The society demand across EU for high quality training of social care staff in the senior care service sector has been steadily growing. This need was addressed by the ACE project (2014-1-CZ01-KA202-002058), which was completed in 2017. The principal output of the ACE project is an innovative senior service worker training system (SSW Course). The Course learning materials were developed in the working language of the partnership (EN) and in five languages of the ACE consortium members (CZ, DE, HU, IT, LT).At the beginning of the post-project phase in 2018 ACE partnership members started implementing their sustainability plans and notably the members from the Czech Republic and Italy have seen a positive response from the target groups. The intensive exploitation of the SSW Course and the potential of related ACE products led us to resume the cooperation with the goal of: 1. Secure top-grade professional development for the SSW Course CVET/VET trainers in response to expected high demand for training;2. Extend the level of usage experienced in the Czech Republic and Italy to the other ACE partnership countries (Germany, Hungary, Lithuania);3. Support usage of the SSW Course by elaborating its training methodology into even greater level of detail.With these goals in mind a new partnership has been formed: Two original members of the ACE partnership remained (ACZ from the Czech Republic and PLIS from Italy) and three new members joined (ITINKLAS from Lithuania, NHE from Hungary and NBH from Germany). All new members have an excellent potential for accomplishing the goals that were set out.VET/CVET teachers/trainers of social care workers are the primary beneficiaries and the focus of the proposed project. The project will be for the most part accomplished in a series of joint trainer staff workshops focused on exchange of know-how and best practices of all participants. In structured workshop sessions participating trainers will enhance considerably their professional competences and the workshops will also generate a set of outputs consisting of detailed lesson plans, worksheets and comprehensive methodology recommendations for training of social care workers in the ACE SSW courses.The proposed project implementation will start in November 2020. After completing the necessary preparatory steps all project partners will meet at the kick-off meeting in January 2021, where they will plan and agree on detailed project parameters. Each consortium partner will establish a study group of about ten staff members possessing one or more of the following areas of expertise:•Social care worker educators/trainers,•Seniors social and/or health care experts,•Adult training methodology experts.Study groups members will participate in joint staff workshops aimed at exchange of know-how and best practices. Before the first of best practice exchanges is organized a preparatory workshop will take place in March 2021, where the partners will work out the framework for joint staff workshops. Subsequently five cycles (one per each partner) of 5-day joint staff workshops will take place in regular 3-months long intervals. The first workshop will be conducted in April 2021, the fifth one in April 2022. After this the last workshop in July 2022 will evaluate and summarize outcomes of all exchanges. The best practices identified will be highlighted in amended SSW Course worksheets and methodology materials. The project will be concluded in October 2022.The study group of trainers participating in the joint staff workshops will obtain the immediate benefits of the work program. Exchange of know-how and best practices with the other experts and the common team work on development of innovative and effective teaching methods will benefit their professional development considerably. We also expect that a transfer of experience will take place among the lectors who participated in the exchanges and their other colleagues.Improvements in professional development of the trainer staff will have a profound positive impact on the quality of service partnership members will provide to their clients, public bodies, interest groups and other stakeholders when delivering SSW Course training.Results of the project will be freely available on the dedicated project website and on all partners’ websites as well, along with learning materials of the ACE SSW Course. Enhancing and detailing the training methodology of the SSW Course will support wider adoption of the ACE training system by peer training organizations on the regional and national levels. Finding new ways by the partnership of engaging the ECVET system for assessment and validation of professional competencies, which was developed in the ACE project, will have a positive impact in improved care staff mobility and transferability of competences, initially within the boundaries of our partnership and later among other EU member states.

