Youth unemployment is still a hot problematic European topic. On the other hand we have and especially young people have to face job and training markets that are more and more confusing referring to job offers and opportunities and also to required skills and competences that young people have to bring with them. Life makes demands and offers a lot of opportunities at the same time. So, youngsters feel overstrained and it becomes difficult for them to orientate themselves, find the right place and develop their own identity and personality. That makes it also difficult for them to generate an idea of their future life and in particular their professional life. However there are people who are working with youngsters all over Europe. They are social workers, educators, pedagogues, vocational counsellors, helpers for youngsters with special needs or heritage, volunteers of institutions and associations that work with youngsters etc. They have the task to support and to attend to young people by orientating and planning their professional way and life. But they have just little methods and tools to motivate and support young people individual and appropriate. Furthermore the different kinds of professionals are not enough networking to exchange and combine their different action strategies for a better support of young people. Therefore we started with this project to increase the vocational and social pedagogical competences of these professionals by concentrating on their existing competences. Furthermore we enabled and encouraged them to develop local cooperation systems for the support of young people from the age of 13 years on – pupils, unemployed young people, disadvantaged and disabled youngsters – to offer them assistance that includes their entire living environment on their way to a satisfying occupational and social life. We are a project consortium of 4 European project partners from Germany, Spain, Latvia and Bulgaria. We are experienced in implementing regional and international projects for and with youngsters. In this project „Work on it!“ we worked and cooperated with more than 40 local practice partners in the field of youth work from the partner countries .Methodically we relied on an intensive, cooperative and democratic teamwork with our practice partners. We determined different methods, tools and good practices, that our practice partners and target group implement in their daily work with youngsters and that are useful to support young people on their way to a suitable profession. The collection of methods and tools is the base for a handbook that should help our target group to increase their professionalism and methodical competence. We developed the handbook together with our practice partners who provided the methods and tools, tested the handbook and gave feedback for a final usable version. Also networking, exchange and cooperation between the different practice partners and stakeholders on regional and international level increased pedagogical and methodical competences. In two learning activities based on a curriculum developed during the project and also druring the multiplier events they learned together and from each other. All project outputs are available in English and in the languages of the partner countries. In this way they can be used by many stakeholders in Europe. The close cooperation with our target group during the project offers the possibility to stablish longer-term relationships beyond the project. That will lead to local network systems to support young people. And it would also result in a further development of the project outputs. In this context we plan to offer regional opportunities for further education for professionals and volunteers of youth work on the base of the curriculum. And furthermore we will offer international workshops on that topic to exploit the project results and outputs on a European level.

Europe faces increasing and territorially differentiated demographic challenges. Ageing and depopulation will bring about changes in many regions, including rural and peripheral regions and lead to severe impacts for social and territorial cohesion, public service provision, labour market and housing. Migration mainly from less developed non‐EU countries constitute specific challenges and opportunities and also the past economic crisis, could provide an opportunity for a transition towards more sustainable and resource efficient economic structures if appropriate actions are taken. (European Territorial Agenda 2020)CONTEXTThe project starts from an analysis carried out by Kairos, IFALL and Itaka on the effects of rural depopulation and new opportunities to address the problem. In fact, the partner has started a considerable wide network to link together realities experiencing similar issues to cooperate and support each other, having a clear idea of communities' needs and creating sustainable activities for the entire area. The same principle could be adopted in more European terms and spread in different countries. The challenges present in such context are multilevel and touch different social and economic aspects, but also political and environmental, with the risk to leave entire areas of Europe completely abandoned.OBJECTIVES- to share best practices between organisations in Europe dealing with depopulation and rural development.- to point out the main issues and topics arising from contexts of depopulation and their communities .- to develop guidelines for local and educational authorities for the possible measures to prevent the phenomenon and its dynamics thanks to template of activities included in the final toolkit;- training key figures (unemployed adults, workers and members of rural depopulated communities (or at risk of depopulation), operators and entrepreneurs working already in those contexts, policy makers in the field and members of local institutions, trainers and mentors in vocational guidance and employability) and stimulate them to develop and adopt new techniques concerning rural development.- promoting multidisciplinary approaches in dealing with challenges present in these settings and empowering participants to work on their competencies and tools for social (and economic) change.- pointing out good and bad practices in Europe.- promoting the importance of EU values, democracy and citizenship- building bridges between companies, institutions and authorities disseminating the toolkit developed.- to promote conceptual tools for policy makers and entrepreneurship on start up business and actions for socioeconomic re-qualification activities.- Raise awareness on the key role of cultural heritage in defining a European identity;ACTIVITIES- Creation of the web site and social media profile of the project- Creation of a toolkit for organisations dealing with rural depopulated communities (or at risk of depopulation), operators and entrepreneurs working in those contexts, policy makers in the field and members of local institutions, trainers and mentors- International training activity in Calabria, Italy, to test the toolkit and evaluate its potential, putting also in practice some activities, share best practices and perform a visit to a local village involved in rural development and repopulating activities.- Local and international dissemination activities of the toolkit to reach more stakeholders, companies and institutions in the field of depopulation and rural development.- Review and publication of the toolkit based on the feedback receivedMETHODOLOGY - Helping people to build the knowledge, awareness and skills they need to succeed, with a focus on practical results.- Acquiring new skills and establish an informal cooperation network stretching beyond national borders;- Learn how groups can influence decision-making;- Develop a multidisciplinary and contextual attitude\approach towards practical involvement in activities and projects focusing on rural development and sustainability.- Encourage exchange among partners individuating main topics and subjects through the partners’ expertise;- Increase knowledge of and insight into how contexts and group dynamics determines behaviours;- To provide practitioners with an accessible explanatory framework for how repopulation, including international migration, benefit local employment and development, including service provision, democratic practice and heritage conservation.RESULTS, IMPACT AND LONG TERM BENEFITSTo build up a network of organisations working with the target group for:- sharing good practices on sustainable solutions for rural development- develop new pathways in order to find tools to face the challenges posed by depopulation- train the target group on how to promote business in economically depressed areas- Building a stronger European identity through cultural heritage

