The general objective of LEAP4FNSSA is to establish a sustainable structure, or ‘Platform’, for the efficient and coherent implementation of the AU-EU Research and Innovation Partnership as described in the FNSSA Roadmap. Under the aegis of the HLPD and its Bureau, and by building upon related projects such as RINEA, CAAST-Net. Plus, ProIntensAfrica and LEAP-Agri, LEAP4FNSSA aims to achieve this overall objective through three specific objectives: - Increase the synergies and coherence between actors, research and innovation projects, initiatives and programmes, through the development of institutional alliances and clusters of projects; - Develop a learning environment and a large knowledge base, including monitoring and evaluation activities, creating communication and links between different initiatives to improve STI cooperation; - Establish a long term and sustainable governance and funding mechanism for the Platform. To reach these objectives, LEAP4FNSSA will build on a large consortium of experienc

Education and training play a crucial role in enabling young people to develop these skills and competences – as well as allowing them the best possible start in life (European Commission, 2019). 21st Century Skills (Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity & Innovation, Self-Direction, Making Global Connections, Making Local Connections, Using Technology as a Tool for Learning) are crucial for quality of education and training. All educators, researchers and labour market are agreed about the importance of mentioned skills but there is a lack of teaching materials and methodology. In order to help and develop skill development at the EU level partnership intend to develop CATCH-21 Century Project. The main objective of the project is to increase the Quality of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) at the EU level in teaching of 21st Century Skills to support better understanding of qualifications and make better use of all available skills in the European labour market.The specific objectives are; 1. to create concrete and innovative teaching materials and pedagogical model concerning teaching of 21st Century Skills for HE teaching staff, 2. to foster cooperation between labour market and HEI organizations. 3. to create an online learning platform in order to help development of 21st Century Skills for HEI organizations staff and students at the EU level. The project consortium is during its two years funding period implementing the above mentioned aims and outputs on the basis of two type of activities1. Intellectual Outputs2. Work PackagesIntellectual Outputs:During the project we intend to produce 3 Intellectual Outputs. IO1: 21st Century Skills Market Research and Didactical Guideline, IO2: 21st Century Skills Training Course and Teaching MaterialsIO3 : Learning Management Systems (LMS) and WebsiteBeside the Intellectual outputs project have some work packages in order to increase the achievement of the project objectives. WP1: Project management and implementationWP2. Quality management and assurance WP3. Exploitation and disseminationThe project will have the expected results which listed below:•IO1-21st Century Skills Market Research and Didactical Guideline 20-30 pages•IO2- 21st Century Skills Training Course and Teaching Materials 100-120 pages•IO3- Learning Management Systems (LMS) -Website and Testing of course •1 short term staff trainings (25 participants)•5 classes of 21st Century Skills in the partner universities (100 students will participate)•1 international market research report•4 news letters•6 National multiplier conferences ( 280 participants)•Social media accounts of the project (Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, Twitter)•Dissemination and exploitation report •Evaluation reports (2)

Educa consortium provides Erasmus+ traineeships for Czech universities. The consortium includes 10 members. The most successful University is the CZU, where the amount of mobilities realized through the consortium is the largest. The CZU is the only member of a consortium that has not yet organized traineeships at the university level and all placements are being implemented through a consortium. Three of the consortium members did not send any students nor graduates in this year.The strategy of the consortium's work is based on a wide range of fields of study at various universities and thus also on the acquisition of a suitable trainee for a foreign partner. The search for foreign partners is based mainly on previous long-term partnership and contacts, yet we are still looking for new opportunities. New opportunities are being successfully found through other projects, personal visits to institutions, long-term cooperation, visits to student fairs and institutions, cooperation with consortia in other EU countries, involvement in the program and recently through projects or other networks (e.g. EPALE). As a speciality there is also a possibility to get new contacts using the prestigious membership of the European Association of Cities, Institutions and Second Chance Schools (E2C). In addition, consortium staff is looking for options for traineeships in their daily work. We are looking for more opportunities through students and graduates who have already completed their traineeship and are willing to help.The main objective of the consortium is to continue to strengthen the European dimension in education at universities, to deepen the cooperation of educational institutions and businesses and other institutions to promote the quality of higher education and sustainable development, particularly in the social sciences, economics and business, international relations, agriculture. The experience gained by students, teachers and other staff of participating institutions can be easily compared to the level of foreign universities, whether education and acquired knowledge are in line with market needs.Last but not least, we know about the importance of the enriching experience from abroad for the students themselves.Educa International, o.p.s operates in the Czech Republic as a consortium Educa for already 10 years. The consortium focuses primarily on traineeships and on recent graduates, and last year also on employee mobility. We now intend to extend our activity to study at universities in partner and program countries (study mobility, traineeship mobility in the field of study and employee mobility for teaching or training). This is due to the fact that some smaller universities and higher vocational schools do not have enough staff to organize the Erasmus mobility in the best way. Very often they have a low number of mobility participants and do not have resources to hire an Erasmus expert for this work. Therefore small private higher education institutions prefer to transfer this to the consortium. They can only be involved in part of selection of the student and later activities such as the promotion of Erasmus in schools, the organization of selection and nomination of students and other mobility participants. The Educa consortium has responsibility for the administrative part of the mobility process, including financial responsibility, when implementing the Erasmus+ program.In this contract period, the offer of traineeships was extended to traineeships for university graduates and also for staff mobility. The contribution of the consortium is for all stakeholders as there is an increase in the number of trainees' mobility annually. This also includes the mobility of university graduates. In the first period, a small number of graduates participated on mobilities but now the number is higher. The consortium's activities will help small higher education institutions and higher vocational schools to implement training programs at partner universities and to implement staff training and student and graduate traineeships. Staff mobility (teaching and training) enhances participants' competencies and strengthens the internationalization of participating universities. The expected benefits are also the improvement of the quality of administrative activities (OLS, Mobility Tool, mobility agreements, Interim and Final Reports) as these administrative activities are often a barrier for these small institutions with a small number of mobility participants. The Erasmus coordinator of these universities are usually teachers and coordinating Erasmus is an additional activity and they do not have the opportunity and time to devote sufficient attention to the administrative part of the program.