<< Background >>Evaluation of the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 shows that it contributed to promotion of the rights of people with disabilities and put disability high on the EU agenda. However, people with disabilities still face considerable barriers in access to healthcare, education, employment, recreation activities. 87 million people in the EU have some form of disability. 50.8% of them are in employment compared to 75% without disabilities. 28.4% are at risk of poverty or social exclusion compared to 17.8% of persons without disabilities. Only 29.4% of them attain a tertiary degree compared to 43.8% of those without disabilities and 52% of persons with disabilities feel discriminated against. According to our needs analysis, there is a lack of open-access resources and adult education opportunities for skills improvement in the field of provision of training and consultations to people with disabilities. The need for the project is based on the principles of independent living philosophy, which aims to promote autonomy and someone’s full and effective participation in society despite disabilities – the consortium aims to achieve this goal by educating the specialists (including those who have functional diversity) that provide consultations and trainings to people with disabilities (in the proposal referred to as ADULT EDUCATORS). Most people with disabilities attend community care centres, receive consultations in the local employment offices, are involved in the work of various associations of people with disabilities or are otherwise engaged in trainings and non-formal education activities run by employment specialists, career consultants, etc. Taking this into consideration, the goal of promotion of social inclusion of people with fewer opportunities and contribution to creating inclusive environments that foster equity and equality cannot be achieved without engaging adult educators that directly work in the aforementioned settings. By exchanging ideas, know-how, experience and good practices, project is aims to internationally develop and pilot a new non-formal innovative training system for improvement and extending the offer of high-quality learning opportunities for specialists that provide trainings and consultations to people with disabilities.Training program will correspond to 3 main themes sets out in the new strategy: EU rights, Independent living and autonomy, non-discrimination and equal opportunities. Lessons aimed at skills improvement and protection of people with disabilities from abuse and neglect correspond to the idea of protection of EU rights, also there is a separate topic for promotion of independent living and healthy lifestyle; finally by strengthening digital and social skills we will contribute to equal opportunities and inclusion. Training Course will be based on reliable data and collection of Best Practises.NEEDS ADRESSED:- Lack of relevant evidence-based open-access qualification improvement regarding social inclusion and empowerment of people with disabilities resources for the TG (specialists providing trainings and consultations to people with disabilities in the community-based settings).- Lack of E-learning opportunities for the aforementioned TG (relevant in the context of global COVID-19 pandemic);- Lack of digital resources for adult educators to use when conducting trainings for people with disabilities online; - Increased incidence of abuse and neglect of people with disabilities due to lockdown and changed psychosocial environment in many families and communities and lack of training regarding this topic (detection, prevention, coping); lack of healthy lifestyle promotion tools and trainings; lack of digital skills and media literacy improvement tools for people with disabilities;<< Objectives >>OBJECTIVES:- To improve (by provision of up-to-date training materials) the skills and knowledge of adult educators directly providing trainings and consultations to people with various disabilities in order to contribute to their social inclusion and employment. - To create a more innovative teaching method (innovative E-learning platform), that can be used both by adult educators and their trainees (during classroom activities and for individual learning).- To enable participating organisation to enhance and widen their policies and core activities as well as to generate improvements of the knowledge, skills and competences of the staff of partners institutions and of those in their network which will result to improved outcomes in their organizational culture and improvement of the quality of the provided adult education services for people with various disabilities. - To raise the awareness among partners countries and on EU level about the importance of social inclusions and independent living of people with various disabilities. - To foster creation of “centres of excellence” for adult education provision in partner countries and in EU (through cooperation of organizations on local, national and EU level).<< Implementation >>Learning materials will be developed and trainings for adult educators (providers and trainings and consultations) working with people who have various disabilities will be carried out. This in turn will ensure that adult educators (including those who have functional diversity) working with people that have fewer opportunities receive up-to-date knowledge and improve their skills in order to be able to properly respond to the needs of their clients and trainees in the modern environment. Foreseen training activities include 3-day long short-term joint staff training for adult educators that will be conducted once the training material is ready. Once 12 professionals that specialize in provision of trainings to adult educators (specifically those that provide trainings and consultations to people with disabilities) are trained according to the created training materials, they will conduct pilot trainings in each partners’ country. Aforementioned local training events will be based on a blended learning principle – part of the training will be carried out in the classroom and part – online (via the newly developed online learning platform). In total at least 75 people will be trained and will thus improve their skills and competences required to provide high quality trainings and consultations to people with disabilities in their communities. Other important activities: - development of the Interactive E-learning platform containing the created training program; - organization of dissemination conferences in each partners’ country;- project management, communication, monitoring, risk and impact evaluation, quality assurance, dissemination procedures;- transnational partners meeting (3 online and 3 face-to-face)<< Results >>- Open access up-to-date training materials for the improvement of skills and knowledge of adult educators providing trainings and consultations to people with various disabilities. This in turn will strengthen social inclusion and employment of people with disabilities. - Innovative teaching method (innovative E-learning platform), that can be used both by adult educators and their trainees (during classroom activities and for individual learning/revision). Online learning opportunities are especially relevant in the context of global pandemic then it is challenging to carry out face-to-face lessons. This tool will also be beneficial for people with disabilities for whom it is challenging to attended classes outside their house due to poorly adapted environment and/or because of the need for self-isolation during the pandemic. - Widening of the policies and core activities of partner organizations, improvement of knowledge, skills and competences of the staff of partners institutions and of those in their network which will result to improved outcomes in their organizational culture and improvement of the quality of the provided adult education services for people with various disabilities. - Awareness among partners countries and on EU level about the importance of social inclusions and independent living of people with various disabilities raised.- Creation of new “centres of excellence” for adult education provision in partner countries and in EU (through cooperation of organizations that provide trainings and consultations to people with disabilities on a local, regional, national and international level).

