ALPRODE is aimed at promoting sustainable economic growth in Ecuador and Colombia through academic training and the improvement of employability in the field of sustainable productive development and international cooperation, within the framework of multi-stakeholder partnership schemes. The main axes of the Project are: 1.To develop an innovative training offer on sustainable development, climate change and international cooperation, consisting of courses focused on green, blue and orange economies, on responding to climate change with entrepreneurship and social responsibility actions, and on favouring international cooperation, for which there is a growing demand in Colombia and Ecuador.2.Create an Internship Programme linked to the educational offer, composed of actions that will effectively link the participating universities in Colombia and Ecuador and their students with the private, public and social sectors. This will increase the degree of employability of the students of the new courses offered. 3.Development of multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable development and international cooperation, involving the business world, the public and social sectors of Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Portugal and the EU. This will improve the internationalisation and innovation processes of the participating universities and chambers of commerce.4.Creation of a virtual platform that will include the Virtual Forum for Employment (Marketplace) and the Birregional Alumni Network on sustainable development and international cooperation, which will favour the internationalisation of universities and students from Colombia and Ecuador, as well as the use of new technologies.The Consortium is made up of 11 partners from Spain, Portugal, Colombia and Ecuador, with diverse and complementary profiles, including universities, chambers of commerce and one NGO.

The project enhances the quality of Colombian, Cuban and Panamanian universities by transferring the EU expertise to design and implement a quality referential (framework, tools & methodology) based on impact assessment. This tool complements the actual QA systems currently limited to quality of teaching and research. This fosters an evolution towards an impact-driven culture in the institutions which improves the quality and relevance of the services that they provide to their community. The project results in an impact QA system, inspired by EU experience and customized to the 3 national contexts. The HEIs are capacitated for applying the quality referential at the institutional level (impact is measured and included in strategic development) and at the functional level (more activities/projects are targeted at local communities and their impact is maximized). The fitness for purpose and practical relevance of this QA system are verified by its implementation in 11 universities, under the mentorship of European experts.Results and best practices are compiled in two publications series: one for senior university management explaining how to measure, monitor and increase impact and collecting best practices. The second series, for faculty and specialist staff, provides guidelines and inspiration on how to maximize impact of universities activities for local environment and illustrates it it by a case studies compendium. Main findings and recommendations are shared with the 3 countries stakeholders during the project conference to build awareness and stimulate replication.The project promotes cultural changes in the universities who understand better how to answer the needs of their environment how to engage into innovative and more impactful activities. Regional & local communities benefit from the concrete results of the pilot projects and tighten their links with HEIs open to the local environment.

The ZikaPLAN initiative combines the strengths of 25 partners in Latin America, North America, Africa, Asia, and various centres in Europe to address the urgent research gaps (WP 1-8) in Zika, identifying short-and long term solutions (WP 9-10) and building a sustainable Latin-American EID Preparedness and Response capacity (WP 11-12). We will conduct clinical studies to further refine the full spectrum and risk factors of congenital Zika syndrome (including neurodevelopmental milestones in the first 3 years of life), and delineate neurological complications associated with Zika due to direct neuroinvasion and immune-mediated responses. Laboratory based research to unravel neurotropism, investigate the role of sexual transmission, determinants of severe disease, and viral fitness will envelop the clinical studies. Burden of disease and modelling studies will assemble a wealth of data including a longitudinal cohort study of 17,000 subjects aged 2-59 in 14 different geographic locations in Brazil over 3 years. Data driven vector control and vaccine modelling as well as risk assessments on geographic spread of Zika will form the foundation for evidence-informed policies. The Platform for Diagnostics Innovation and Evaluation will develop novel ZIKV diagnostic tests in accordance with WHO Target Product Profiles. Our global network of laboratory and clinical sites with well-characterized specimens is set out to accelerate the evaluation of the performance of such tests. Based on qualitative research, we will develop supportive, actionable messages to affected communities, and develop novel personal protective measures. Our final objective is for the Zika outbreak response effort to grow into a sustainable Latin-American network for emerging infectious diseases research preparedness. To this end we will engage in capacity building in laboratory and clinical research, collaborate with existing networks to share knowledge and tackle regulatory and other bottlenecks.