"The Europe, which we live in these days is not the same as it was before. It is a dynamic hub with constantly changing schemes and affairs, but, as we want to believe, with the same values as before. These values, they need to be reflected in different structures on local, regional and national level as well as individually. Thanks to the project ""Golden Links- bringing inclusion into multicultural teaching"" we wanted to implement in the European reality, we belive to have impact on educational and social system in their various dimensions, on each mentioned level. The project wanted to tackle on some emerging issues which Partners, who were adult educators, observe in their daily work with adult learners, who came from different cultural, linguistic, religious and sexual backgrounds. These issues concerned both educators and learners in different ways, therefore this project concerned both of these groups, as teaching- learning process needs these two parties to be present and active. We believed however, that these parties should also understand each other very well in order to make the learning process as efective as possible. The efectivness of the process- in case educators- depends on their preparedness and openess. The need to deal with learners from different, and often complicated cultural backgrounds, might cause various misunderstandings and sometimes even unintended results, just becuase of lack of knowledge about certain cultural or lack of intercultural competences. Another problem was poor konwledge of educators about the learning process itslef, motivation strategies, usage of ICT in the classroom, Social Media, educational policies. We believed all these factors were important to conduct an inclusive and proffessional teaching- learning process. We conducted 4 short-term mobilities for 4 educators per organisation: 1. ""Inclusive teaching and learning"" 2. ""Creativity and innovation with ICT"" 3. ""Intercultural competences for Inclusive Educators"" 4. ""Adult educators and local development"" and 1 blended mobility for 4 learners per organisation- ""New trends/ technologies for adult learners""- in order to ensure that these objectives were achieved. The profile of educators- participants was as follows: they were low-skilled in the area concerning the certain mobility and project itself and were motivated to improve these. The learners- participants were the ones who wanted to find out how it is like to learn in a 21st century inclusive environment. Various local activities within each country were carried out during the project duration as well. We planned to implement these activities in the number of 93 per 4 countries and to engage a great number of educators, learners, NGOs, schools and municipalities. All these activities were tailored in cohesion with specialisation each Partner had and with needs their face. Thank to this partnerships we exchanged knowledge and experience within these areas and we ensured the best quality on inclusive teaching and the best care over learners at the risk of social exclusion. We based our teaching on communicative methodology, that was hands-on teaching, getting all participants involved and learning by doing. This approach allowed participants, both educators and learners to put skills into practice whilst learning. The results we wanted achieve in this project can be distinguished on two levels: tangible results and soft results. First of all, we wanted to implement the following: 1. Inclusive Adult Teacher Profile- a set of guidelines how to address heterogenous adult groups in the classroom in particular in the field of teaching literacy, digital skills, languages and intercultural competences. 2. Tool Box- a set of useful tools (online and offline) for adult teachers, that can be easily used in the classroom with adult audience. Soft results we tended to achieve are mostly conected with change in attitudes and general thinking about educator- learner relation in multicultural context and the need to include adult students at risk of exclusion into educational system. This project has the visable impact on various levels: systemic, organisations, learners, staff and within that on the local, regional, national and european level, among others as to: numer of schools, municipalities involded, educational materials produced, lesson scenarios written, meetings in schools conducted, certificates recognised, satisfaction of participants measured. We believe this project is sustainable and therefore we are able to ensure the longer- term benefits: modernizing our organisations and develop Partnership regardless EU funding."

