The Youthcoach project is a transnational European VET partnership which aims to transfer, adapt and implement innovative projects and products which a) strengthen the partnerships between education and employment in initial VET, b) help reduce the high number of drop outs in VET, c) develop basic and transversal skills especially entrepreneurial skills with young VET learners and d) validate skills and competences of these young learners in accordance with Europe 2020, ET 2020 and Erasmus + goals. The project addresses VET dropout prevention from a multidimensional point of view, involving companies, VET organisations and VET teachers and trainers by focusing on capacity building in both VET teachers and trainers and young VET learners. The project aims to establish better measures of support for young people in VET by bringing together different concepts, amalgamating them into a comprehensive competence profile and curriculum for competent Youthcoaches and producing a toolbox for youthcoaches. The consortium exists of four key partners (from Germany, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Austria) and four transfer partners (in Croatia, Spain, Greek and Italy), among them non-profit and private VET-training providers, counseling organisations - some of them directly connected to social partners and enterprise associations – and a regional network. The key partners provide good practice concepts and products from their own country experiences, particulary the concepts of Vocational Training Assistence, Toolbox, Youthcoaching and EBC*L enterprise, and adapt them together with the transfer partners to the specific needs of their countries. On this basis they develop together a train-the-trainer-course and pilot this course with local stakeholders in their regions. A common transnational workshop in Croatia with selected participants of the pilot training promote exchange of experiences, the feedback/evaluation and adaptation of the program and ensure the transnational dimension and networking.The products of the project include a needs analysis report of the partners, which is developed via desk research of the partners and interviews of local stakeholders. The train-the-trainer program is based on a common competence profile (defined in terms of learning outcomes and provision of ECVET) and a curriculum with training material, translated in all partner languages. A toolbox provides further tools, instruments and methods for VET-teachers, -trainers and social workers who work with young people with disadvantages in order to avoid their drop-out from VET. They focus especially to - work with companies in bridging gabs between VET and the world of work- promoting intercultural competences - enhance personal development- the promotion of competences related to entrepreneurship (EBCL)Further products of the project are the transnational workshop with selected participants from the pilot trainings and the common final conference in Spain. The overall results of the project can be defined in- Increased knowledge and competences of the actors who deal with the different target groups in order to prevent drop-out from VET- Transfer, adaptation and implementation of best practice in other European regions- Promoting joint programs of public and private stakeholders on local/ regional level to prevent drop-out from VET- Enhance transnational cooperation and networking in this mannerThe project has several impacts on - young people with several disadvantages (increased capacities and promotion of personal, social and methodological competences),- VET-teachers-, trainers-, -instructors and social workers (better guidance and coaching and increased capacities to develop entrepreneurial skills, personal and intercultural competences of youngsters) and - companies (better cooperation with VET institutions and local stakeholders). Furthermore the project contributes to - increase the capacities of training providers (new concepts, tools and train-the-trainer courses) and - of regional/local stakeholders (increased capacity for joint drop-out prevention). In the long-term the project contributes to promote cooperation in VET and employment for young people with disadvantages and a better matching on European`s labour markets.

The COTRAIN project aimed at implementing a new model of collaboration in the dual training field, a model in which two companies at least (or several) target to teach all the occupation profile activities. It tis called a collaborative training.This kind of collaboration exists in Germany (inab) and in Austria (oïbf), with a potential of development. Thanks to an action-research coordinated by a Belgian partner (Cepag), Italian (Centoform) and Belgian VET centres (CEFA CST and IFAPME) developed such collaborative trainings, leading to the elaboration of a methodology. The 51 collaborative trainings (EQF 3 and 4) developed in Italy and in Belgium by 3 VET centers open up a field of new possibilities. The specific and concrete approach partners choose allowed to overcome differences and sometimes barriers between training center based system and company based system. The pilots have been implemented in several sectors, in accordance with each institutional context.The action-research shows that a collaborative training:*increases the training quality by **enlarging and diversifying the professional experiences of the apprentices, with an impact on technical and soft skills; **better covering the vocational skills;*increases the expertize for very specialized companies;*better adapts the training to the main labor market changes and trends;*enlarges the number and kind of companies wishing to get involved in dual training;*encourages emulation and networking between companies themselves and between companies and VET centres;*increases the awareness of youngsters on how demanding the labour market is,*helps youngsters to confirm their vocational choice, *decreases risks of dropouts, *supports self-confidence and is seen as a double vocational asset on CV…Built as a transferable methodology, a “COTRAIN” guide aims to reflect the partnership experimentation and its learnings: why and how to build collaborative training networks. A didactic video complements the Guide. The findings go beyond the initial expectations: not only more pilots were implemented and in different sectors, but also sectoral rationales show a high potential of transferability. And this particularly for SMEs and single entrepreneurs, but also for firms of bigger size that could build usefull and efficient training collaborations with smaller firms. Last but not least, creating collaborative trainings requires no high investment, just a new way of training collaboration and networking.

“DREAM: Dynamic Reinforcement for European Adaptation of Migrants” aimed at exchanging experience and good practices for reinforcing the adaptation and social inclusion of migrants and the capacities of key stakeholders responsible for their integration. DREAM was neither an academic project nor a project of policy makers, but a network project that worked at provisional level, looking directly into practices in order to overcome the economic and social difficulties within the EU. Past, recent and projected migration into and within the EU member states has placed integration high on the priority agenda. Integration is often understood as the end product of a dynamic two-way process with three interrelated dimensions – legal, economic and socio-cultural.Within a consortium of 10 organisations from 9 EU countries and extended networks of stakeholders at national and European level, DREAM developed and disseminated a comprehensive database of successful and effective practices and initiatives addressing all key areas for successful integration based on the Common Basic Principles for Immigrant Integration Policy in the European Union (CBP). They place the importance of EU initiatives in the field of integration on the access to education, employment, acquisition of basic knowledge of the host society's language, history and institutions, equal access to institutions, goods and services and non discrimination.The project objectives covered:- To enrich the expertise of the participating organisations for taking up further steps towards dealing with relevant issues on migrant integration and incorporating them in their domains of interest- To improve the readiness of key actors and facilitators of migrant integration in the host communities to meet the needs of diverse populations - To contribute to the improvement of the capacity and expertise of the authorities responsible for integration in countries playing the role of “transit” channels to other EU countries through exchange of good practices- To support migrants in their preparedness to adapt in the host society - To build a European-wide network of practitioners developing national and European initiatives focused on key aspects of migrant integration and to promote new cooperation models- To foster the exchange of experience at EU level and enhance the dissemination and exploitation potential of existing projects focused on migrant integration.The exchange of practices and successful approaches for integration within DREAM was directed towards the following priority integration areas and address both migrants and integration facilitators:- As a legal process: access to education, including language education, access to social assistance, including housing and healthcare, access to information, institutional system, regulatory basis and existing national policy, border control and visas, return policy, asylum, access to rights, etc.- As an economic process: access to the labour market, national employment systems, employment offices, access to VET, searching for vacancies, applying for a job, etc.- As a social and cultural process: social engagement, social integration and inclusion, active citizenship, non discrimination, intercultural dialogue, interactions between migrants and local citizens, etc.The project created an EU-wide network of over 100 associated partners (from the areas of migrant integration and education) which were involved in the process of research, feedback, quality assurance, dissemination and exploitation of good practices focused on migrant integration issues. They also built new cooperation models for influencing policy-makers at local, regional and national level for improving the life conditions, social integration and educational opportunities for migrants.