Volunteer work is closely linked with social, civic and intercultural competences, with critical thinking and with the fight against discrimination, segregation, racism and violence. Volunteer work has an economic value, increases social well-being and social prosperity. Lots of volunteers live the European values and stand for it. They are active citizens and contribute to the civil society in Europe. Democracies thrive from the engagement of their citizens, their readiness to help in society, to feel a part of it and to take over responsibility. With other words: Democracies need volunteers! In 2011 the European Year of Volunteering was designated. Since then the number of volunteers grew up, but by far not as much as expected. There are remarkable differences of volunteering between the european countries, influenced by their tradition, politics and history. Statistical data about volunteering are different in the european countries and often not sufficient to reflect the real situation. There exist already European programmes like the European Voluntary Service that provide opportunities for volunteering for young people. Nevertheless, further transnational exchange, promotion and education campagnes are needed in Europe in order to raise awareness among people of all ages, organisations and companies for voluntary activities and its great benefits. It was the main objective of the project to support this approach. The five project partners documented interesting voluntary activities in their region: they made photo reportages, interviewed volunteers and representatives of organisations active in the field of volunteering. Different kinds of voluntary activities and volunteers of all ages were taken into consideration. Many situations, where volunteers could be active in society, became visible and the work of many volunteers could be honoured by the project. Transnational exhibitions of photos and photo collages from volunteering as a tool of non-formal education were conducted in all partner countries to provide informations, increase awareness and encourage people of all ages to become active as volunteers. Meetings with volunteers and representatives of organisations for volunteers allowed an interesting exchange of knowledge and provided possibilities to enlarge the networks. The partners were from Estonia (Eesti People to People, Tallinn), France (Mitra France, Nice), Germany (European Photo Academy, Rastatt), Italy (Acquamarina Associazione Culturale, Trieste) and Sweden (More Mosaic, Stockholm), came from countries with different traditions in volunteering. The three NGOs and two education providers contributed to the project with different backgrounds and skills: they already were involved in projects with volunteers, some of them organise voluntary work, they provided high qualifications in PR, journalism, photography and the organisation of exhibitions, meetings and conferences. Nevertheless during the Volunteers4Europe project each of the project partners learned a lot about the volunteering sector in the partner countries and in his own country. The main tangible result of the project is an e-book containing more than 100 photo reportages on volunteering in the partner countries, reports of the 5 V4E-exhibitions and further information on the topic. It contributes not only to more transparency of the voluntary sector in Europe, but also to the impact and sustainability of the project, The Volunteers4Europe e-book is an OER. A permanent free download can be found on the Internet platform of OERcommons ( https://www.oercommons.org/courses/volunteers4europe-an-insight-into-the-world-of-volunteering-in-europe). The comprehensive work can be used in many areas, for example as educational material in all educational sectors, as information material for individuals and groups wishing to volunteer, or as input for new ideas and methods in the voluntary sector in Europe. Additionally the results of the project were summarized in a transnational webinar at the end of the project.

