EuroQualiTrain - European Qualification and Training is a mobility project based on CRNs European Development Plan.Background:With this project we want to support the aim of reaching a higher rate of employability and help to overcome social exclusion. Through the improved trainings and new created partner networks, we will help especially social disadvantaged job seekers to easier navigate in other job markets in Europe. This will help to increase the mobility in Europe, important aims of the 2020 strategy, overcoming the crisis in Europe. Objectives :We aspire to increase the knowledge and experience of our trainers, who will support employers but as well job seekers with inter-cultural training. We want to increase as an organisation our networks, in order to perform such trainings not just in Germany but as well elsewhere. The cooperation should help to create among the partners common curricula, reflecting not just the situation in host but as well sending countries. On the long run we hope to support the common recognition and certification of inter-cultural skills and trainings in Europe. Participants:The project will be open for all trainer and manager of CRN. We will send a total of 13 members abroad, based on their international experience, their individual development needs and learning goals. Activities:The EuroQualiTrain project is composed out of four different activities:A. Learning assignments for experienced trainers, who want to acquire international teaching experience.B. Trainings and qualification for less experienced trainers with limited international experience. They will gain confidence and motivation to go abroad through chosen trainings they will receiveC. Job-shadowing for experienced project manager. The job-shadowing will develop management competences and let the project manager gain experience from an international partner.D. Follow-up pilots. The follow-up pilots will be organised at CRN after each activity. The participants will share their experiences, new knowledge and reflections with all staff members, stakeholders and learners at CRN.Methods:The learning assignments will offer easy hand-on methods. The methods contain:- intercultural training- digital storytelling- body movement- intergenerational training- dance and art- non-verbal communicationThe job-shadowing will contain project management, social media use, digital tools and intercultural training. The trainings will contain: community reporter, intercultural trainings, language methods and IKT.Results and impact:We expect following impact on our staff:- increased individual, social and professional competences- improved employability- improved motivation in society participation- increased professional options and new fields of work- a better knowledge and inside view to different European education systems- an improved work ethic and motivation- increased management competences- up to date knowledge of international approaches in their fieldWe expect following impacts on our organisation:- A strengthening of our international competences (as already described in the European Development Plan)- An increased capacity to develop innovative, user based, attractive activities and trainings- An improved staff and organisation development- An active internationalization of our organisation, our learners, staff, partners and networksLong term benefits:We expect in 2020 a higher quality of our trainings and a higher rate of participants in European mobility. In order to validate our european mobilities every CRN staff will use the Europass CV and language passport. Our learners will benefit from the international experience of our trainers and will be motivated to stay in non-formal education in order to find a lifelong pathway in learning.

"The aim of the project ""Let´s build bridges"" was to offer eight young Europeans the opportunity to volunteer in projects concerning different social issues, working with and for the benefit of people in various circumstances. The volunteers were encouraged to bring forth their own ideas to engage the patrons of the organisations they will work with. All placements have been based mainly on human interaction, so they constituted a great opportunity for the young people to become fully integrated into the communities they served, to form meaningful connections with its members, and to become comfortable with living in a new, culturally different environment. Most projects had a planned duration of 12 months, except for the position at the AUS office, which lasted 10 months. Two of the participants decided to leave their projects earlier due to personal reasons, but have reported to be overall satisfied with their EVS experience. The volunteer at Langanes - Thomas - left after 3 and a half months, but was later replaced by another participant, Georgia, who completed 5 months at the project. Lucy, who was at the Icelandic Red Cross, only stayed 6 months, as opposed to the initially planned 12 months.The projects focused on using artistic and physical ways to engage the target groups served by the hosting organizations and to find activities that they enjoy, to offer friendship and support, and to help them work through differences and various barriers that they might have faced. Thus, the volunteers got the chance to experience new cultures, learn new skills, and use creativity in work environments that involve people in various circumstances, such as teenagers in Grunnskólinn á Þórshöfn and other young volunteers from several countries