<< Background >>BACKGROUNDThe main challenge the project addresses is lower than possible level of European networking of Civil Society Organisations active in the lifelong learning, adult education sector. The idea of the EU NET is built on the outcomes, conclusions and the Exit Strategy of a 2 – year long Erasmus+ KA 2 project, 2018 – 2020, of five European organisations active in the field of adult education: “First-time international projects realisers support network” (1stTIPPM). The project was concluded in founding the FIRST Network in December 2020. The Mission of the FIRST Network (FN) is strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations and entities active in the adult education sector to operate in the international arena, enhancing innovativeness and the ability to adapt to changes in the modern world.Analysis preceding founding the FIRST Network disclosed lack of proper/affordable legal and formal solutions supporting networking accessible for the non-profit and/or not-for-profit CSOs. There seem to be a legal gap on the level of European legislation. The procedure of founding and registering European networks is just expensive and complicated. The European Cooperative Society form seems promising, but it is totally unsurveyed and unexplored.The EU NET also addresses the identified need for more practical examples, more case studies, material for further self-education in the field of European level cooperation and networking of the adult learning CSOs.<< Objectives >>THE AIM & OBJECTIVESThe main aim of the project is to support the European level networking of the Civil Society Organisations active in the lifelong learning sector.The specific goals are:1.Facilitating European level networking of adult learning Civil Society Organisations through increasing the accessibility of information and applicable knowledge, guidelines and recommendations concerning the European Cooperative Society as a form of EU level networking. 2.Facilitating European cooperation in the adult education sector by delivering practical and reusable resources for the practitioners for self-directed education in the field of European projects initiation, designing, developing and realising.3.Supporting the resilience of adult learning Civil Society Organisations and their capability to cope with the most current challenges for adult education: Digital transformation, inclusion and diversity in education, environmental awareness of the learners and educators, supporting active democratic activity of adult Europeans.4.Supporting the development and strengthening of the FIRST Network as a laboratory for developing and testing solutions for the capacity building to operate in the international arena, enhancing innovativeness of the lifelong learning sector and its ability to adapt to changes.<< Implementation >>PARTICIPANTS & TARGET GROUPSThe direct target group of the project include the members, workers, co-workers, volunteers and the adult learners of the non-vocational, adult education organisations, especially the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) including informal groups, Non-governmental organisations and other non-profit and notfor profit organisations.The indirect target group include wide range of education – related organisations, institutions and decision makers.The dissemination activities would reach, in total, at least 107.133 receivers.THE PARTNERSHIP CYCLEProject partners are five 3rd sector, civil society organisations, working in the field of lifelong learning, adult education from Poland, Italy, Hungary, Portugal and Iceland. All Partners are the members of the FIRST Network. Even though all the organisations involved are 3rd sector and working in the field of lifelong learning, they have various profiles and experience – which makes the Partnership composition somehow representative for the adult liberal education sector in Europe. What is more, the EU NET realization would be supported by several associated Partners.METHODOLOGY & ACTIVITIESThe design of the work programme is chronological, divided into 3 main phases. Project activities are divided into 20 Work Packages (WP), including transversal activities of management, evaluation and dissemination. There are 2 activities delivering Project Results, five Transnational Project Meetings, five Multiplier Events and three international Training Events planned.The Project Results include:PR1. Delivered Toolkit on European Project Management for the Civil Society Organisations active in the Lifelong Learning Sector, in two parts:Part 1: Project planning and designing,Part 2: Realising, monitoring & evaluating the project,including: Addenda with recommendations concerning the current challenges for lifelong learning: Inclusion and Diversity and Digital Transformation, developed after the idea camps/workshops/networking events – LTT 1 and LTT2.PR2. Delivered Recommendations for European Networking of the Civil Society Organizations active in the Lifelong Learning Sector, including an Addendum with recommendations concerning the current challenges for lifelong learning: Environmental awareness and Active democratic participation – developed after the idea camp/workshop/networking event – LTT 3.<< Results >>RESULTS & IMPACTThe results of the project will be tangible and intangible (material and immaterial). The direct tangible results will be reached during the work packages, while the intangible will be illustrated in the field of increased of knowledge, skills and awareness, change of attitudes etc. The indirect, third level of results are those long-term ones, clearly connected with the varied project impact.The direct intangible results will be seen both on individual and organizational levels, referring to change of attitudes and values related to international cooperation and networking, introducing innovations, professionalization of the adult education staff, and developing long-term development strategies of the 3rd sector adult learning organisations.SUSTAINABILITYProject results will be sustainable, among others, through:- Delivering applicable, reusable knowledge related to: European projects management, new ways of networking on the European level, new solutions for addressing the most current challenges in adult education. This knowledge would be useful also for the other sectors of education. What is more, the learning and self-directed learning materials will be possible to adapt and update in time, adjusting to the current needs of the sector.- Strengthening and amplifying the FIRST Network as a laboratory for designing and testing solutions enhancing innovativeness and resilience of the adult education sector.

