As the 2015 EU Youth report shows, nearly all Member States took measures in previous years to counteract the growing social exclusion of young people in Europe. In this regard, most states aimed to improve young people’s access to quality services through enabling the development of organizations working with young people. The present proposal is submitted by a Consortium formed by FDSC, CNVOS and ENNA, three genuine representatives of the civil society sector in Europe whose scope from the very establishment was to offer professional support for strengthening civil society organisations in view of developing the communities and society at large. The consortia designed in this respect a proposal that answers directly challenges and needs identified for organizations working with young people, namely a poor organizational development, in particular coming from a lack of inside democratic practices, weak membership base, limited focus on strategic planning and promoting effective management, un-sustainable resource base.In this sense, the proposed project comes to address the need to provide for organisations working with young people opportunities to develop their professionalism in order to better assist young people with fewer opportunities in Europe and proposes a specific and tailor made intervention towards improving their capacity development. The direct target groups envisaged for this project are youth workers, staff and members of organisations working with young people in Europe. We envisage having as direct beneficiaries at least 150 organisations and their respective staff from Slovenia and Romania and at least 100 organisations working with young people from EU-28 countries. The project proposes a data collection on practices of organizations working with young people with fewer opportunities in Europe, in order to identify their organizational development approaches. Based on this mapping, the consortia will produce a European report which will show the status at European level and what concretely is done by NGOs in respect to their organizational development. Based on the outcomes of the report and the previous results of the partners involved in the consortia, there will be created a European toolkit for organizational development for youth NGOs working with young people with fewer opportunities. The toolkit will include working instruments that are easy to apply and adapt for any youth organization that wants to enhance its organizational development. Once the toolkit is available, the partners will develop a training curricula designed for a better implementation of the toolkit, which will be disseminated in pilot workshops at national level in Slovenia and Romania in order to capacitate youth organizations towards a better inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities. Through this project the partners expect and aim for an increased organizational development of youth NGOs to meet their mission and also for a better understanding of practices in organizational development used in countries of the European Union. As a long term-effect, the participating organizations will become more accountable towards their stakeholders (beneficiaries, donors, staff, members etc.) and will be more equipped towards providing quality services to young people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, ultimately contributing to their inclusion in society.

<< Background >>Nature-based Solutions contribute positively to the European Green Deal, by enhancing biodiversity and supporting the delivery of a range of ecosystem services, such as Green Care services, including horticultural therapy. Horticultural therapy is a valuable, effective and environmentally sustainable way for the primary or complementary treatment of several mental illnesses and psychiatric conditions, including addiction, depression, autism, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and proved to be valuable in physical rehabilitation as well. Mental health problems are affecting more and more people in Europe, creating a barrier for people to access work and study, and lead a fulfilling life. By addressing the problem of health issues, our project operates towards the inclusion of disadvantaged people. In addition to that, horticultural therapy can provide stress release and burnout prevention for healthcare and social professionals, that signifies an added valued especially in these years of the pandemic. The potential of horticultural therapy is more and more recognized in Europe, although in this respect there are substantial differences between countries. In Austria and Italy horticultural therapy is widely used and acknowledged, with vocational and higher education possibilities in this field. In Hungary the practice of horticultural therapy has already started in several healthcare and social institutions, but there aren’t any specific horticultural therapy trainings or Hungarian language handbooks available. In Romania even the concept of horticultural therapy is scarcely known, with a very few institutions in the phase of introducing this method in practice. A comprehensive needs assessment survey conducted in Hungary and Romania showed a wide interest among healthcare and social professionals and institutions to learn about and introduce horticultural therapy into their practice.The Hortus Medicus project wants to address this situation by creating a horticultural therapy curriculum and related educational materials for Hungary and Romania, while further enriching existing curricula with impact measurement methodology and e-learning content in Austria and in Italy.The project involves partners from the above mentioned four countries: Austria, Italy, Hungary and Romania.<< Objectives >>The Hortus Medicus project aims to spread the recognition and the use of horticultural therapy in Hungary and Romania, to introduce a horticultural therapy training and related education materials in these countries, while enriching existing horticultural therapy curricula with impact measurement methodology and e-learning content in Austria and in Italy. These trainings will enable healthcare and social professionals with the necessary knowledge to introduce and apply horticultural therapy in their daily practice, thereby helping the effectiveness of their work with clients. Horticultural therapy skills will also empower these professionals with a useful burnout prevention methodology. Agricultural professionals, farmers can introduce horticultural therapy as a new function to their multifunctional farm. On the long run our project aims to help addressing the barriers arising from physical and mental health issues, to foster the inclusion of disadvantaged people who are affected by mental and physical health problems.The aim of the Hortus Medicus project is to create a comprehensive 120-hour horticultural therapy training with related educational materials and e-learning content, by developing a horticultural therapy curriculum, a horticultural therapy handbook, adapting existing and creating new educational resources in the field of horticultural therapy, compiling impact measurement recommendations and e-learning content. Our goal is to create an innovative training that can be provided in the traditional way of contact teaching or in the form of a blended learning, with theoretical parts in e-learning format.The created curriculum and education tools can also be transferred to higher education curricula, in the field of medical, social and agricultural studies as well.