Hosting social innovation was a strategic partnership amongst plenum (Austria), Academy of Visionautics (Germany), The Sendzimir Foundation (Poland), and Art Monastery (Italy):plenum (Austria): a group of leading experts on sustainable development and innovation; Academy of Visionautics (Germany): an adult education institution that aims to foster social innovation; The Sendzimir Foundation (Poland): created to help Polish society in finding solutions to complex environmental, economic and social problems;and Art Monastery (Italy): a secular community of international artists that develops innovative models for sustainable living.Our goal with this project is, to contribute to a Europe of active citizens in which every person who feels a pressing need has the ability and potential to contribute to its solution and to shape his or her own living conditions, ranging from education and innovation to inclusion. We envision changemaking as a discipline that is part of life of a European citizen just like reading, speaking or eating. Context/Background of the project and objectives:Our objectives consisted of an overall long term goal, as described above, and five basic outcomes:-) More than 5.000 people have heard about the benefits of eco-social innovation, over 250 have experienced them.-) Tips on where and how to start solving problems on a new level (available via a searchable online database, 5 short films, a 22-page brochure, e-learning courses and workshops).-) Methods to touch people’s hearts with beauty (art), fun (gamification) and community (appreciation) to encourage sustainable behavior are elaborated in high quality didactical materials. More than sixteen facilitators were trained and certified in applying them.-) More than 250 people know how to create a protective and supportive environment in which they can prototype innovations, behaviors and communication patterns.-) More than 5.000 people know where to turn to, to get advice and support for the implementation of eco-social innovations.All stakeholders of this project learned how transformational leadership and innovative hosting can empower people to take care of their social and ecological environment more actively. They learned how to use different methods and what their impacts are on individual motivation, as well as on group communication, collective intelligence, community building, business and sustainability. By comparing experiences and methods used in the different countries in their specific cultural context, they reflected on the advantages and disadvantages of their own habits and approaches. Main activities: 6 intellectual outputs were elaborated during the course of the project:IO1: Methodological and resource database: consisting of two parts, the basic database (easy-to-use tools) and the advanced database (methods aimed at experienced multipliers).IO2: Curriculum and didactical materials for a train the trainer workshop (materials also published in the database), > 16 eco-social innovation hosts trainedIO3: Curriculum and didactical materials for a eco-social innovation workshop (materials also published in the database, the advertising reached more than 5.000 people)IO4: Workbook: available online for free download. It was translated into 5 languages: German, Polish, Italian, English and Arabic. IO5: Five short films were produced and went viral.IO6: e-learning platform: three six-week e-learning courses were organized and taught in English, Polish and German. More than 200 trainees were recruited and educated within this task.Apart from the above outputs, we experienced the following results and impact (selection):- a functioning network of four partner organisations focused on training for eco-social innovation was established, with the potential to undertake follow-up actions, projects and initiatives;- the staff of partner organisations increased their skills in ICT use, especially during the e-learning course (setting up the course, holding Webinars, etc);- as a result of the eco-social innovation training in four different countries, we got feedback to facilitate the evaluation of participants’ progress and the aspects of the training that need to be modified or changed in the future;- the project enhanced all partners’ understanding of theoretical concepts regarding eco-social innovation, as well as their practical implications in view of actions for transition, community building and sustainable living;- an improved capacity for integrating diversity and transnational cooperation in partner organisations;- an improved capacity for learning (including evaluation), knowledge management, and communication of new knowledge both within and beyond partner networks;- improved international links with similar or complementary initiatives and networks;- improved connections with the target groups and local and region

"CONTEXT: New Active Citizenship in EuropeThe role of active citizenship in Europe has undergone a change in the last few decades. Many citizens no longer feel attracted by established institutions like political parties, churches or charity organisations; representation by such organisations is seen as only one way of influencing events. Citizens want to directly participate. Therefore new demands have arisen, such as the need of support for individuals starting new initiatives or creating transformation processes. Governments, NGOs and groups of citizens need tools to facilitate approaches to tackle their own issues more effectively. Driven by this outlook, the seven partner organisations Art Monastery Italia (Italy), Plenum (Austria), Legacy17 (Sweden), Biovilla (Portugal), Rogers Foundation (Hungary) and Visionautik Akademie (Germany) work as “Transformation Academies” that empower and enable citizens to tackle the challenges they face. OBJECTIVE: Empower citizens to shape societyIn our experience one of the biggest obstacles to contributing to positive social change has shown to be the lack of confidence in individuals and groups that they are able to effectuate change. As they are the ones who are experiencing the brunt of the problems it is most impactful if the solutions come from them. Therefore our project focuses on empowering citizens to take action and improve their own circumstances. Empowerment is one of the three pillars of social innovation, alongside “meeting human needs” and “changing social relations”. PARTICIPANTS: With this project we will empower citizens in two target groups:-We'll empower vulnerable people suffering from pressing problems like poverty, marginalization, stigma or exclusion. We will enable and encourage them to improve their situations and thus give power to one of our basic beliefs: ""Everyone has the right to shape the world with joy and ease."" We aim to reach 20.000 of these individuals (such as refugees, the ethnic minorities, unemployed or homeless, those with chronic illnesses or other disabilities) over the course of the project.