CONTEXTDuring the last years, an increased European interest in the potential of amateur arts and voluntary culture in fostering social inclusion can be witnessed. This is reflected in a range of publications and projects focussing on this interconnection (Cultural Heritage Counts for Europe report 2018; European Commission 2018; European Research Partnership on Cultural and Creative Spillovers 2019; Matarasso 2018; Culture Action Europe 2018). Based on this data, own research, and results of the former Erasmus+ project BRIDGING, the rationale behind this new project is that amateur arts and voluntary culture enhances social inclusion. Many learning providers in the field know for the potential of their work to support social inclusion. Yet, how this can be done and what categories and practical questions need to be considered when working on this objective is often unclear. OBJECTIVESThe project BOOST aims at empowering learning providers in the sector of amateur arts and voluntary culture to contribute to social inclusion. It supports the self-reflection of learning providers on their potential for fostering social inclusion along different dimensions and categories in form of an online Benchmark Tool; and it provides practice-oriented options for learning providers in the field on how to develop an organisation’s level of social inclusion.ACTIVITIESThe first output of the project will be a Baseline Survey on good practice of benchmarking and recommendations on social inclusion. It will be carried out by all partners on relevant studies, reports, and literature and with expert interviews and focus groups with selected learning providers in the sector.The second step will be to structure the outcomes of the Baseline Survey into main relevant areas. That means that they will be clustered and divided along main relevant issues, like: access to activity, content of activity, outcome of activity, etc. Each identified issue will furthermore be divided into concrete questions, that will help the learning providers to ask themselves how they are currently ensuring inclusive access to the activity, inclusive content of the activity, inclusive outcomes of the activity, etc. A transnational training on the Benchmark Tool will be a possibility to train the partner organisations in benchmarking in the civil society sector and reflect with experts on the tool and adapt it.The learning providers that will help to test and develop the Benchmark Tool further will also be involved in the development of the Practice Methods. The development of the Practice Methods will happen in teams of three project partners in the framework of trilateral meetings. Each team consists of two practice partners and one consulting partner as well as one identified learning provider. During a period of twelve months these teams will have time to develop, reflect, adapt, document and disseminate the Practice Methods. The Practice Methods are linked to the Benchmark Tool so that they can directly support an organisation’s development in social inclusion according to the result of its self-assessment. The Manual for the use of the Benchmark Tool and the Practice Methods will be developed based on the tests and the impact assessment. The impact assessment is led by a research-based partner in the consortium. In a first step, the partners will formulate recommendations and then create the Manual so that other learning providers can easily use the Benchmark Tool and the Practice Methods.The partner consortium will carry out a European Symposium in Krakow where external organisations and experts are invited to discuss the Benchmark Tool and the Practice Methods with the partner consortium in discussions and workshops.EXPECTED RESULTS AND IMPACTSThe project aims at initiating a thorough quality development process in the sector. In the short-term perspective the project supports learning providers in their orientation and development towards a socially more inclusive work, including the initiation of new socially inclusive activities. By these means learning providers will be enabled to define their strategy and possible activities regarding social inclusion in detail. On the long-term, we expect the project’s information provision, awareness raising as well as new possibilities for further education regarding amateur arts and voluntary culture will inspire the learning providers in the sector to be more societally engaged and to raise their efforts in social inclusion.PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONSThe project consortium circle includes 6 partners from 5 countries in Northern, Eastern and Western Europe, that represent four strong national umbrellas as well as two knowledge and research centres, representing a transnational European sum of varied expertise and experiences in the field, which we cannot find in just one of the participating countries. The project partners share the responsibilities equally.

