The Talents project focused on a new form of comprehensive language and professional training for immigrants and refugees with the aim to support their fast access to the labour market – as jobs are considered to be the most important basis for successful integration. Project partners from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Norway and Sweden commonly developed and tested new strategies of integration in countries and regions which welcomed high numbers of refugees and which, in general, have high immigration rates. The heart and driving force of the project was the “Hotel Talents” project of the City of Göteborg - an innovative fast-track programme for immigrants and refugees that combines vocational language training with practical experience at the workplace. The Talents trainings prepare participants for a first job within a short period of several months and build a direct track to the labour market. The parallel, alternating structure of classroom language and professional training and internship in companies led to promising results. High employment rates of participants after the trainings in Sweden proved that the concept is effective and a suitable measure to increase employment rates among persons with migration background. In the course of the Talents project, the Göteborg role model was transferred to Germany and Norway, and the Swedish partners extended and further developed their fast track concepts as well as upskilling initiatives. The goal was to test the fast-track training model in different legal, financial and structural frameworks focussing on main characteristics of fast track and necessary functions to be taken over in the context of such concepts. In Germany and Norway, Talents fast-track trainings and curricula were developed in the sectors hotel and gastronomy, retail trade, warehouse and logistics as well as building and construction Moreover, some project partners developed fast-track trainings for immigrants and refugees with an academic background, e.g. for doctors, for persons who finished pedagogical and social studies or hold a degree in business administration. In Göteborg, fast-track trainings have meanwhile been developed for more than 50 professions. In addition, upskilling pathways were designed in Sweden to guarantee that career options and the perspective of a second and a third job are available.The Talents project partners are main stakeholders of integration in their countries on different levels and in different fields. They are responsible for the political and strategic steering of education and integration on the regional and local level, they are experts in the field of validation and guidance, they offer language classes and vocational training and do research on integration issues. The following institutions contributed to the Talents project: Volkshochschulverband Baden-Württemberg e.V. (Co-ordinator) / DE, Ministerium für Kultus, Jugend und Sport Baden-Württemberg / DE, Göteborgs Stad / SE, Cuben Utbildning AB / SE, Oslo Voksenopplæring Rosenhof / NO, Steirische Volkswirtschaftliche Gesellschaft / AT, Università degli studi di Firenze / IT, and EARLALL (Association Européenne des Autorités Régionales et Locales pour l'apprentissage tout au long de la vie) / European, based in Belgium. Outputs of the Talents project are: 1.) a European modular tool box, providing training concepts, curricula, pedagogical material, and other training documents for practitioners carrying out fast-track trainings, 2.) a competence balancing App to support the exchange on necessary competences for a certain job between employer, trainee, teachers, and coaches, 3.) a study on the project activities and 4.) curricula for trainings for language teachers and guidance counsellors that work in fast-track training programmes. During the project lifetime of three years, the project reached up to 9000 participants, among them staff of all project partners, counsellors and teachers participating in trainings, staff in companies and partner institutions involved, persons receiving guidance in connection to training activities, participants in 20 pilot training courses, users of the European toolbox and modules of the training concept, persons who will participate in Talents courses in- and outside the project within five years from the project start, persons who have a profit from improved guidance and training in partner organisations and other institutions and persons reached through other dissemination activities like press articles. The Talents project contributed to the successful integration of immigrants on the local and regional level. Talents classes have high access rates to full employment. Talents motivated a large number of follow-up initiatives in the Talents regions with additional budgets of several million Euro, it initiated structural changes on local and regional level land was a role model for national and EU initiatives to tackle the refugees crisis.