-We will also empower group leaders, facilitators and social innovators who are important drivers for change. Empowered leaders can do better work for the common good without burning out and are good inspirations and role models. We will provide them with empowering facilitation methods they can use in their work. We aim to reach 30.000 of these leaders over the course of the project. They, in turn, have the potential to impact many thousands more. ACTIVITIES: Empowerment products for supportWe will create five products that will be available for free to everyone and actively promote them to the above mentioned groups and to the general public: 1. Hosting Empowerment Guidebook will act as a resource and support to social workers, facilitators, teachers, and anyone who works with disadvantaged groups2. App for empowerment with playful and experiential content3. Self-empowerment workbook that can be self-paced or experienced in groups, available in nine languages4. Toolbox for facilitators: a collection of 50 new empowerment methods added to an existing database on facilitation methods5. Short film to inspire, uplift and empower We will disseminate our approach and our empowering products with 10 events in our partners' countries. They will each last one day and serve more than 300 facilitators or inspirational leaders in the field of lifelong learning. METHODOLOGYTo carry out our project we use, amongst other procedures, the Human Centered Design Approach. This method allows us to carefully integrate the needs, wants and limitations of our target groups and make sure our products unfold their maximum potential to serve and empower the users. IMPACT: The expected results of three years of empowering activities are:• 100-200 facilitators and multipliers reach our database every day, about 10 of them per day actively make use of our empowerment toolbox• At least 1500 people will be empowered through the app • More than 9.000 people will benefit from the self-empowerment workbook, available online in 9 languages• 10.000 viewers get inspired and encouraged by a short film• More than 300 multipliers attend 10 empowering events where they acquire tools which they can use to empower approximately 4.000 people they work with Altogether we expect more than 50.000 people to have heard about empowering methods and know what they can do to become more empowered, or where they can turn to find support. At least 4.000 of them have a self-perception as changemakers, follow a purpose, feel supported by their community and activate their potential for being active in tackling pressing problems. The overall result of our project is empowered citizens who dare to tackle the pressing issues they perceive. The long term benefit will be a Europe full of active citizens shaping their own lives and surroundings."

The SIRCle Project used adult education to address one of the most pressing needs of our time, namely how to marry grassroots responses to climate and social change with the capacity to make a sustainable living in a challenging economic climate. The project was designed to create an innovative, open source curriculum that integrates training materials and tools for active citizenship with those for social and holistic entrepreneurship. It addressed the needs of adult learners, in particular those living in more disadvantaged areas, who wished to bring together their care for the environment with the ability to establish a source of right livelihood.Partners each hosted two day-long dissemination events; and ran two Pilot trainings of 5 days each for 14-24 participants. Core materials were translated from English into six other European languages.The curriculum was developed with a ‘pattern language’ approach where the broad framework of the learning journey and outcomes is outlined, while the detailed content is left to local trainers to decide upon depending on context. The ‘Core Story’ (or ‘syntax’) is the development and empowerment of change-makers and support of their social innovation projects. ‘Learning Patterns’ (the ‘vocabulary’) that support this journey are then used as needed.The SIRCle Project brought together a diverse range of organisations from Austria, Belgium, Romania, Spain, Portugal and the UK, including a university; two social enterprises, a cooperative, and charities focussing on community-led development. The Project's Objectives were to:1. Create a body of Learning Patterns that foster action towards social entrepreneurship and sustainable and resilient development 2. Modify and adapt the Transition to Resilience, Pioneers of Change, PACTE and other relevant curricula into the new SIRCle curriculum3. Train a body of trainers to deliver the SIRCle curriculum all over Europe4. Translate learning materials into the relevant languages, and disseminate them through running two Pilot Courses in each country5. Empower change makers to establish projects that build resilience and establish sources of right livelihood.The target groups were:1. 16 trainers from Partner Organizations becoming certified SIRCle Trainers running SIRCle Courses in their countries. Actual number in the end was 19.2. We aimed for ⅔ of each training to be made up of disadvantaged youth and adults. In the end, 106 participants were disadvantaged, with a majority of this group being unemployed (the category also included minorities, age above 60 and marginalised groups). 