The main problem the project addressed was low level of innovativeness of the 3rd sector adult education organisations. This lowers the effectiveness and efficiency of adult education, being a barrier for effective outreach to the adult learners. One of the reasons for this is low level of international, partnership cooperation and networking of the adult education organisations. European cooperation brings innovations in the methods of work to better fit the needs and expectations of the adult learners, including low-skilled and low-qualified ones. It also brings development of professional skills of the organisations staff – adult non-vocational, liberal education professionals. Low level of cooperation in international environment results in low level of trust, low level of intercultural competences and often even consent to discrimination. Lack of cooperation on the European level may be the basis for questioning the united Europe existence. AIMThe overall aim was to support increasing innovativeness of the adult education organisations, in terms of education methodology, outreach to adult learners and managing adult education organisations, through supporting them at undertaking new ways and areas of activities.PARTICIPANTS The two primary, specific direct target groups were: 1. Staff members/volunteers/experts of the adult education 3rd sector organisations who would like to undertake initiating and realizing international, partnership cooperation for the benefit of their organisations – as the first-time international project managers; 2. The managers and management bodies members (the boards, auditing commissions, councils etc.) in the 3rd sector adult education organisations that would like to initiate and run international cooperation – with the first step to be to appoint a person responsible for international cooperation management.The indirect target group included wide range of education – related organisations, institutions and decision makers.Direct project participants were 1620 persons. The dissemination activities reached, in total, over 80.000 recipients.PARTNERSHIP CYCLEProject partners were six 3rd sector, civil society organisations, working in the field of lifelong learning adult education from Poland, Italy, Hungary (2 Partners; partner change), Denmark and Austria. Even though all the organisations involved were 3rd sector and working in the field of lifelong learning, they had various profiles and experience – which made the Partnership composition somehow representative for the adult liberal education sector in Europe.METHODOLOGY & ACTIVITIESThe design of the work programme was chronological, divided into 3 main phases. Project activities were divided into 17 Work Packages, including transversal activities of management, evaluation and dissemination. The project delivered: 6 Intellectual Outputs, 5 Transnational Project Meetings, 10 Multiplier Events and 2 Training Events. The Intellectual Outputs include: IO1. Multilateral Survey Report on good practices & success stories at supporting international projects managers in the adult education civil society organisations. IO2. Multilateral Research Report on key competences of international project managers in the adult education civil society IO3. ‘SUPPORT PORTAL’ for the first time international projects realisers, www.first-network.eu IO4. Mentoring and e-mentoring system for the first-time international project realisers. IO5. Training course curricula and open educational resources for the first time international projects realisers. IO6. Established and working International Support Network: FIRST Network.RESULTS & IMPACTThe results of the project are tangible and intangible (material and immaterial). The direct tangible results were reached during the work packages, while the intangible were illustrated in the field of increase of knowledge, skills and awareness, change of attitudes etc. The indirect, third level results are those long-term ones, clearly connected with the varied project impact.The direct intangible results were seen both on individual and organizational levels, referring to change of attitudes and values related to international cooperation realizing, introducing innovations, professionalization of the adult education staff and developing long-term development strategies of the 3rd sector adult learning organisations.SUSTAINABILITYProject results are be sustainable, among others, through:- Delivered and sustaining SUPPORT PORTAL gathering all the basic information essential for 1st time international project managers and the 3rd sector adult learning organisations planning to include international cooperation into their mid- and long-term development strategies. The SUPPORT PORTAL promotes the European cooperation idea underlining European common values and solidarity. - Founding International Support Network assisting first-time international projects realisers.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES The overall aim has been to improve the competences of the voluntary associations and their volunteers to provide enlivening arts and culture opportunities in the sparsely populated communities, with an added value for civic and democratic participation, community bonding and local identity.The objectives have centred around: 1) To develop innovative ways of outreach to citizens engaged in arts and culture to become resourceful culture volunteers e.g culture guides, arts volunteers, mentors, champions for the arts .2) To develop high quality courses tailored to these groups on how to organise cultural activities with an added community value e.g. recognition of prior learning, volunteer management, media literacy skills, event management, levering-in resources, improving the local cultural offer 3) To develop the competences and skills of the voluntary associations to support volunteering and cooperation with stakeholders - building connections, co-production activities, encouraging groups to not work in silos but share information/skills/expertise/kit/equipment/venues 4) To develop appropriate methods to assess the involved knowledge, skills and attitudes to fulfil such demanding voluntary work e.g. field studies, evidence of prior need, desk research, case studies. OUTLINE OF ACTIVITIES The innovative dimension of this project is its integrated adult education approach, where we will: 1) Complete local field surveys of the current competence profiles of cultural volunteering to get a baseline as well as state of the art examples for the succeeding development work 2) Develop an integrated curricula frame for cultural volunteers, as well as culture managers, to provide enlivening cross-culture activities with added community values. 