"Transnational cooperation of different education providers is becoming increasingly important in particular as regards the European Educational fields. Against this background the development and practice of innovative and efficient pedagogical approaches and ways of communication is required. Although, webinars could be used in all education sectors for seminars, lectures, discussion groups, they are still not very common in Europe. There is a lack of online-trainers, who are able to conduct webinars and of guidelines for the pedagogy of webinars, increasing the attractiveness and efficiency of such learning activities. Additionally, many learners, including disadvantaged persons, cannot estimate how useful and efficient webinars are and how easy it is to participate without the need of extensive digital skills. The project ""HDR Photography and Blended Learning"" (www.vir2cope.eu) delivered an example in the field of transnational Blended Learning with the inclusion of real-time online seminars (webinars) as a special form of E-Learning.The six project partners represented the huge range of potential users for webinars. Coming from Czech Republic (ALVIT, Ostrava), Germany (VINC Learning UG, Rastatt), Hungary (University of Pannonia, Veszprem), Italy (Acquamarina Associazione Culturale, Trieste ), Portugal (Technical School of Image and Communication, Lisbon) and United Kingdom (CRYSTAL Ltd., Birmingham) they are active in higher education, further education and adult education, being national and transnational networkers of different education sectors and companies. Thus, the project contributed to the internationalisation of education in all sectors, the growing use of digital learning and better access to education for all. HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging) photography was the common learning topic of the partners. It was chosen because it affects the interest of a huge target group throughout society: everywhere the communication with images has become an important factor, in private life and also for professionals working in media, art, documentation, business or marketing. Although the HDR-technique became already standard in the film industry, it is still far away from that in photography. But it has a huge potential: The whole range of light can be captured in one image (avoiding over- and underexposed areas in a picture) and a huge amount of tonal values is available to process high quality images. It is quite easy even for amateurs to make HDR-photos. After having met for a common training and exchange, the project partners worked on different topics about HDR photography and tested new application fields. Against the backdrop to conduct webinars with a good pedagogical approach, 17 international webinars were carried out where each partner presented his work. Guests, also from disadvantaged groups, participated in the webinars in order to learn how efficient webinars are and how easy it is to participate. They also learned about HDRI photography. All participants were invited to evaluate the webinars via an online-questionnaire. Based on this interesting empirical study the partners worked out an essay about the pedagogy of webinars. Translated in six different languages it is available as an Open Educational Resource. The English version was published in a peer-reviewed journal. Additionally, to this essay a film was made summarizing clearly the best pedagogical approach to conduct webinars. This film is available as OER on YouTube. The partners produced the E-Book ""HDR-Photography: A practical guide"". Available in English (256 pages) and German (343 pages) language the comprehensive E-Book provides interesting know-how for amateurs and professionals. It generated strong interest (more than 15 000 downloads at the end of September 2016 and an invitation to present the E-Book on the world leading fair for imagery PHOTOKINA in Cologne Sept. 2016). The E-Book became an important element for the dissemination and impact of the whole VIR2COPE project. Additionally the project partners conducted HDR photography exhibitions in their home countries. The main important exhibitions in Trieste and Lisbon included small public conferences. In order to enhance the sustainability of the events virtual galleries and printed catalogues with information about HDR photography and the VIR2COPE project were produced. In particular, the Blended Learning approach turned out as very efficient for transnational cooperation. Blended Learning in combination with webinars could have a longer-term benefit for all kind of education providers, institutions and companies. Using webinars contributes to the inclusion of all learners, enhances access to learning for disadvantaged groups, and reduces costs (no travelling) and time."

"The strategic partnership project ""Garden without Borders: A School for Developing Key Competences in Europe"" has enabled the collaboration of several European bodies that are differently involved in school education.the partners were able to design, implement and test effective strategies for improving key competences for specific target groups of schoolchildren and unemployed youth: they constructed the outline of a ""virtual garden without frontiers"" As a shared cross-cultural ground of experiences and a vehicle for the development of the key competencies of their learners. The results show that motivated learning addresses the gaps in science in an environmental and cultural context, as well as oral and written communication, mathematics, computer literacy, and that of humanist culture. - the cross-sectoral approach allowed a real exchange and sharing between academics and teachers of colleges and high schools, artists and scientists, very favorable to the production of quality training tools, whose exploitation allowed to reach the big public and unemployed youth. - the best practices have been pooled, shared between teachers in order to create and validate tools, in particular to manage diverse groups of learners, and to reach the most disadvantaged of them. Through European cooperation, trainers have learned to share, share, pool, reinvent a cross-cultural field such as that of the European Garden, which promotes social cohesion and cross-cultural dialogue. The expected impact on their learners was: - develop key skills - and knowledge - - to foster creativity, self-confidence, the desire to learn, intellectual curiosity, openness to cultural diversity, awareness of the wealth and diversity of the European cultural heritage of gardens, - create an increased motivation for the culture of other countries. From this cooperation, the partner structures developed new teaching strategies and new tools to be used in teacher training, to plan future opportunities for pedagogical modules."