"Cedefop's European Skills Index 2020 shows wide differences between European countries when it comes to skills matching. Indeed, according to Cedefop’s publication “Insights into Skill Shortages and Skill Mismatch” (January 2018), four out of ten employers in Europe are struggling to find people with the right skills. In a labour market heavily impacted by Industry 4.0 and SDG commitment (2 million employments will be created by the latter), and the rise of soft skills as a new area of interest in terms of qualifications, differences between skills offer and demand have widened. The context of the COVID-19 outbreak must also be noted, affecting the need of resilience as a fundamental skill; as the Commission has already stated, upskilling and reskilling programmes to protect workers from unemployment and loss of income to avoid permanent effect will be an essential tool to mitigate the effects of the crisis, with 59 million jobs at stake and those without university degrees in a higher risk (short-term job risk is highly correlated with level of education, McKinsey & Company, April 2020). Therefore, there is a crucial need for education and training systems to identify, anticipate and teach skills that are suitable for future needs, rather than to catch up with technological, demographic and environmental changes after they have happened. Vocational Education and Training (VET) is crucial to teach students, adults and workers the necessary skills and will therefore have a significant impact on the future of work.For all these reasons and with the objective of aligning the education and training provision with regional smart specialisation strategies (S3), the Stride for Stride project will work on building up the concept of Regional Skills Ecosystems. Six regions (Catalonia, Basque Country, Tuscany, Brittany, Varaždin, and Vestland) in five European countries (including high achievers, such as Croatia, mid-achievers, such as Norway, and low-achievers such as Spain, Italy and France when it comes to skills matching according to the European Skills Index 2020) will improve their capacity to identify skills needs and adapt their training provision accordingly. And this process needs to be done by engaging four main axes: public authorities, education centres (VET in this case), companies and the individual.Four workshops corresponding to the four steps of skills governance (adaptation, anticipation, transmission and use) will be organised in Florence, Rennes, Bergen and Barcelona between 2020 and 2022, with a double European-regional perspective that allow all the previously mentioned actors build together skills intelligence systems by means of exchanging their experiences (both though workshops and study visits) and taking part in multi-stakeholder open discussion hubs. These workshops will be attended by international regional representatives who wish to learn on the ground from each others' success stories and share their own, but also by local/regional stakeholders who will contribute to dialogue to build strong skills ecosystems based on the skills governance process.In this sense, the Stride for Stride project will add an international aspect to regional success stories, with a two-folded innovative aim:1.Tackling skills intelligence and forecasting at regional level to build regional skills ecosystems, and2.involving all relevant actors featured in the quadruple helix interaction system to help building powerful skills intelligence tools, not only as external ""validators"" of the process, but as an intrinsic part of it.A regional perspective for skills challenges mapping and forecast is of utmost importance to tackle the new opportunities that industry 4.0, SDGs and soft skills relevance are already opening in Europe. Regions allow a closer contact with citizens and are in a privileged position to assessterritorial economic, labour and well-being needs, including lifelong and lifewide learning opportunities. This project will also serve as a starting point for the development of exhaustive territorially-aware assessment tools that complement existing ones such as Cedefop’s national skills forecasts and OECD skills outlooks."

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A fully sustainable future depends on a culture emerging from engaged and informed citizens committed to a green, safe, and economically thriving society which can only be achieved through a deep and reflexive learning process animated in all educational and lifelong learning domains.SMALEI aims to improve the sustainability of adult learning and education (ALE) providers and organisations and increase their capacity to contribute to an ecological transformation of society. Through self-reflection, cooperation, and peer-learning, ALE institutions will take concrete steps towards more environmentally friendly, engaging, and collaborative practices and policies.The key project deliverables are:- Database of resources, promising practices, and experts- Sustainability self-assessment matrix- Guide to using the matrix in a collaborative way- Case studies to showcase the piloting experiences- Policy recommendations and the road map to develop sustainable communities- Digital academyThe consortium is composed of 7 partners representing ALE providers and national/regional associations, a regional public authority, and 2 European networks (EAEA and EARLALL). Partners will act as initial stakeholders in piloting, adopting, and validating the sustainability self-assessment matrix. The project deliverables will be promoted among the project target groups following a sound dissemination plan and an effective exploitation strategy, which will ensure a high project reach and impact.The project increases the capacity of ALE centres, teachers, and staff to become greener, more engaged, and forward-looking which will lead to concrete progresses towards sustainable development on the local, regional, national, and European levels. In the long-term, the project contributes to raising awareness, creating partnerships, empowering individuals and communities for promoting and living a flourishing, environmentally friendly lifestyle and inspires cross-generational climate action.