The full economic and social participation of people with disabilities is essential if the EU's Europe 2020 strategy is to succeed in creating smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Building a society that includes everyone also brings market opportunities and encourages innovation. However, regulatory frameworks do not always adequately reflect the needs of people with disabilities, nor the development of products and services that respond to them.In addition, this Strategy sets in motion a process to empower people with disabilities, so that they can participate fully in society under equal conditions. This European Strategy is made up of the framework of Article 19 (Living independently and being included in the community) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).In this context and for the reasons mentioned, the EU-Assistant project set out to define the key competences relevant to the development of the role of Personal Assistant for dependents, based on the European Qualifications Framework (EQF).The EU-Assistant project addressed and led to the achievement of other objectives, among which we highlight:- To contribute to the development of a professional training path for personal assistants.- To provide a training itinerary and training materials, under the European Qualifications Framework.- To promote the profession of personal assistants.- To raise awareness of the need for the profession of personal assistants.Some of the main results, materialized in the intellectual products created, include:1. The development of a training itinerary that, taking as reference the different contexts and areas of application of the figure of the Personal Assistant in those countries members of the consortium in which it already exists, defines the professional competences of this figure, as well as a series of training modules that lead to the empowerment of these professionals.2. A collaborative learning environment, available online on a Moodle platform. This environment makes available to students and teachers six courses for the training of personal assistants (one in each of the project languages: English, Spanish, Italian, Lithuanian, Turkish and Romanian). Each course has a modular structure (based on the designed itinerary), and allows a responsive display in such a way that the student can access it from any device (PC, tablet, smartphone). The contents are offered online, but they can also be downloaded in electronic format so they can be consulted offline.One of the most interesting features has been the design of a common space for the generation of collaborative learning. Based on the Padlet software, this space has been built for the realization of individual or group activities, the exchange of ideas and experiences, in a structured format. Additionally, Moodle also offers communication mechanisms for the management of teamwork, such as forums or chats.All the direct target groups of the EU-Assistant project (people interested in learning about the role of personal assistant, both those who have not yet exercised in the care and attention of dependents as well as those who already do and want to deepen this professional profile), as the indirect ones (educational centers interested in this profile, employment centers and other institutions), have participated directly in the development of the project through various means, mainly: validation sessions and testing of products, events and presentations, meetings and dissemination actions.The impact has been significant in all these groups, and already begun to materialize in concrete actions. Just to give some examples, in several of the consortium countries the products are already being used in the training of personal assistants; public and private entities are joining efforts to offer integral training programs in this field; and work is being done for the adaptation of the training itinerary to NEETs (mainly youth with low qualification), as a potential area for professional insertion.

The primary goal of the project is to facilitate the reintegration of people with changed abilities into the primary labor market. The main outcome of the Core-Relief project is a curriculum written as simple text in the working language of the partnership and in the 6 languages ​​of the Core-Relief consortium (GER, FI, E, SK, HU, LT) which can be used by the partnerships' stakeholders and other partners. Our goals include:1. Secure top-grade professional development for the Core-Relief Course adult/professional trainers in response to expected high demand for training;2. Extend the level of knowledge in connection with the main topic in Slovakia, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Hungary and Lithuania, and other EU countries.3. Support usage of the Core-Relief Course by elaborating its training methodology into an even greater level of detail.Professionals of the sheltered labor market and teachers/trainers of social care workers are the primary beneficiaries and the focus of the proposed project.The project will be for the most part accomplished in a series of joint trainer staff workshops focused on the exchange of know-how and best practices of all participants. The material of the training events (3 occasions) is supplemented by work based on common thinking and experience of exchanges of best practices. In structured workshop sessions and training sessions participating trainers will enhance considerably their professional competences and the workshops and the training events will also generate a set of outputs consisting of detailed lesson plans, worksheets and comprehensive methodology recommendations for training of professionals in the CoRe-Relief courses. The proposed project implementation will start in October 2020. After completing the necessary preparatory steps all project partners will meet at the kick-off meeting in October 2020, where they will plan and agree on detailed project parameters. Each consortium partner will establish a study group of staff members possessing one or more of the following areas of expertise: • Professional worker educators/trainers in the sheltered labor market, • Health care experts, • Adult training methodology experts.Study group members will participate in joint staff workshops and the training events aimed at the exchange of know-how and best practices. Subsequently, four cycles (one of the Spanish, one of the Belgian, one of the Finnish and one of the Lithuanian partners) of 3-day joint staff workshops will take place in regular about 3-months long intervals. The Hungarian partner will organize the training occasions in the first part of 2022, the main applicant, the Slovakian TENENET will organize the kick-off and closing TPMs, assists in the organization and organization of all kind of meetings during the project, reviewer and responsible for the big whole process. After this, the last training occasion in March 2022 will evaluate and summarize the outcomes of all exchanges. The project will be concluded in March 2023.The study group of trainers participating in the joint staff workshops and in the training events will obtain the immediate benefits of the work program. Exchange of know-how and best practices with the other experts and the common teamwork on the development of innovative and effective teaching methods will benefit their professional development considerably. We also expect that a transfer of experience will take place among the lectors who participated in the exchanges and their other colleagues.Improvements in the professional development of the trainer staff will have a profound positive impact on the quality of service partnership members will provide to their clients, public bodies, interest groups, and other stakeholders when delivering CoRe-Relief Course training. The results of the project will be freely available on all partners’ websites, along with learning materials of the CoRe-Relief Course. Enhancing and detailing the training methodology of the CoRe-Relief Course will support the wider adoption of the training for the sheltered labor market by peer training organizations on the regional and national levels. Hopefully, the Core-Relief will have a positive impact on improving the affected staff mobility and transferability of competences, initially within the boundaries of our partnership and later among other EU member states.

