Project main objective–to create an international cooperation network between culture and youth workers, organizations by fostering, trying to maintain authentic local traditions as cultural heritage through ethno festivals. We will seek to increase youth‘s knowledge regarding the importance of the European cultural heritage, highlighting that cultural heritage is the basic value in the context of rapid globalization and by fostering it we significantly contribute to the uniqueness of nations, preservation of historical memory. As the main measure to preserve the old ethnographic traditions, we consider passing it from generation to generation. Cultural heritage in its authentic form hardly competes with the interests of digitized society. The youth is oriented to the fast result,mobility which threatens the extinction of traditions, loss of uniqueness. We will invoke festivals as an attractive form of leisure for the youth to pass them the traditional heritage. However, the content and form of existing festivals in Lithuania,especially in regions, aren‘t influencing youth. Thus we see a need for an initiative to combine traditional ethno festivals with modern methods for transferring content. For this purpose, we need to gain experiences of such fusion from our partners in other countries. Lithuanian partners will share their experiences on how they preserved the authenticity of traditions while historical,social,economic circumstances were changing. Common benefit for all partners will be the creation of international,interdisciplinary cooperation network and the following activities. There will participate 30 persons in the project‘s activities: curators of region and district cultural affairs from 3 partner countries, which plan, carry out local cultural policy,organize,implement local cultural projects and also members of youth organizations, youth workers, participants of youth initiatives. Participants representing youth and cultural field will significantly contribute to improving skills of cultural workers on how to organize ethno festivals at the same time corresponding to the youth expectations. Also improve competences, work with youth quality by methods of non-formal education and looking for non-traditional ways of youth inclusion,revealing new fields, at this case-organization of cultural events by promoting cooperation between organizations. Teaching,learning activities of the target group will take the biggest part of all project activities,will significantly contribute to raising participants' qualifications, promoting innovations, changing best practices at interinstitutional, international level. Learning activities will have added value in achieving the project‘s objectives because it will increase knowledge on European cultural heritage, promote intercultural dialogue,tolerance,making personal,professional contacts,initiating common projects,youth self-expression,responsibilities,critical thinking.There is created a new participatory method in the project–project‘s objectives will be achieved by invoking innovative, complex measures when work with participants will be implemented giving them possibilities to know the topic from different angles, gaining not only theoretical knowledge but also trying it in practice at the project time. For this purpose will be invoked these methods: expert presentations,teamwork in groups,dialogue development,practical engagement,observation of the activities. We are seeking long term effects on the target group, their represented organizations, project partners‘ organizations, regional cultural, youth organizations, cultural consumers. For this purpose, we will seek these results at project period, after it: 1) to create international cooperation network between cultural and youth workers, organizations which will create conditions to attract new financial, human resources because of developing common innovative projects; 2) in all 3 partner countries at the project period and/or after it will be involved youth in organizing ethno festivals, transmitted expert knowledge, gained skills will increase professionality of the participants, ensure higher quality of organized ethno and other local festivals. This will promote development of cultural tourism, increase knowledge about the area, contribute in creating feeling of welfare, attract more visitors to the events, new business, thus will be created added economic value;3) there is planed during the project with partners to prepare preliminary common future international project concept on the field of youth inclusion. Thus we will ensure direct continuity of the project, further partners‘ cooperation, even bigger inclusion of target groups;4) policymakers of the partners‘ represented regions will use the results of the project while preparing strategical activity documents. This will ensure the maintenance of the project‘s results and continuity at the political level.