Offering quality guidance services to all citizens at any point in their lives is an important challenge for regions. All regions participating in the ERASMUS+ strategic partnership BRIDGE have established guidance systems that support the access of citizens to training and further education. However, these guidance services didn't reach all target groups to the same extent. Above all, only a small number of low-skilled people used lifelong guidance in BRIDGE regions and the participation of low-skilled adults in up-skilling training activities was significantly low. In order to raise the percentage of lower-skilled target groups in guidance and up-skilling activities new innovative concepts were needed. The BRIDGE project was designed to find such new ways of reaching lower skilled persons. As specific objectives of the BRIDGE project partners aimed at1. analysing the access to and quality of guidance services for low-skilled adults in Baden-Württemberg/Germany, Bretagne/France and Jämtland/Sweden from different perspectives and with different methods and activities and to adapt, test and transfer best practice tools and processes in the field of guidance from one region to the others,2. describing ways of addressing low-skilled adults e.g. through guidance in cooperation with companies,3. analysing and increasing the quality of guidance services by learning from the partners' experiences and from the results of two surveys, by transfering tools and strategies and by training professionals in using these tools and strategies,4. developing self-evaluation tools that help to evaluate the access to and quality of guidance for low-skilled people. Long term goals of the project were ...1. to strengthen guidance networks, co-operations between organisations and measures to support low-skilled target groups through European mutual learning,2. to innovate the access of low-skilled adults to lifelong guidance in participating regions and beyond,3. to improve the quality of guidance with a view to the needs of low-skilled adults by supporting professionals in guidance services and,4. consequently, to increase the participation of low-skilled adults in up-skilling activities.Seven organisations from four European countries participated in the BRIDGE project as full partners. In addition, four silent partners contributed to the project. The following institutions were full partners of the BRIDGE consortium:Volkshochschulverband Baden-Württemberg e.V. (Co-ordinator) as the biggest provider of adult education in the south-west of Germany and the co-ordinator of the regional guidance network Landesnetzwerk Weiterbildungsberatung Baden-Württemberg (LN WBB).Ministerium für Kultus, Jugend und Sport Baden-Württemberg which founded and finances the LN WBB.FONGECIF Bretagne whose mission is to inform, advise and support employees in their professional transition and development, e.g. in phases of reconversion, graduation and professionalisation.Région Bretagne that has in place a regional network of several hundred information centers which can offer basic information about training opportunities and orientation to more specialized guidance services. Lärcentrum Östersunds kommun, responsible for all matters regarding adult learning for citizens in the area including education and career guidance.IUC Z-Group which is a cooperation between manufacturing companies in the county of Jämtland, provides and verifies training and education to member companies. EARLALL, the European Association of Regional & Local Authorities for Lifelong Learning. During seven project meetings, the BRIDGE project partners investigated best practice measures and tools of guidance in the participating regions, described and analysed the measures and worked out success factors. Around 20 activities were followed up in detail. Powerpoint presentations on the different activities and reports were produced.The reports formed part of a study and handbook which collects information, good examples and suggestions on successful educational and career guidance. The study addresses several thousand professionals working in the field of guidance in the participating regions and beyond. It offers an overview on existing measures to reach low-skilled adults in the BRIDGE regions and puts the findings of the BRIDGE project into a broader context. The study and handbook also includes results of two surveys among counselors and low-skilled people, it defines key-performance factors for counseling as well as self-assessment-tools for institutions that are active in the field of guidance. The BRIDGE regions have successfully implemented several of the best practices in their guidance structures, used project results in policy processes and provided financing for new guidance strategies. In one European and three regional multiplier events results of the project were spread to other regions.