The project ‘Ways to enhance active aging through volunteering – WEActiveVol” responded to the current needs to undertake active actions in relation to the challenges of an ageing society. It was about keeping people over 50 in activity and using their potential in the area of social and civic activities. Volunteering is a great example of how to effectively use and strengthen the potential of people in their mature age. In addition, volunteering is recognized as an example of non-formal learning activity, which develops skills and key competences (communication, social and civil competences, sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, learning to learn). Unfortunately, due to the insufficient promotion of volunteering and lack of habit on community involvement among seniors, volunteering in this group still remains an under-utilized form of activity.Therefore, the main aim of the WEActiveVol project was to strengthen volunteering among the over 50 people. The other goals were are aimed at: 1)getting familiar with some basic law regulations and statistic data on volunteering in the partner countries; 2)exploring the methods of work with the Over 50s volunteers; 3)learning about obstacles that may limit volunteering among the Over 50s; 4)gaining information about attitude of entities organizing voluntary work towards the Over 50s volunteers; 4)promoting volunteering in partner countries through promoting events, leaflet and brochure of good practices.The partner group of the project was composed of 6 organizations from the following countries: Poland, France, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania (mainly non-governmental organizations and public entity). During the eighteen – month long cooperation, the staff of the partner organizations was exploring the theme of volunteering by sharing ideas, knowledge, experience and good practices. This group consisted of educators/trainers/coaches active in the adult education sector, volunteer coordinators, project managers, practitioners working in the field of volunteering and active ageing, advisors, decision-makers from the participating organizations. Partnership at European level enabled to share good practices around Europe, and to get familiar with new ideas and approaches on how to empower volunteering amongst the over 50 people.The project activities were concerned with: preparing the official project website www.weactivevol.eu; publishing the information leaflet; participating in the transnational project meetings; developing two questionnaires and carrying out two survey polls in partner countries; organizing events aimed at promoting volunteering and active citizenship; developing and disseminating the brochure containing the descriptions of good practices in the field of the Over 50s volunteering. Thanks to the project the following results were developed: project website, meeting minutes, ppt, thematic workshops for the meeting participants, leaflet, questionnaire for the assessment of predisposition to perform volunteering, two different questionnaires for opinion polls, set of recommendations about the scope of a comprehensive training course in the field of volunteering, dissemination activities aimed at promoting volunteering and active citizenship, final report, brochure with good practice examples. The project impact on the participating staff was concerned with, among others, acquiring knowledge and competences that enable to increase the participation of people in their mature age in volunteering (especially in the field of recruitment and training); learning about new solutions on how to improve the 50+ competences; exchanging ideas and good practices in the field of volunteering of people from this age range. On the other hand, the impact of the project on the participating organizations was primarily related to increasing their visibility at the local level and to strengthening the position of active actors supporting development of volunteering. The project enabled to establish and to strengthen the local partnerships, as each partner organization cooperated with different relevant stakeholders in own country (groups of local experts). The project impact on organizations also referred to the exchange of good practices among the involved partners, the gaining of knowledge about approaches and solutions used by other organizations to find out the best ways to mobilize seniors.In the long-term perspective, the project will contribute to the interest of mature adults in volunteering. In this way, the possibility of strengthening and using their potential in frame of the social and civic activity will be ensured. And also, the promotion of active aging and development of skills and competences will be provided. The indicated elements are part of the catalog of activities that are to solve the problem of the ageing of society through creating a framework for active participation of people over 50 in society.