The aim of the Handmade Wellbeing project was to enhance and expand professional competences of arts and crafts professionals and to design and carry out creative activities in elderly care settings. Increasingly, the arts and crafts professionals are employed in challenging community engagement areas that are outside their traditional core skills and abilities.Evidently, arts and crafts offer creative and empowering activities that would be important to include in the activities of wellbeing and health-related services. The targets of the Handmade Wellbeing project were:• to expand professional competences of arts and crafts specialists to work in the elderly care sector• to co-create a novel educational model, in cross-sectoral collaboration both nationally and internationally, for working creatively with older people• to research the pedagogy suitable for working with older people• to research links between creative activity and overall wellbeing of older people• to distribute educational models, working methods and research results. The project was carried out by four European partners. The University of Helsinki was the coordinator of the project. The Department of Educational Sciences at the University of Helsinki is one of the leading European units providing teacher education and engaging in education research. The department houses the Craft Teacher Education which was participating in the Handmade Wellbeing project. The British partner, Superact is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company that uses creative engagement and the arts to develop and deliver a wide range of social impact projects. Based in the UK but with an international reach, Superact delivers creative interventions that make a positive difference in key areas of community development, skills development, employability and health and wellbeing. The Austrian partner, KUNSTLABOR Graz is part of uniT-arts association at the Karl Franzens University Graz. It consists of a multidisciplinary team of artists from various disciplines (film, photography, fine arts, dance and theater), psychologists, education experts and scientists. KUNSTLABOR Graz addresses elderly people, youth and migrants. The Estonian partner, Viljandi Culture Academy, is one of the four colleges of the University of Tartu. The main partner of the Handmade Wellbeing project was the Department of Estonian Native Crafts. Their purpose is to use the cultural higher education potential to promote new working fields and opportunities, such as the care sector that their students were practising in during the Handmade Wellbeing project. Each partner arranged training for art and craft students and professionals to work and develop their professional competences in elderly care centres. Each partner arranged a learning and training week for the other partners. Through observations, visits and practical participatory activities, the partners got a good understanding of the practices that each partner were using. The reflection sessions during each training week formed the basis for developing the educational model together. Each partner arranged a seminar for the stakeholders, and an exhibition about the project activities. The project activities were shown on the website of the project, and they were presented in the international conferences and at local events, such as public lectures and interviews to the media. Throughout the project, research activities were carried out to collect the data.During the project, many arts and crafts students and teachers received training on working with older people in care settings. For many of them, this provided new employment possibilities; for example in the UK, some of them have since been employed to run monthly art activities in local care homes. All the learners were sent an anonymous questionnaire about how satisfied they were on the project, and how it has benefited their professional development. The responses reflect mainly positive learning experiences.The ongoing research was introduced in articles and conferences and thus reached a wider audience. The collaboratively produced handbook is published in the project website and in the websites and other media in each partner country, as well as EPALE. The handbook is available for everyone to access. The social and health care staff in the participating care centres learned new skills and methods to arrange creative activities for older people. The participating partners and their learners have broadened their understanding of the European approach to the topic. The produced Handmade Wellbeing Handbook is available online for all the interested stakeholders to utilize in their work. The research results will be published in the coming years to fulfill the need for evidence-based scientific basis about the required creative pedagogy for older people. The results will benefit the future work in the care settings, and the training to work in them.

