The Europe for VET+ 2 project involves the implementation of a strategic partnership (exchange of good practices) for improving the quality of vocational education with organizations from Spain (Sun Dreams Global), Spain (Assiociation Mundus), Italy (Istituto per la Formazione, l'Occupazione e la Mobilità) and Poland (Lotnicze Zakłady Naukowe in Wrocław, Zespół Szkół Technicznych in Kłodzko).The main goal of the project is to improve the quality of activities in VET sector projects implemented by the partners participating in the Europe for VET + 2 project. In particular, to improve the quality of work of project teams and project management.This goal will be achieved through:1) Implementation of a series of trainings for partnership members and selected representatives of hosting organizations (C1-C4)2) Building the potential of implementing subsequent projects by strengthening the network of partners (training meetings in at least 8 schools in the VET sector, 8 companies in 3 different countries; C1-C4).3) Development, use and publication of measurement system and measurement tool for assessing quality of hosting companies. This tool will take into account data including information from interns, companies, accompanying persons, intermediary organizations. The tool will be implemented in future activities of the partners.An additional objective will be to support host organizations in the proper implementation of vocational mobilities within the VET sector. This goal will be achieved by developing a Compendium for both hosting and sending organizations. It will describe, among others, specific elements related to the requirements that should be met by the mentor, tools and exercises that he can perform to acquire these skills, sources which he can use in this process - the Compendium will count min. 40 pages. Will be prepared in Polish, English, Spanish, Italian.During the project, procedures, documents and mechanisms for managing VET-type projects (Vocational education and training) will also be developed. Partners will have the opportunity to strengthen the international contacts base.6 international meetings and 4 international short-term trainings for partner employees will be implemented in the project. During the Project participants will have the opportunity to visit 8 organizations hosting international trainees as well as 8 European schools that send their students in the logistics, mechatronic and construction sectors for foreign vocational mobilities. A series of workshops raising the competences of participating organizations will strengthen the potential of each partner and will enable the development of two project results: The Compendium of knowledge and a course for employees supervising international internships in host organizations.The project will also enable closer cooperation between two schools, Lotnicze Zakłady Naukowe in Wrocław, Zespół Szkół Technicznych in Kłodzko.The project will involve at least 46 participants from partner organizations who will work on creating project results, mainly vocational subject teachers, mentors looking after young people during internships in the VET sector, and English language teachers.In the long term, the project will contribute to improving the quality of projects implemented by partner institutions in the VET sector, building a broader partnership and increasing the competences of partners' employees.

GreenVETAfrica (GVA) mission will be to offer an innovative capacity building programme based on a five-pronged approach: i) Pedagogical upskilling, ii) Digital Pedagogy, ii) Digital Tools for teaching, learning, assessment and validation, iv) Green Waste Management technical foundations, and v) Foundation of micro-entrepreneurship skills for Micro-SMEs to two accredited VET providers in West Africa. GVA will also aim to integrate unemployed youth and vulnerable groups into the labour markets in Ghana and Nigeria, by offering technical and entrepreneurial training on green waste management to 100 young people (with a focus on vulnerable groups). GVA will design and pilot an innovative VET programme closing the existing skills shortage of professional figures capable of supporting a twin sustainable transition. The VET programme will use innovative ICT applications, such as a remote expert solution, coupled with smart glasses for augmented reality enabling highly interactive - on the field - learning sessions. GVA will: a) analyse the skill gaps and market demands; b) design a multi-competence programme including: i) technical green waste ii) basic ICT-skills iii) green micro-entrepreneurship; c) deploy a Train-The-Trainers programme engaging 50 trainers in Nigeria and Ghana d) pilot a 3-month dual learning VET programme with 100 students (50 in Nigeria and 50 in Ghana) e) foster i) official accreditation of the GVA VET programme by both Ghana and Nigeria authorities iii) foster valorisation through the replication of the GVA VET programme across Ghana and Nigeria (and possibly beyond through the partners’ international network) ii) promote the learners’ employability.