3) To design and test a series of national pilot courses for culture volunteers and managers in the varied contexts of the partner countries. 4) To design and test new Erasmus+ pilot courses for culture volunteers, as well as culture managers, with the aim to offer sustainable Erasmus+ training events and also, high quality national courses after the end of the project.5) To provide a Communication Portal with desk research and other supporting information about the issues of the project as well as presentations of the project’s pilot work and outputs to the virtual audiences. The Partnership Circle includes • two national umbrella organisations for voluntary culture: Voluntary Arts Network in United Kingdom and Cultural Councils in Denmark; • one national association for liberal adult education: The Hungarian Folk High School Society; • two organisations from the liberal adult education and NGO work, with expertise in field research and curricula planning: Foundation of Alternative Educational Initiatives in Poland, and Interfolk, institute for Civil Society from Denmark; • one public body, the Municipality of Lousada, Portugal. • ActKnowledge from New York will be involved in the pilot work as the initial evaluators (theory of change process) and the final evaluation will be produced by beatitude.ad.vitam - a health/arts Community Interest Company in Liverpool - who specialise in a formative and summative approach. This multilateral partnership circle, with a huge dissemination potential, represent a transnational European totality of varied expertise and experiences in the field, which we cannot find in just one of the countries. Learning curricular and programmes will be disseminated widely at the end of the project to ensure further take-up of opportunities and to build a wider network of contacts, partners and associates. Legacy courses are in place to ensure that learning continues after the initial phase of project activity has been completed e.g. Liverpool/Vol Arts; Denmark/Interfolk.

The main problem the project addresses is little support available for recognition and validation of knowledge, skills and competences of international project managers active in Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the adult education sector, acquired through formal, non-formal and informal learning.AIMThe overall aim is to support recognition and validation of knowledge, skills and competences of international project managers active in Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the adult education sector, acquired through formal, non-formal and informal learning.PARTICIPANTSThe direct target group of the project includes the members, workers, co-workers, educators and volunteers of the Third Sector adult education organisations (i.e. Civil Society Organisations, including informal groups, Non-governmental organisations and other non-profit organisations).The indirect target group include wide range of education – related organisations, institutions and decision makers.The dissemination activities would reach, in total, at least 44.830 recipients.PARTNERSHIP CYCLEProject partners are six 3rd sector, civil society organisations, working in the field of lifelong learning adult education from Poland, Italy, Denmark, Austria, Portugal and Cyprus. Even though all the organisations involved are 3rd sector and working in the field of lifelong learning, they have various profiles and experience – which makes the Partnership composition somehow representative for the adult liberal education sector in Europe.METHODOLOGY & ACTIVITIESThe design of the work programme is chronological, divided into 3 main phases. Project activities are divided into 13 Work Packages, including transversal activities of management, evaluation and dissemination. There are 6 Transnational Project Meetings (TPM) planned: 1 introductory meeting (kick-off meeting), one summary meeting (aiming at establishing Exit Strategy for the project) and 4 working meetings aiming at exchange of good practices. The work flow during the 4 working meetings follows logical, subsequent steps of the process of competences recognition and validation. There is also one international Training Event (Short-term joint staff training event) planned, based on experiential learning. The work programme also includes one start-up package (WP01), short desk-research package (WP03) and concluding package (WP10) finalized in delivering final recommendations for future works of the Partnership and the International Support Network supporting first-time international project realisers development.RESULTS & IMPACTThe results of the project will be tangible and intangible (material and immaterial). The direct tangible results will be reached during the work packages, while the intangible will be illustrated in the field of increased of knowledge, skills and awareness, change of attitudes etc. The indirect, third level of results are those long-term ones, clearly connected with the varied project impact.The direct intangible results will be seen both on individual and organizational levels, referring to change of attitudes and values related to international cooperation realizing, introducing innovations, professionalization of the adult education staff, and developing long-term development strategies of the 3rd sector adult learning organisations.SUSTAINABILITYThere are two project results that will be especially sustained after the project ends:1) The Recommendations for building a new competence recognition and validation system;2) The developed International Support Network supporting first-time international project realisers.The project proposed is an element of a long-term strategic plan of the project core Partners, aiming at delivering sustainable support for international cooperation of the adult learning sector CSOs.Outcomes of this initiative will deliver a good ground for developing the new competence recognition and validation system in the field of international cooperation of adult learning CSOs, which will be outlined in the Exit Strategy concluding the project.