"Two years were needed to set up “Aladdin and the Intergenerational lamp”, the Erasmus plus project. Five European partner organizations have been working together to learn about the way storytelling can be used by seniors to improve language, motivational and entrepreneurial skills in young adults from underprivileged backgrounds. This project can thus be summed up in two key concepts: the use of storytelling in an intergenerational context.The different partners of the project have gathered their skills and developed a theoretical background as well as a methodology (encompassing interactive and fun activities) using stories and short story techniques. In this way, the senior volunteers, firstly, received a training on how to work with young adults and how to use methods of storytelling to improve the skills mentioned above, and finally intergenerational workshops were set up to allow the volunteer seniors to act as co-leaders.Elan Interculturel (France) and DEMÀ – Departament d’Estudis dels Medis Actuals (Catalonia) – have based their work on the development of motivational skills. Storytelling Center (Netherlands) and Superact (England) have organised workshops to develop entrepreneurial skills. The Aladdin project has two main objectives:- the development of basic skills (language, entrepreneurial and social skills) as well as the underprivileged young adults’ personal wellbeing. - giving value to seniors’ skills as well as acquiring new skills (short storytelling techniques’)Superact (United Kingdom) and the Storytelling Center (Netherlands) are experts in all kinds of activities related to storytelling. Superact (UK) sets up training courses for adults and young people in precarious situations, organizes large-scale events, and develops training and storytelling materials as an educational tool. The Storytelling Center (PB) organizes project design and implementation workshops; it also offers training programs around storytelling techniques in (conflicting) communities.Kepes (Hungary), Elan Interculturel (France), DEMA (Spain), Superact (United Kingdom) all have experience in working with Seniors and especially in intergenerational projects. The Storytelling Center (PB) and Elan Interculturel (FR) have experience in working with young people. Elan Interculturel (FR) is an expert in the field of intercultural communication, and all partners have experience in working with immigrants and / or minorities.Activities:- ""National Info Day"" held in each partner country to inform participants about the project's objectives, to present the various publications, products and activities within the framework of the project,- The senior workshop to teach them to use storytelling as a pedagogical approach to disadvantaged young adults,- Intergenerational workshops to develop language skills of young migrants adult, or entrepreneurial and motivational skills of disadvantaged young adults, using storytelling methods,- An international final conference, which disseminated project results and products to stakeholders and other target groups for operational purposes.Results:o A theoretical and methodological booklet on the foundations of the projecto A tool box: (exercises, games) based on short stories.o A Guide for Seniors including resources needed for the organizer of intergenerational workshopso A collection of intercultural stories to illustrate cultural diversity and highlight the similarities between cultureso A booklet of case studies coupled with videos made during different workshopso A dynamic, multilingual website with online educational resourceso Social networkso 6 newslettersYoung adults have thus increased their cultural and communication skills, their self-confidence, and, consequently, the improvement of their social inclusion. In addition to acquiring concrete skills on how to organize such workshops and develop storytelling training skills, this project has had a positive influence on senior volunteers’ self-esteem (the feeling of being “useful”) and avoids isolation.The participating organizations have acquired new skills, resources and networks at local, regional, European and international level. In the long run, many participants wish to continue the activities after the project, in different ways."

The project “Innovative Methods of Adult Education For The Future of Europe” was completed by five partner organisations: Cotopaxi Film Workshop Association from Poland, Centro Italiano Per L'Apprendimento Permanente from Italy, Magenta Consultoría Projects S.L.U from Spain, Superact C.I.C. and Real Time from the United Kingdom. All of these organisations have been dealing with adult education for many years, however they work using different methods, from audio-visual techniques to coaching.The project started in September 2016 and ended in June 2018. Its aim was to exchange good practices and develop solutions for working with adults in the context of migration policy, understood as actions addressed both to migrants and local communities. The goals of the project were as follows:1. Learning and sharing useful tools for adult education with the focus on inclusive education2. Supporting career development of professionals in adult education in order to improve the quality of offered trainings3. Upgrading the international status and image of the partnershipThese goals could have been achieved thanks to the participation of affiliated educators, facilitators, coaches and professionals in four short-term training sessions focusing on specific methods, techniques, forms and regulations for working with groups in the context of migration. The first session, organised in Rome, was concerned with Italian examples of working with migrants, and it also offered insight into legal regulations, migration statistics and European policies. The following sessions focused on specific methods for working with adults: audio-visual techniques in Warsaw, Lego Serious Play and other forms of gamification in Gijon, and storytelling in Reading. Each session was attended by a team of specialists from various European institutions, who discussed the possibilities to implement those methods on the local level and decided to strengthen their cooperation. Although we did not intend to develop any innovative solutions, each of the organisations created their own strategy to include the new methods in their educational offer. We also prepared detailed scenarios (curricula), which can be readily applied by other organisations.Owing to the vast number of dissemination events, activities engaging the target clients, consultations and knowledge-sharing, we became aware of the challenges and worked on possible solutions. What is the most important, however, is that each of the partners started to implement the new methods to upgrade their educational potential and have better understanding of the needs of their clients.