13 participants were 25 years old or younger. Some young people are also disadvantaged, meaning the two groups overlapped somewhat. With a total of 206 pilot participants, this means approximately 55% were disadvantaged or below 25. 3. We aimed for ⅓ of each training to be made up of social entrepreneurs interested in developing enterprises that will benefit disadvantaged youth and adult. The actual number of participants who self-identified as social entrepreneurs when applying for the training was 101, or 49% of the total. Year One: Capacity Building. Starting in November 2014, two representatives from each Partner organisation met in the Findhorn Foundation ecovillage in Scotland for 5-days to experience one of the cornerstone trainings that the new curriculum has been built on, the Transition to Resilience Training. The curriculum is highly experiential and innovative, using a core ‘story’ as the principal vehicle for the learnings and then adding different ingredients according to the nationality, size and composition of each group. Partners met monthly online, and in person at regular intervals, to share a variety of training methods and materials in order to create the new Sustainable Innovation for Resilient Communities (SIRCle) curriculum. Alongside the face to face meetings and monthly online conference calls, webinars were conducted and at least 16 15-minute teaching videos produced to augment the trainings.Years Two and Three: In this phase of the SIRCle Project, each Partner organisation ran 2 Pilot Trainings of the new curriculum. In total, the pilot trainings had 206 participants. The courses comprised around 55% people from the disadvantaged groups and 49% people already active as social entrepreneurs, both expanding their awareness to include issues relating to sustainability. Each group learnt from the other, the final outcome being the creation of several social enterprises in each country that will enable participants to develop a source of livelihood while exhibiting active citizenship in a way that serves the transition to resilient and sustainable communities.The long term impact of this SIRCle Project is the creation both of at least 18 sustainable ventures in 6 EU countries, and of a cutting edge, innovative curriculum that supports both societal transition and individual sustainability.

"<< Background >>The results of the Europe Engage project, in which consortium partners participated, showed SL as a pedagogical approach that offers students academic credit for the learning that derives from active engagement within the local community working on a real-world problem, yet in an urban context. Rural 3.0 project will implement the SL approach, not in an urban context but in rural communities, that make up over 90 % of the territory and are home to more than 56 % of the population.<< Objectives >>Analyse in which way rural communities can be given access to services that students can provide; Evaluate the extent to which SL occurs in rural areas,in which forms and how effective it is; Establish a structure of rural SL education shared and developed by HEIs and rural partners; Promote education that improves lives of people in rural areas and their communities; Strengthen skills and innovative capacity of adult rural SE;Provide practical SL and SE experiences to students in rural settings<< Implementation >>RURASL consortium involves 16 partners from 8EU countries (Croatia, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Italy, Lithuania) where HEIs and community organisations are equally represented. Academic students will engage in SL in rural communities, with appropriate educational content and tools that promote education that improves lives of people in rural areas and their communities.The 3-year project will build on the knowledge of existing SL models to support their rural implementation.<< Results >>Report on the needs and the gaps of the main target groups from 8 participating countries; Final report on the ""State-of-the-art of rural SL education”; Module with courses on rural SL and rural SE; OER and MOOC for HE teachers on rural SL; best practices; case-based learning materials; Digital Collaborative and Learning tools (HUB, Online World Café); Hackathon; e-book; newsletters; Community Organization Guide on SL and SE; Exploitation Strategy Plan."

HYDROUSA will provide innovative, regenerative and circular solutions for (1) nature-based water management of Mediterranean coastal areas, closing water loops; (2) nutrient management, boosting the agricultural and energy profile; and (3) local economies, based on circular value chains. The services provided lead to a win-win-win situation for the economy, environment and community within the water-energy-food-employment nexus. HYDROUSA water loops will include water from non-conventional sources including wastewater, rainwater, seawater, groundwater and vapour water, all resulting in recovered and marketable products. HYDROUSA will demonstrate at large scale the feasibility and sustainability of innovative, low-cost water treatment technologies to recover freshwater, nutrients and energy from wastewater, salt and freshwater from seawater, and freshwater from atmospheric water vapour. Water conservation solutions including aquifer storage and sustainable agricultural practices including fertigation will be applied. The solutions will be demonstrated on 3 major touristic islands in Greece. Detailed technical and financial deployment plans will be established for replication in additional 25 locations worldwide. Through the on-site water loops of HYDROUSA, complex supply chains for resource recovery are not required, as producers are directly involved as consumers of derived products. HYDROUSA will combine traditional skilled workmanship with modern ICT integration in beautiful and smart automation systems. HYDROUSA will revolutionise water value chains in Mediterranean areas and beyond, from water abstraction to sewage treatment and reuse. The proposed HYDROUSA solutions show massive potential to change the way humans interact with water, food and energy.