and cultures at the AUS office, but also groups that live with different social disadvantages, such as the mentally ill at VIN, women battling addiction and homelessness at Konukot, or refugees and asylum seekers aided by the Icelandic Red Cross. The aim of integrating these young volunteers into Icelandic culture and community was met through these work placements and activities arranged by AUS, which helped them adjust to a new culture and hopefully learn from it. They were also able to enhance their professional and personal skills while doing their voluntary work and other free time activities. The projects that hosted volunteers were the AUS office, The Icelandic Red Cross and Grunnskólinn á Þórshöfn in Langanes. AUS´s volunteer in the office came from Greece. His name is Konstantionos Kotzias. He was really interested in the Erasmus + program and very motivated to get to learn about servicing both incoming and outgoing volunteers. The red cross hosted six volunteers. One of them was from Portugal - Ana - and she performed her volunteering service at the VIN daily center for people with mental disabilities. The other five volunteers all came from the British Red Cross as sending organization - 4 of them (Azraa, Lucy, Olivia, and Heather) were from the UK, while one of them - Tjelke - was a dutch national who had been living in the UK.Thomas Martin from France was the first volunteer in Langanes and was later replaced by Georgia Theodoropoulou from Greece.Within this project, volunteers were mostly impacted through their host placements, the people they met and the activities they took on. The activities they performed helped them develop on both personal and professional levels, experience living and working in a new, multicultural setting, become more socially and culturally aware, forge lasting bonds with people from all over the world with all sorts of backgrounds, gain valuable life skills and competencies that could significantly improve their future prospects, and have an overall enriching and unforgettable experience, all while contributing to a greater good, serving diverse groups of people in need, and having a positive impact on their lives.In addition to the volunteers, participating organizations also benefited from this project. Hosting organizations, especially, were aided in working towards their vision of a greater good. More importantly, however, through the presence of the EVS volunteers, a significant positive impact was made on the lives of several groups of individuals served by these hosting organizations."

“We are all digital natives” stands for a new way of thinking about education and lifelong learning. In Europe, learners need to know how to act and live with digital reality. Younger users need to achieve digital responsibility. Older learners and workers need to be introduced to and made proficient in the navigation of the digital world in order to qualify them for jobs needed today. The biggest challenge to become and stay a “digital native” is faced by teachers and trainers in all education sectors, in formal and non-formal education. For them it will in future be increasingly important to keep pace with the latest digital methods and technologies in order to keep their curricula up to date. This project will therefore defined and compared, published and promoted good practice examples of digital methods used across all education sectors across Europe. In this way it can be ensured that everyone becomes a digital native.The project held 5 transnational meetings at which each partner prepared 2 good practice examples of digital methods, based on an evaluation grid, providing criteria for good digital teaching. The practices had been documented in a eBook which is for free downloadable (http://www.comparative-research.net/fileadmin/user_upload/mb/digital_natives/We_are_all_Digital_Natives_Collected_Practices.pdf). Based on the good practice analysis and intense discussions inside the partnership and with stakeholders and decision makers the partnership formulated nine recommendations on how to develop good digital training/teaching:1. It’s about you, not the technology 2.Teach how to learn and manage change 3.Open the classroom to the world4.Break down barriers of knowledge and perception5.Make your class sustainable6.There are no experts in the digital world 7.Connect the offline and online world8.Digital tools are a compass - digital tools help to navigate the digital world. 9.Let the voices of your students be heardMore details can be read here: http://www.comparative-research.net/fileadmin/user_upload/mb/digital_natives/Policy_Recommendation_DINA_ENG.pdf

Order of Malta Relief Organization in Lithuania (MOPT) initiates the international training course on volunteer mentors and coordinators competencies development. Partner countries: Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Turkey, Hungary, Estonia and Iceland. Group size: 28 participants were invited to develop their competencies within volunteer mentoring topic.Training duration and place: 10 days in Lithuania in 2015 09 10-19The main aim of the training course is to develop youth workers competencies in work with volunteers learning processes and competencies gained in their voluntary activities in order to apply them in the labour market.Target group: training is built for practitioners directly working with young volunteer development processes, guidance as coordinators. Participants were selected by partner organisations, according to their profile – background and experience in work with volunteers’ coordination, their motivation, expectations and readiness to do an impact by implementing follow-up activities. The key project idea focuses on how to mentor volunteers in a way, that they would be aware of what is “beyond taking and giving” – how consciously develop competencies, work with volunteer self-awareness on competencies gained and how they can be applicable inside and outside the organisation.Learning methodology was based on experiential learning – short theoretical inputs, covered with practices and constant reflection about the unique personal experiences and learning outcomes. Participants got acquainted with differences and similarities of voluntary work in different organisations, got better perception of their role as mentors, learn how to deal effectively with uncertainty, use coaching as a tool in volunteer development processes, asses the competencies of people they work with, got insights about synergies among non-formal education, voluntary work and labour market. Moreover, develop international network of professionals and further projects ideas.Training project impact firstly lies on improvement of participants’ professional performance, in their daily work with young volunteers. Secondly, competent organisation members and common project will strengthen participating organisations from the inside and also will strengthen their partnerships, as they share their “know-how”, strong and weak sides during this project. Project results were disseminated by participants firstly within their organisations, with their colleagues and members, other voluntary organisations, shared with young people from the local communities. This training aimed to create the base for national and international follow-up activities under Erasmus+ and projects, which in training sessions will be ensured by creating environment for networking and further cooperation among partners involved in the project.

"The aim of the project ""YOUth Can Make a Difference"" was to offer four young Europeans the opportunity to volunteer in projects that involve working with people with fewer opportunities, social challenge and the managing work in that field. The volunteers were encouraged to bring forth their own ideas to engage the patrons of the organizations they worked with. The work was also focused on communication and the volunteers were expected to integrate into their local community, by doing so impacting the lives of the patrons and the lives of the people they meet and their own in the process. Two volunteers were placed at two of the Red Cross Iceland projects, the Refugee Support and the Asylum Seeker Support Programmes, one in the AUS office, and one in Ásgarður. All projects had a planned duration of 12 months, and although one of the volunteers could not finish her placement for reasons beyond their control, they undoubtedly enriched the communities they served and had a positive impact on their own development and the people they worked with. The volunteers had the chance to experience a new culture, to learn new skills and use creativity in relation to a workplace for people with social advantages, mental illnesses and youth mobility. They managed to integrate into Icelandic culture and community through the work placements and activities arranged by AUS. They had the chance to enhance their professional and personal skills while doing their voluntary work and other free time activities. The two volunteers for the Red Cross Projects came from the UK and were selected and supported by the British Red Cross as sending organization, while volunteers for AUS Office and Ásgarður come from Romania and France. They all have been skilled and ambitious youngsters who seeked to work towards their personal development through this EVS experience, and have shown great interest to contribute to their hosting projects philosophy and daily routine. The candidates did not need any specific professional or educational experience to apply for the projects. The main requirements were that they fit into the participant profile established in the European Voluntary Service guidelines (18-30 years old, resident of a project/partner country) and that they show a clear, honest motivation to perform voluntary work for a duration of 12 months. We did, however, consider offering priority to young people who might have access to fewer opportunities due to economical, geographical, or social obstacles.The impact on the volunteers was in large part through their host placements, the people they met and the activities they took on. Through their host placements, they have gained various life skills and learned how to interact and communicate with the target groups and how to implement their own projects aimed at engaging those groups. They also learned how to get by in a new cultural setting, and by doing so had the opportunity to learn to rely on themselves and become friends with people from different cultural background. The impact on the volunteers has therefore been very much on a personal level and it was ultimately up to them to make the most of it. Long term impact was foreseen through the participation of these volunteers in their host placements, interactions with the people they work with and impact that this year abroad will have on their own life. Lasting friendships have been made and the long term overall impact was on the people themselves, the local community and possibly on the way the host placements work and do things."