<< Implementation >>During our project the partners are going to create a 120-hour Horticultural therapy training curriculum together with a related Methodological guide for trainers. The curriculum will cover the following topics: basics of horticultural therapy, botany & garden maintenance, design and ecology of horticultural therapy gardens, target group-specific therapeutic methodology, impact measurement options in horticultural therapy. We will compile a Horticultural therapy handbook based on current knowledge available on the subject. An Impact measurement methodology recommendation will also be assembled in order to provide practical tools for professionals for assessing the efficiency of horticultural therapy sessions and processes. Digital content will be developed for a 40-hour e-learning training, covering the theoretical parts of the Horticultural therapy training curriculum, in order to make it possible to realize the training also in the form of blended learning. The work will be implemented in working groups for the different modules of the curricula, the methodology guide and the e-learning, the different chapters of the handbook, for the Impact measurement methodology, on the basis of Action plans jointly assembled and agreed upon. Continuous cooperation based on digital tools will be carried out.In order to achieve our goals, we plan effective and flexible project management, together with quality management ensuring the excellent quality of project results, the timely and efficient implementation of the project. The quality and usability of project results will be tested in pilot trainings in Hungary and Romania. During our project 6 international project meetings will be organized, with online project management meetings in every second month. To promote and share project results with stakeholders, 16 multiplier events will be organized, and diverse dissemination activities will be carried out, reaching local, regional and national audiences.<< Results >>We are planning to develop five project results: R1. Curriculum of Horticultural therapy training, a 120-hour curriculum R2. Horticultural therapy handbook, R3. Impact measurement methodology recommendation, R.4.Methodological guide for trainers, R.5. Digital content development for the Horticultural therapy assistant training, with 40 hours of e-learning. As a result of the project, healthcare and social professionals will have access to an ecologically sustainable and cost-effective tool that can be used with different vulnerable target groups. Farmers, who will provide on-site horticultural therapy location, will have the opportunity to stabilize their incomes by diversifying their activities.We also expect that as a result of our project, horticultural therapy will be more generally known, recognized and used. Institutions that did not apply horticultural therapy will become acquainted, recognize and introduce horticultural therapy into their practice. Institutions that already use gardening will gain a more professional insight and organize more efficient horticultural therapy sessions for their clients. Farmers who want to expand their multifunctional farming activities can introduce horticultural therapy into their activities. On the long run, many people experiencing health problems will have access a sustainable, nature-based way of treatment that can help their recovery and reintegration.

In the recent years, social economy proved itself to be a vital source of growth and jobs in the rural areas that are facing a higher risk of poverty, and significant problems in access to adequate education and training, with agriculture still significant in terms of employment. Social enterprises and coops play a key role in involving rural inhabitants as European citizens more fully in society as stakeholders, i.e. workers, volunteers and users of these enterprises. In order to access opportunities created by various EU policies that can have a positive influence on poverty of rural areas, enterprises and inhabitants of rural areas need an adequate and constant access to training and advise services, tailored to their needs, competences and characteristics. The project contributes significantly to the development of the social economy in rural areas by the fulfillment of its three specific objectives: 1) the design and development of innovative training and coaching materials for start-up and management of social enterprises and coops in rural areas; 2) the development of the capacity of training organizations involved in adult education and their staff and 3) the development of alternative learning approaches that facilitate inclusion of marginalized citizens into entrepreneurship training activities including new media based training to widen access to adult learning. The project was implement by a consortium of 5 partners: four cooperative/ social enterprise network organizations and training providers from countries selected in the project that represent different cooperative &social enterprise patterns: Trentino/IT, Almeria/SP, and Västra Götaland/ West Sweden, where the cooperative formula is a successful model, allowing farmers to enjoy the added value of their products, creating employment and contributing to the sustainability of rural areas, providing also disadvantaged worker integration and Romania where coops and social enterprises are still at an emerging stage. The main project results are: 40 best practices of social enterprises and coops identified and promoted, with the most successful business models documented into 16 case studies for training purposes; 4 country-specific policy reports published; 4 packages of training materials including a general introductory material on start-up and management of social enterprises and coops and specific modules focused on different types of entities i.e.farmers coops, work integration and social services social coops, rural social enterprises and coops (micro-credit, utilities and consumer social enterprises), and respectively green social enterprises, based on collective experience sharing from the 4 countries; 2 start-up do-it-yourself guides for coops and social enterprises – one for agricultural cooperatives and one for other types of social enterprises or coops; an innovative informational and learning movie – “The Story of a New Crop” and the European toolkit for trainers, advisers and facilitators working with starting up and developing coops and social enterprises in rural areas, which integrates the whole research and documentation efforts of the consortium in an unique training and learning collection of materials suitable to be used widely at European level. In terms of access and dissemination, the impact of the project was: over 500 trainers, facilitators and consultants for community social enterprises and coops, policymakers and leaders in the cooperative & social enterprise systems in the participating countries gained unlimited access to the newly produced materials and were informed about the availability of such materials through direct emails, over 2000 social enterprise practitioners that received the periodical newsletters of the Institute of Social Economy are able to use tools from the project publications; 251 end-users (practitioners from or in rural areas) directly involved in the pilot dissemination workshops were informed, to which we add the 41 trainers, researchers and advisers specializing in social enterprise & cooperative management that gained knowledge and information on practices and policies in other member states and EU level during the 4 short-term joint staff training events organized in each of the participating countries. The 25 members of the European Economic and Social Committee were directly informed about the outcomes of the project. New contacts have been built and other key relevant stakeholders and initiatives existent at EU level have been identified and can be base for further common initiatives and better options for making our work more efficient. On the long run, the partner organizations will benefit from the improved training capacity. The target groups - social enterprises and coops, as well as start-up groups or other training providers that want to initiate such enterprises have open and unlimited access to all the materials, on the project’s webpage www.ies.org.ro/erasmus.