YETI (Youth Environmental Training Initiative) aims to be the first partnership aimed at going all the way in collecting environmental / sustainable energy good practices, developing them into coursework material, make the latter available to teaching institutions and finally testing and delivering the outcome of the coursework developed. Whereas other energy / environmental related courses are fundamentally based on theory, YETI will be able to take REAL WORLD practices, develop teaching material, deliver the aforementioned coursework and re test it in the real world, making one full circle and greatly enhancing the skills and knowledge of the groups being targeted.There is presently a short coming in emphasis on sustainable use of energy, resources and the environment within most educational systems. Especially when it comes to real world applications. As a matter of fact where teaching coursework exists, it fails to successfully stimulate the individual to link the theoretical approach to real life scenarios.With the upcoming Europe 2020 targets, the partners believe that a shift is required from text to deeds. It is crucial to target the young adult market since otherwise many school leavers will never have the opportunity to orient themselves in a Europe (and ultimately a world) where the word sustainable is becoming increasingly common without however the skills and actions to back it up sufficiently.YETI requires a mix of technical experts in the field of environment and energy, with a mix from the academic and the manufacturing scenarios to incorporate the best of both worlds into the final project deliverable. Moreover for the project to be successful institutions that are proficient in pedagogical field need to be on board for further enhancement and delivery of the coursework being developed. Finally YETI takes a totally unique and different approach to any other project in the sense that it goes a step further by recruiting a municipality amongst its partners to ensure the practicality and real world applications of the material being developed. Moreover, the municipality also ensures maximal target reach of youths in their regional area. All partners have been carefully selected in order to fall into one or ideally more of the above categories. The partner selection gives a perfectly balanced mix to the equation in order to achieve an international panel of skilled experts across the required board. Such a strategic choice is also the key behind our confidence and commitment that the project has the right ingredients to be successful on all proposed grounds. The partnership aims to be clearly and logically structured with Partners divided into 3 specific sub groups being: Technical experts, Teaching institutions and Municipalities. Thus the role of the partner is carefully orchestrated from the very beginning and is not a matter of random allocation, but a matter of categorizing available strengths and resources and making use of the latter accordingly.Moreover the project is well structured in Phases (1-4) as follows: Phase 1 - Good Practice gathering exercise Phase 2 - Course work development phasePhase 3 - Practical testing phasePhase 4 - Dissemination phaseThe project aims to deliver various concrete results including ready to use course work targeted to the youth population in Europe. YETI works with youths in piloting the training course and will tailor make the content based on feedback received from all the youths involved in the project. A clear ideology, structured and modular project phases and a balanced partner mix are the winning ingredients that aim to make YETI a recipe for success.

The situation currently experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the lockdown of the most of the EU population, who have spent more time at home and therefore more time online. Misinformation, fake news and cyber-security are increasingly dominant topics in an environment of disquiet and uncertainty where information proliferates that can cause not only social but also public health damage (FCT, 2020). According to a study carried out in the EU and USA, people with low levels of formal education are much less likely to say that they rely on news organisations for news and information about coronavirus, and more likely to rely on social media and messaging applications (Nielsen et al., 2020). Researchers also found that marginalised communities in every country did not engage with news and with government advices and, in turn, often know less about the crisis (Nielsen et al., 2020).The media landscape has undergone through profound changes in recent decades that irreversibly affected education, culture and the economy, having a great impact on citizens' daily lives. Just as literacy is the ability to read and write, media literacy involves not only the ability to analyse and evaluate media messages, but also the ability to create them. The fast technological development and spread of digital media, especially the Internet, has resulted in multiple access points to information that does not reach us directly from its source - it is mediated for easy consumption. Since media literacy is a matter of inclusion and citizenship in the contemporary information society, the MEDIA4LL project aims to promote the development of digital and media literacy skills in an embedded learning perspective, while supporting adult and community educators, and professionals from the arts and culture sectors in the development of media literacy skills of low-skilled adults and marginalised communities through media-based methodologies in a participatory community approach. Target-groups are:1. Adult and community educators, and professionals from the arts and culture sectors;2. Low-skilled adults.They key actions to achieve the aims of the project are:- The development of an engaging Toolkit of Embedded Digital & Media Literacy Resources (IO1) that will support low-skilled adults to develop basic digital and media literacy skills through storyboards, video storytelling and infographics. IO1 will cover the topics of (i) news literacy; (ii) information literacy; (iii)spotting disinformation; (iv) ethics of media use and creation; (v) dealing with social media stress; (vi) digital citizenship and cyberbullying.