"The project is based on the observation that in Europe food poverty increases along the increase in the living costs, including that of food; this poverty implies a decrease in quality and the loss of a balanced diet, what is detrimential to consumers' health, environmental balance and biodiversity.In the more or less recent past, depending on the country and traditions, families possessed the skills and had the capability and the possibility to produce their own food; they cultivated a garden, knew the wild plants that could feed them, or used them for decorative and cosmetological purposes.Plants are available to everyone and can grow anywhere including balconies. They are good for the health, the environment and personal well-being. They are inexpensive and can make a big difference in people's lives. The purpose of the Netplants project is to enable a public in social and professional fragility to discover or rediscover the usefulness of plants to increase their autonomy, to develop their abilities and thereby to share these ""plant"" knowledge and practices with other people.The Netplants project brought together six partners, actors of social inclusion spread across five countries: France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Romania. In the spirit of food ambassadors, associations and non-governmental organizations Afidel (coordinator - France), Angels Gardins (France), SuperAct (UK), Kowc (Ireland), Insitutul Bucovina (Romania) and El Tranvia (Spain) have decided to set up a European network of facilitators for a better living with plants.Our project aims to develop plant-related education and culture through actions such as:- the creation of practical guides, quizzes, educational kits, online courses around four themes (Cooking with plants, Gardening without means, Decoration and cosmetics with plants, Consume wild plants) available in four languages.- spreading and communicating a series of services to the target audience (young adults with social and economic difficulties).The Netplants project brought together 70 people from the target audience and 22 trainers around practical training courses that took place in each of the partner countries. Throughout the program, participants positively evaluated all these meetings on the organization of the internship, the agenda of the stay, the workshop themes as well as the quality of explanations. Today, more than 740 people follow the Facebook pages of the Netplants program across Europe. More than an exchange of good practices, the Netplants project has given all participants an alternative vision of food, self-esteem through the pleasure of doing by himself and a genuine openness to other cultures. .Beyond the European program, this experience continues in France. The Netplants well-being workshops are integrated into the socio-professional support programs at AFIDEL and are now part of a more global approach to access to food for the poor and promote balance and food quality: Cocagne AlimenTerre. Partner news and publications are still available on the website www.netplants.eu and the Youtube channel of the project."

"Central to the project was the question of how to reach those remote from education – i.e., people who for whatever reason have had little or no formal adult education - to improve their participation in further education and to design and provide low-threshold learning opportunities. Studies show that only about 10% of the low-qualified participate in further education – among graduates of universities, the participation quote is four times as high. Education experts agree that being remote from education is not due solely to the individuals themselves. Often the institutions, too, are distant from the target audience. This is why experts suggest outreach educational guidance/counselling as well as further alternative approaches to increase participation in further education.Our project ON THE MOVE had its foundations in European Policies like the Europe 2020 strategy with its goals of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Lifelong learning and the development of skills are important factors in this strategy.Aims/ObjectivesThe goals of this project has been to identifying and disseminating successful approaches improving the integration and support of the educationally remote. With this project, staff in guidance/counselling and educational institutions in Europe learned about alternative approaches (predominantly of the outreach kind) bringing educationally remote and low-qualified people to further education and will implement these in their countries. This project and its results increase the chances of the educationally remote to find (better) work, as this is directly correlated with the level of qualification. Results/Outcomes and impact- Research from all project partners on suitable best practice examples in Europe for reaching educationally remote people. This also includes previously conducted European projects, whose results we will disseminate further. - Assessment matrix which was used to evaluate the identified guidance/counselling or education projects. - Website including an Open Educational Resource with 32 projects of low threshold learning possibilities and outreach approaches from different European countries. The site is available in all partner languages except Swedish. - A professional publication which contains 32 descriptions of the identified best practice examples. The portraits include hints which enable the implementation of low-threshold learning possibilities and outreach educational guidance or other alternative approaches to reaching the educationally remote at other institutions, too. - 6 Videos in which we give an insight in selected best practice projects.- In our main product, the best practice publication, we also included general recommendations for the implementation of the outreach approach and the use of ""easy language"".- For internal use we produced and regularly updated a dissemination and a quality plan, draft a project management handbook and a project agreement.The dissemination and implementation of our identified best practice examples in outreach educational guidance and low-threshold learning opportunities increase the possibility for more organisations and professionals to adopt these strategies in their services and therefore our target groups - those remote from education - profit from better access to learning opportunities and guidance/counselling.ActivitiesDesk research in 19 European countries to identify appropriate projects + assessment groups consisting of approx. 5 people active in the area of further education, who contributed to the evaluation of the project examples using an assessment matrix. Selection of 32 best practice projects from more than 100 identified projects. Writing portraits and collecting all projects in a professional publication.Towards the end of the project, each partner organised a public event and invited educational institutions, representatives of charities, those active in adult and further education, representatives of umbrella organisations, political decision-makers, representatives of the press, and everyone who is interested in the subject. Each event reached at least 30 people resulting in 200+ participants. During these events, the best practice approaches that were identified and developed were presented and the publication was distributed.Participating organisations:team training (coordinator), Germany: provider of adult education and social work, mainly for unemployedVytautas Magnus University, LithuaniaStichting De Regenboog Groep, The Netherlands: NGO committed to people with social problemsSuperact, United Kingdom: Community Interest Company with key areas in community development, health & wellbeing and employability & skills developmentPromidea, Italy: Social Cooperative of services for people at risk of marginalizationNorrköpings stadsmuseum, Sweden: historical museum run by the municipality of NorrköpingBFI Tirol Bildungs GmbH, Austria: vocational training institute"