"<< Background >>MORE THAN RELIABLE EDUCATION (MORE) is an Erasmus+ KA2 project aimed to support youth centres & youth workers by responding to the issues they have encountered during the COVID-19 & provide them with tools enhancing their ability to effectively work with youth & in the communities. The last year were challenging due to global pandemic & COVID-19. Youth centres and its staff were forced to stop actively organizing activities & collaborating with other professionals. ""We are more than welcoming new innovations during these times, would participate in every activity that would be directly addressed to us"", said one director of the youth center. So, who said that a lockdown has to be a shutdown? MORE project, that unites four NGOs, youth centres & enterprises collaborated: Association Active Youth (Lithuania),Europejskie Centrum Mlodziezy (Poland), Predict CSD Consulting (Romania) & Brodoto (Croatia) strives to provide as many sources as possible that the youth workers could be able to continue working in their specialization, enhance key competencies & educate youth for the future.<< Objectives >>MORE aims to provide youth centers and youth workers with tools, enhancing their ability to effectively work with youth & in the communities (under any circumstances).To reach the goal, the following objectives have been set:-Develop an educational program for YWs, which would allow them to build up relevant competencies/skills required for the changing status quo (i.e. in education, training, digital skills, etc);-Develop a more professional & innovative method of practical learning that is linked to active participation at youth work;-Promote the mindset of global access to free education as well as opportunities & ways for youth workers (& youth) to develop (e.g. with the help of Erasmus+)-Establish a global online network among YWs that would enable learning from each other. Reaching these objectives should improve youth work by not only responding to any possible future lockdowns (or other emergencies), but also providing skills and support that would be relevant in both online and offline working contexts.<< Implementation >>The following activities are planned to be implemented: -Research to identify needs/wants of youth workers & youth centers for enhancing their hard/soft skills for working in online & offline environment,-Training course in Croatia to train staff for the preparation of online courses,-Pilot online course to set the base for the finalization of online courses,-Set of 9 online courses “MORE Specialized Education” to boost youth workers' organizational &/or individual skills to perform better when working with youth,-Training course in Romania to draft a program for practical seminars to be carried out in each partner country,-Practical seminars for more experienced youth workers to share their expertise & good practises,- “MORE Knowledge to Practise” handbook for practical learning for youth workers to adapt learning methods & tools in their daily practice,-Recorded webinar series “MORE from Youth Workers”,-Publication of 2 online magazines “MORE insights” with information articles, success stories of the target group, recommendations of learning opportunities,-8 multiplier events in Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Croatia to promote project results & Erasmus+, as well as connect youth workers and other stakeholders, -Mentorship programme “MORE Guidance” to enable youth workers to connect with professionals in specific fields and receive individual guidance,-Development of ""MORE Diverse"" online platform with all the mentioned educational resources.By implementing planned activities, MORE project will directly involve :- at least 40 youth centres from all partner countries;- at least 200 youth workers/staff;- at least 30 specialists in specific fields.<< Results >>The following results and outcomes are planned: - MORE Specialized Education – online courses targeted directly at youth workers based on their needs to enhance the development of skills and competences;- MORE Knowledge to Practise – a practical & non-formal learning handbook- MORE Diverse – an online platform for versatile learning- MORE Insights – informational/inspiring online magazines- MORE from Youth Workers – webinars for sharing expertise & good practices- MORE Guidance - an online platform enabling mentoring-based communication between YWs & professionals in the fields.All of this should improve the capacity of youth workers to work in combined - online & offline contexts."

"Today's Europe is not in the same shape and size as it was in the past. It is dynamically changing, shifting the schemes and affairs it is comprised of, but, we truly want to believe, that the one thing that never changes is the European Values and the European Solidarity.It is because of those values that we need to reflect on all the different structures in adult education not only on a local, regional and national level but also on an individual level. Thanks to the ""BestBonds - extending the competences of adult educators"" we are going to better and improve the European reality. We trust in the impact on both adult educational and social systems in each of the various dimensions and on each of the mentioned levels.The project will tackle the most pressing, emerging issues, which partners, adult educators, observe in their daily work with adult learners, coming from many different cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds. These issues are concerning the educators and learners in many ways, and since the teaching-learning process requires both to be active and present, both are the target of this project. Even now, riddled by the COVID-19 pandemic, the set of troubles and issues has not changed, if anything, the pressing issues from the time before did only get an additional weight to themselves. Only now do we appreciate the true value of skills enabling us to work from home, and how important the ICT aspect of our working lives has become.We believe that these parties should understand each other very well in order to make the learning process as effective as possible. The effectiveness is very dependable on educators' preparedness and openness. The need to supply the learners with viable, valid and proper learning methodologies and curricula is only one of the keys to successful adult education. Adult learners are much different from youth learners, coming from different, often complicated backgrounds, which often become a fundament for future misunderstandings, unintended results, demotivation and, in a later scope, lack of desired knowledge. Another big obstacle presents itself in the form of poor educators' knowledge about not only the learning process itself but, and most of all, motivational strategies, linguistic toolsets, methodologies, ICT classroom elements, Social Media and educational policies. Those are crucial in conducting an inclusive and professional teaching-learning process.All the activities planned in the project are tailored in cohesion with a given partners' needs and desires in order to better his/her experience, the scope of services offered and future perspectives, but also, for all future educators and adult learners to make proper use of. Only thanks to the partnerships we exchange knowledge and experience through can we assure the highest level of quality of inclusive teaching and the best care we can offer our learners.We plan to conduct 4 short-term mobilities:1. The role of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in adult education, activation of language skills and international culture.2. Education of adults and professional integration of migrants and national minorities.3. Activation of adults with low competences, including language skills, to undertake the process of professional activation.4. Transnational competences as a key catalyst for an intercultural adult curriculum.They will be fulfilled at 97 local mobilities in total. The projected, tangible results are, as follows:1. An online learning space, for all future learning purposes, for both the educators and learners to use.2. A set of guidelines, intellectually and methodologically valid in accordance with the need of educators and learners.3. An inclusive teacher's profile.4. A toolbox for all the lesson plans and scenarios.The example of the intangible results this project expects to achieve are:1. A good practice network.2. Exchanging and gaining knowledge through international bonds.3. Improving the sets of offered services by all partner organizations.4. Being able to pinpoint all of the strong and weak suits of given national formal education systems.It is profoundly important to conduct the project transnationally for the results to be of a projected, required and up to European Standards quality.Our teaching, based on the communicative methodology and hands-on teaching methods, involve activating all of our participants and teaching by action. This approach will allow participants, both educators and learners to put their desired skills directly to practice whilst learning.BestBonds is going to have a visible impact on various levels: systemic, organizational, educational, teaching material-wise and, most importantly, will serve as a future benchmark for all of the others facing all the same issues sometime in the future.We trust, that this project, by being sustainable and innovative, will prove that for Europe, there is not one obstacle being insurmountable."