- The development of a tailor-made In-Service Training Programme that aims to train adult and community educators, and professionals from the arts and culture sectors in the development of basic skills of low-skilled adults through media-based methodologies, namely photo-voice, storyboard and video storytelling. IO2 is divided in three main axes: (1) Foundations of Adult Learning; (2) Media Literacy and Adult Education; (3) How to Embed Media-Based Methodologies in Adult Education Programmes,-The development of an innovative Handbook of Participatory Methodologies for Community Engagement in Media Literacy (IO3) which aims to explore the potential of media production for community empowerment and provide a set of recommendations for the implementation of media education activities with participatory methodologies. IO3 is divided in three main axes: (1) Community Education & Development; (2) Participatory Methodologies in Community Empowerment; (3) Participatory Methodologies for Community Engagement in Media Literacy.- The development of the MEDIA4ALL MOOC (IO4) which will enable full access of IO1, IO2 and IO3 in bite-sized units;- The development of a thought-provoking Policy Paper (IO5) that will provide a set of operational and policy recommendations based on the analysis of the results of the transnational project, for decision and policymakers in the and adult education, arts and culture sectors.By the end of the project:- 100 low-skilled adults will complete the Toolkit of Embedded Digital & Media Literacy Resources (IO1);- 50 adult and community educators, and professionals from the arts and culture sectors will complete the In-Service Training Programme (IO2);- A minimum of 300 target-group representatives will be enrolled in the MEDIA4ALL MOOC (IO4);- 10 adult and community educators, and professionals from the arts and culture sectors will attend the LTTA in Slovenia;- 20 adult and community educators, and professionals from the arts and culture sectors will be involved in the Local Working Groups;- 175 target-group representatives will attend the MEDIA4ALL Community Labs; - 45 target-group representatives, stakeholders and policy-makers will attend the Final Conference in France.

<< Background >>The European Union deploys many forces and is strongly committed to achieving gender parity through policy instruments such as the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025.However, a needs analysis carried out by the project partners through online questionnaire addressed to municipalities has found out that:- the knowledge of the EU Gender Equality Strategy on the part of public administrations is very limited, as it is the recognition of the importance of promoting gender culture and equality, especially when it comes to the design and delivery of services. In particular:- administrators’ and Municipalities employees’ knowledge on gender-culture related themes is still weak (58%)- specific training on gender equality is mainly let the “personal interest” of administrators/civil servants (53,5%)- structural training will make the difference in enabling local administrator in the gender-equality challenge (73%) - practical tools for supporting public bodies in achieving gender equality are missing (69,5%)- support and networking with civil society is an added value and a strong input for Municipalities (100%) - need to overcome lack of cooperation among Municipalities on gender-related issues from an operational point of view 88,5% (vs from a policy point of view: 42%).E-QUALITY project will therefore address the need to actively work toward ensuring women’s participation in society, starting from the environment where political decisions and measures are taken, namely Municipalities.<< Objectives >>The project general objective is to create the conditions for continuity of actions on gender culture at a policy-making level, in order to improve and raise awareness on women’s position in society, promoting their social inclusion, civic engagement and participation.In order to bring a significant change and achieve the before-mentioned goal, the project will aim at:- increasing administrators’ and Municipalities employees’ knowledge on gender-culture related themes;- developing practical tools for supporting public bodies in achieving gender equality and contributing to social and territorial planning by spreading project results.The training of municipal employees will be designed to include a priority focus on gender issues within the subjects of interest for the social planning of the territory administered<< Implementation >>Main activities to be implemented within the project will be the following:WP1 - Project management and coordinationWP2 - New curricula on gender equality for public bodies> including cross fertilization training between partners to set up the training modelWP3 - Transnational training on gender equality for municipalities> testing of the training within municipalities at local levelWP4 - Digital interactive platform and guidelines to achieve gender equality> Assessment of national and European framework> Collection and drafting of materials> setting up of the PlatformWP5 - Communication and dissemination activities<< Results >>E-QUALITY project is going to develop 2 main results:1 - Realization of a NEW TRAINING CURRICULA FOR PUBLIC BODIES specifically addressed to provide their employees with new knowledge and skills on gender equality2 - Development of a DIGITAL INTERACTIVE PLATFORM & GUIDELINES TO ACHIEVE GENDER EQUALITY containing guidelines and best practices for European municipalities and public bodies on how to train public workers in order to reach the EU Agenda for gender equality and EU regulations, recommendations and policies.Above-mentioned results will lead to the following outcomes:- Providing municipalities and their employees with useful tools and skills to address gender and women's equality issues within their working environment and by promoting civil society actions and initiatives;- Increasing the soft and hard skills of municipal employees to upscale their working performance;- Increased knowledge among beneficiaries on key topics related to gender equality and how they can be declined and incorporated into local policies and regulations.