The Project “Future Environmentalists - Linking EU Natural Capital Management to Field Research” (FUTURNATUR) addresses innovation in higher education through an approach of a partnership aiming to cross the gaps between theory, research data and practical management in environmental sciences (biology, forestry and related natural sciences). The project activities were implemented over 32 months (01.10.2018 - 31.05.2021) in a partnership of 4 public law organizations from 4 EU countries: Association of Parks in Bulgaria (Bulgaria), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation (Bulgaria) and Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Czech Republic). All partners have experience in networking with student’s clubs and young volunteers and have agreed on the need to address them with structured and complementary non-formal education programme linking nature management with research fieldwork and active civil stance on environmental topics. All project partners have experience in educational project for environmental education, and the university partners have vast experience in Erasmus + projects.The project has three main objectives:- Develop relevant and high quality skills and competences for nature sciences students in Bulgaria , Greece and Czech Republic as the future EU professionals in nature resource research, management and policy;- Empower young environmentalists in Bulgaria, Greece and Czech Republic for monitoring of the implementation of EU environmental policies in their countries and foster active citizenship;- Establish a network of future EU professionals, linking young environmentalists from Bulgaria, Greece and Czech republic in the 3 most relevant sectors - research, management and advocacy thus facilitating future synergies in policy implementation.The project was applied the participatory approach, with elements of pro-active and adaptive management.The target group of the project were students that enrolled in nature science disciplines (biology, botany, forestry, etc.) with motivation for future professional realisation in conservation research, management and/or advocacy. Students were from the universities in Sofia, Thessaloniki and Prague enrolled in nature science disciplines (biology, botany, forestry, etc.); Higher education and professional trainers in environmental fields; Future employers of nature science professionals.The main activity of the project was creation of an Innovative Education Toolkit combining best practice resources in research fieldwork, data treatment, data usage in environmental management and advocacy was a core project activity. This toolkit was developed and applied in pilot extra-curricular activities at the partner universities in Sofia, Thessaloniki and Prague through face-to-face lectures, fieldwork student trips, webinars and multiplier events, covering the full range of environmental topics relevant to nature resource management of all sectors (e.g. GIS, webinar, databases, research fieldwork, policies), different disciplines (forestry , ornithology, etc.), and adequate to national specifics as well as EU-level environmental objectives.As a result of the project total of 99 face-to-face lectures were made and opened for all interested. Total of 425 students from Bulgaria, 562 from Greece and 285 from Czech Republic took participation in educational activities. Total of 12 webinars were held in three project countries Three job fairs were organized in each country. Their main purpose was potential employers in the field of biodiversity management to meet students as their future employees - expectations sharing. The project achieved improvement of higher education teaching capacity the 4 partner institutions in Bulgaria, Greece and Czech Republic through introducing interdisciplinary methods and feeding research and practice approaches back into education via the created toolkit.

"The aim of the presented project is to strengthen cooperation in the field of innovation of pedagogical activities between selected higher education institutions and professional organisations with regard to strengthening the competencies of small farms managed by young farmers in the context of value creation, agricultural cooperation and the emerging ""Farm-to-Fork"" strategy.The content of the project will be the characteristics of s small farms managed by young farmers, the definition of their functions (economic, production, technical, social, cultural and ecological), the evaluation of the position of farms at the national and international level, the characteristics of critical points and mitigation strategies. The impact of agricultural policies and legislative changes on the functioning of individual entities will be simulated by a software solution. The chosen strategy to support farm viability is cooperation / collaboration between farmers, farmers and other parts of the food supply chain. Two outputs are prepared for the development of this strategy: examples of good practice and a virtual price comparison tool.The prepared outputs will be used in the teaching process of agricultural students and will also serve as a background tool for science and research. Outputs will be mostly prepared in English and languages of partner institutions (CZ, HU, LT, PL, SK).Other outputs will be three conferences organised as multiplication events and one workshop."