Inspired by the Erasmus+ strategic goals, the current project idea has been developed with the aim to ease transitions and contribute in reducing the gap between the labor market and education systems. EAfA continues to identify major problems related to lack of broker actors, able to bridge the education and employment sectors, and offering support in the implementation of apprenticeship schemes. This role could be best handled by youth organizations, since the youth sector has a great potential for leading such networking, due to already well-established expertise in this field, and direct contact with youth.As committed bodies within the education and youth fields, the consortium members have decided to provide their quality contribution for bringing some relevant answers to the above stated situation. Therefore, after implementing a very successful project in the same field for the past 2 years, the current Pan-European partnership seeks to provoke a larger long term impact for enhancing youth empowerment, through the provision of a rich offer of WBL opportunities for young people. “Work Based learning – Pathway to youth empowerment” aims at facilitating the creation of WBL solutions for enabling more youngsters to enrol in. It promotes a deep holistic approach for fostering youth empowerment and employability by bridging non-formal, formal education and labor market sectors, contributing to the creation of a long term multilevel cross-sectorial cooperation. Such follow up initiative is meant to upgrade the already achieved results and to further stimulate quality and excellence within the education, training and youth systems across Europe in the future. The project objectives are described as follows: •To provide youth organizations with further guidance for bridging sectors, in view of operating sustainable strategies that promote WBL paths as complementary educational patterns for boosting youth empowerment•To foster the effective use of EU funding instruments, support the implementation of initiatives and dissemination of relevant EU tools in the field of education, training and youth systems•To strengthen cooperation among youth NGOs and WBL providers, by engaging them in mutual learning and peer counselling, aimed at raising the quality and attractiveness of WBL provision•To reach-out and involve new WBL providers that do not yet contribute or benefit from European cooperation•To launch the development of a multilevel networking system that concretely stimulates learning through other than formal educational means and especially through direct involvement in practical assignments•To support the development of internationalisation strategies at institutional level that increase cooperative work in this directionThe project addresses youth NGOs and educational institutions from 8 EU countries.The overall project idea relates to the creation of bottom up partnerships that will encourage the work in network for transnational apprenticeship providers, in view of further improving youth professional competences at EU level. The created network and partnerships will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of WBL and traineeship schemes across Europe, enhance the impact and relevance of vocational education for the youth, as well for employers. The strategic actions undertaken shall be seen as a prerequisite for building cross-border cooperation that offers greater attractiveness of such educational options. The main final outcome of this strategic cooperation consists of the establishment of cooperative network that will support the quality implementation of WBL schemes and will facilitate the creation of such environments across Europe. Also, sustainable promotion of WBL strategies will be achieved, thanks to new transnational projects and capacity building actions among youth organisations and other types of educational providers, in particular for countries that have limited representation arrangements within the chain of apprenticeship actors. The network of stakeholders, interested to work further for fostering youth employability through WBL, represents a positive long-term impact to be achieved through this project. It will indirectly work for building up professionals skills of youth, through provision of WBL opportunities, in order to allow target groups to easily gain positions in the labor market and make smooth transition from education to work. The fact that various stakeholders and institutions will cooperate together is of significant importance for the future of policy-making procedures regarding WBL and youth employability on national and EU level. The project is a step towards a cooperation which on a long term basis shall impact the EU society on a larger scale and shall become a way to deal efficiently with the youth unemployment, educational difficulties, economic crisis, as well with other relevant EU issues such as social exclusion or school dropout, etc.