"CONTEXTAccording to European Commission data, women account for 29% of the total in the entrepreneur’s category, with a slight increase of 3% from 2008 to today(1).These data show an underutilization of the female workforce, corroborated by statistics on theoverall employment of women in Europe, equal to 67.4% in 2018 (compared to an average of 79% for the male counterpart(2).The European Union is founded on cardinal values, including equality AND promotes equality between men and women at all levels is one of them (3). Promoting self-entrepreneurship and female entrepreneurship, to increase employment levels and the economic autonomy of women, is therefore a desirable action.THE PROJECTThe ""European Handmakers Network"" project is part of this theme, proposing the creation of a digital platform that allows European women handmakers to have a place where they can be followed by online mentoring in English, in order to increase their skills and turn their hobby into a micro enterprise. This mentoring activity may concern not only women already operating in the manual work sector, but also those who want to transform their home-based craftsmanship into a working activity. Infact, many women in various regions of Europe already deal with the production of artefacts, which contribute informally to the livelihood of the family. In addition, women who are already successfully pursuing their entrepreneurial activity would begiven the opportunity to exercise a role as trainers and to be a good example for other women, as well as to promote their activity at European level.The digital platform would allow:1. To deepen the financial training of the handmakers;2. Provide methodological tools on starting a self-employed job;3. Develop the communication and training skills of the mentors registered on the platform;4. Spread the exchange of good practices, through peer-to-peer mentor-handmaker training;5. Create a sustainable training network at European level between mentors and users.The project therefore envisages cooperation between different partners at European level, with a specification of the roles and tasks to be performed. The organizations involved will thus be able to make available their skills in communication, training, ICT and financial education to be able to carry on the project, under the coordination of Creativi108 which already has projects focused on similar issues, such as the project "" Florà: Handmade across Europe ""(2017-1-IT02-KA204-036766).TARGET GROUP:- Hobbyist women- Unemployed women-Women who intend to start their own micro business-Successful businesses run by women- Training bodies in the economic and financial fieldBENEFICIARIES:-Women handmakers-Women who intend to start their own micro business-Women entrepreneurs- Businesses run by women- Women's organizations- Households where women informally manufacture artifacts-EU organizations in the field of female employment-Training bodies that deal with self-entrepreneurshipEXPECTED IMPACT:On women handmakers:-Development of skills useful for establishing a micro enterprise-Acquisition of methodological tools to start your own business-Ability to join an online community to increase your success-Ability to be able to transform your informal home business into a micro-enterprise that generatesincome-Ability to be able to learn about good practices-Be part of a European solidarity networkOn women entrepreneurs:-Development of communication skills in mentoring (through mentoring guide)-Exchange good practices-International advertising of their businesses through training activities-Be part of a European solidarity networkThe project consortium aims to respond proactively to what is stated in article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union regarding equality between men and women in all areas (4).It will bring together 6 partners from EU countries, among which there will be organizations that deal with communication and with skills on digital platforms and others that will be able to make their contribution since they are already involved in training projects for handmakers.(1) Horizon2020News, reporting European Commission data, http://www.horizon2020news.it/donne-imprenditrici-ineuropa-ce-pubblica-studio-sui-dati-statistici, last consultation, 10/02/20(2) Eurostat, employment statistycs, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/index.php?title=Employment_statistics/it, last consultation, 10/02/20(3) European Parliament, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/it/sheet/59/uguaglianza-tra-uomini-e-donne, last consultation, 10/02/20(4) Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/charter/pdf/text_it.pdf, lastconsultation, 10/02/20"