage. An allowance for special expenditure can be paid.
5. We do not use the projects of Circolibre for our personal advantage.
6. We understand our work as group work. We follow the principle of making decisions by consensus.
7. The function of our group is holistic and integral: Everybody should be working with "head, heart and hand". We see ourselves in a continuous learning experience.
8. We strive for a mutual dialogue, an exchange of experience and a way of learning from each other with our project partners.
9. With our projects we want to contribute to continuous and sustainable work in the different regions and countries and therefore endeavor long-term stable partnerships with organizations and individuals which are embodied in the local community.
10. When arranging Programs/Workshops, we consider the sensitivity of humans, their culture and the special situation they are living in.
11. During the planning of a journey we inform ourselves of the political situation, laws, culture, the medical situation and other characteristics of the country. We reflect on our own (personal) identities as well as the respective cultural and political differences, in order to be able to behave sensitively and perceptively in the other region.
12. We are documenting and evaluating our projects and activitie, in order to process and pass on our experiences. We want to pass on our personal experiences and the impressions we had on our trips.
13. Circolibre projects are mostly financed by donation funds, member contributions, sponsor funds, fund raising events and subsidies. We pay attention to the ethical, human rights elements and environmental attitude of our sponsors and partners.
14. We manage our finances carefully, keep the production and travel expenses as low as possible and ensure full transparency in these matters.
15. Circus means for us amongst others:
    ... a place that welcomes each human and each spectator in joy and astonishment
    ... a protected area in which each and everyone can discover and unfold the artist, the performer and the clown in her or himself.
    ... an art, which is taught with respect for human dignity.
    ... a global community.
    Each human should laugh. Each human should be free. Laughter frees!

The philosophy of our youth meetings is that the participants live, train and perform for a certain time together. By collaborative acting for one goal (usually a collaborative circus performance) the active exchange between the participants is stimulated.
By visiting each other the youngsters get to know the living conditions of the other participants’ home countries. Most participants are housed in families.
We set value on the quality of the Pedagogy.
Specialist meetings can be realised with different goals:

• Getting to know the partners of this project on personal and professional level
• Preparation of projects
• Collaborative further education and exchange of knowledge
• schooling of specialists

The voluntary service enables young people (at the age between 18 and 30 years) to collaborate for a longer period (usually from a half to one year) in a circus project in another country.
Circolibre exchanges voluntaries with its partner organizations.
Circolibre emphasises the ongoing contact with its partner organizations.
We offer our support in the form of long-term technical cooperation. This can be made by Internet and telephone, during shorter visits or during long-term stays from specialists at the partner organizations.
Circolibre is in local and global formal as well as informal networks and strives for co-operation with further organizations and groups. Goals are the exchange of experience and knowledge, the bundling of resources and the use of synergies for the advancement of technical aspects and a common representation of interests.
Our activities are presented to the public over the press, television, film, radio and the Internet.
We document our individual projects and entire work in writing, picture and sound in order to publish it in our own presentations or over media.
We care actively about the procurement and covering of financing and the sponsorship for our projects. If necessary, we also support our partner organizations with this.