According to New skills Agenda for Europe (2016) “70 million Europeans lack adequate reading and writing skills, and even more have poor numeracy and digital skills, putting them at risk of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion”. The EU Agenda for Adult Education informs that there is a strong need to increase participation in adult learning of all kinds, since it is a key for personal development, active citizenship and social inclusion. Adult learning is also needed to meet the necessity for new skills, answer the demand for human capital on the labour market. In this context, European Adult Education Providers search to respond to a diverse range of needs of their learners since the need of educational opportunities seems arising, and it is a way of providing solutions to social problems and at the same time is stimulating economic growth and new employment perspective. The project “Better and easier access to lifelong learning in Europe” has been developed in order to respond to the stated issues identified in prior, with the aim to facilitate the access to lifelong learning opportunities for adults. It proposes the elaboration of educational materials and tools that will stimulate participation of individuals in training activities and quality learning processes. The project will also strive to strengthen the profiles of professionals operating in this sector, by increasing the quality of the educational offer which they propose, bringing high quality learning opportunities tailored to the needs of individuals. The principal core project objectives include: - To assess the needs of individual learners in each country regarding the provision of high quality tailored training courses and modules - To develop a joint definition of tailor-made adult centered quality criteria for education and training - To foster the cooperation among entities operating in the field, establishing cross sectorial partnership aimed at further sustainable development of the adult educational sector in Europe - To raise awareness of LLL among various target groups on local and international level - To create an online learning platform containing a high quality training offer for adults in terms of standardized course modules programs, translated in 7 EU languages with the aim to ease the access to lifelong learning and stimulating better the involvement of learners from more countries in such processes - To create a community of practice among AE professionals with the aim to exchange best practices, tools and information and in this way enhance the cooperation among the education, training and youth fields Therefore, the implementation of the current project will allow to: - Implement and test innovating learning materials, educational and training practices in the field of adult education among diverse specific target groups - Better prepare and enhance the competences of professionals for dealing with challenges in learning environments - Encourage the use of online educational tools and provide better access to educational and training opportunities for target groups - Strengthen the cooperation between the AEPs and other associated stakeholders on transnational level - Promote the integration of adult learners from disadvantaged backgrounds and vulnerable groups and raise awareness about lifelong learning in Europe The consortium of partners has been composed of 6 institutions operating in the education, training and youth field from 6 EU countries, each of them possessing a different field of expertise in the educational sector. Through the creation of such consortium, the project establishes a transnational cross-sectorial cooperation which is more than relevant for the above stated community needs and has high potential to bring quality results at local/national and international level. The creation of intellectual outputs, such as online learning platform or Community of Practice for stakeholders interested to work further on in the process of strengthening lifelong learning engagement, represents a positive outcome which will be achieved through the project. Its major long-term effects are expressed through the fostered opportunities for lifelong learning and the better applicability of the skills and qualifications to be acquired by the target groups during the project and after its end. The involvement of diverse stakeholders and associated partners that will cooperate together is of significant importance for the future of policy-making procedures regarding adult learning, employability, integration of job market and inclusion on national and EU level. The project is a step towards a cooperation, which on a long term basis will impact the EU society on a larger scale and will be a way to deal efficiently with the unemployment problems, the migration crisis, the educational difficulties, as well as with problems of social exclusion or school dropout.

In the Europe of the economic crisis and the current refugee crisis, one can observe the augmentation of nationalism, the intensification of stereotypes (promoted also by the media), the increase of feelings of xenophobia and racism (targeting mostly people of different cultural backgrounds, immigrants, etc) and the increased marginalization and intolerance towards certain groups of people (Roma, homosexuals, people living in extreme poverty, etc). The experience of social vulnerability and/or over culturalising of social problems, especially among young people leads to a negative self-image, mistrust of the society and social vulnerability. In the Balkan countries, this is even more evident, as the tension among the different ethnic groups is still visible and there is a growing skepticism towards both national as well as EU policies. Our aim in this project is to promote youth work and non-formal learning as a tool for overcoming these obstacles and a factor for the empowerment, personal development, activation and empowerment of young people, as well as to promote the collaboration among stakeholders from different sectors (local authorities, private companies, general public) for the creation of a more fruitful environment for the implementation of youth work practices and the recognition of non-formal learning. The coordinator of this project is NGO Training Center TARABA, Montenegro, and in it participate another 10 youth organisations from Greece, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, UK, Slovenia and Estonia.This project foresees 2 main activities: - A training course on developing and implementing youth work activities and non-formal education tools and methods that can be used as a tool for youth activation and empowerment that will take place in Podgorica, Montenegro from the 17th to the 21st of October 2017 and in which will participate 22 youth workers from the participating countries and 2 trainers, 1 from Greece and 1 from Montenegro.- A conference on the importance of Youth Work and non-formal learning that will take place also in Podgorica, Montenegro in the 22nd of October 2017.The methods used during the project will be a diverse combination of non-formal and formal education methods, as well as methods for communication, monitoring and evaluation that will be adapted and adjusted according to the needs of the project and the participants.The project is expected to contribute to the capacity building of the participating organisations, as well as to raising awareness on the importance of youth work and non-formal education, especially in supporting youth empowerment, activation and the broadening of their horizons.