The unemployment of young people in Europe has reached alarming rates and fight against it has become one of the most important priorities not only for national government but also for the politicians on the EU level. It is only necessary as the labour markets in the EU countries become more and more connected. However, not only the strategies and tools used for tackling the unemployment have to be accessed from the European point of view, but also the young people and recently graduates have to look at their situation with a wider perspective. The aim of the THEY.EA project was to raise awareness about the European programmes and tools that can help young people to find job and to integrate to the European labour market.During the project the partners from the Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria and Poland created three connected outputs around the four topics which were agreed to be the most important for young jobseekers. The topics we choose were the following:• European Citizenship• Available funding programmes • European tools for recognition of skills and qualification • The work mobility in the EU Apart from these 4 chapters the partners also focused on collecting Open Educational Resources which can be used by the youngsters to improve their situation on the European job market.The target group of the project were young people at risk of unemployment and youthworkers who also activelly took part in the process of the creation of the outputs. Most of the partners worked with young people while the Spanish partner mostly worked with youth workers. In the Czech Republic the partners worked with young people from the Bruntál region and with youth workers on national level.The coordinating organisation was the European Development Agency which is an organisation focusing on educational activities and international projects (especially mobility projects and partnerships). EuDA coordinated the work of other partners and was responsible for creating the final outputs. EuDA also worked with other organizations during the project, especially schools and NGOs with whom EuDA consulted the outputs. During the time of the THEY project EuDA hosted several mobilities for young people from other European countries and had the opportunity to test the outputs with these target groups. The partner Nr. 1 was the Institute of Regional Development which is a Czech NGO running the Europe Direct Centre in Bruntál. During the THEY project IRD was mainly responsible for communicating with the target group of young people from the Bruntál region. The region belongs to regions with the highest unemployment rate in the Czech Republic. IRD was in the project responsible for the parts of the ouptuts related to the European Citizenship and European Rights.The partner Nr. 2 was the National Association of Municipal Clercks from Sofia, Bulgaria. This partner hosted the kick-off meeting and was responsible for the chapters about the work mobility in the European Union. During the project NAMCB cooperated with Sofia university so that they could consult the studets about the outputs. The partner Nr. 3 was CNIPA Puglia, an educational organisation from Bari with offices in the whole Puglia region. CNIPA has experience with vocational education and runs educational programmes for young Italians mainly in cooperation with local administrations. During the project CNIPA hosted the 2nd meeting and was responsible for the topic of the recognition of qualifications in the EU.The partner Nr. 4 was ONECO Consulting from Spain which is a consulting agency active in the field of European projects and mobilities. They were the perfect partner who could bring know-how about European programmes and financing opportunities. They didn't really work with young people during the project but more with youth workers. In the end of the project ONECO started cooperation with the Sevilla university where they organized a successful multiplier event. Last but not least the partner Nr. 5 was the IDZE institute from Warsaw. The experts of IDZE were responsible for the search for Open Educational Resources which they provided for the THEY.EA website. During the project the partners created outputs which put together 5 important topics with the European added value for young people and youthworkers. All partners already had the opportunity to test these outputs in praxis during their educational activities and events. The outputs are shared through the networks of the partners in the partner countries and beyond. The outputs were created in English and then translated into four European languages so that they can be easily used by youngsters.

"ReOPEN project addressed the problem of recognition of non-formal learning results in formal education and by employer organizations in the new context - online open learning (OOL). Education institutions and employers are often reluctant to recognise OOL and question its validation, credentialization and proctoring. ReOPEN project directly addressed the recommendations published in the study of the European Commission ""Validation of Non-formal MOOC-based Learning"" (2016) (http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC96968/lfna27660enn.pdf), by the project aim - to create instruments to develop validated OOL for recognition of prior and non-formal learning. ReOPEN project achieved the following objectives: 1. Designed the platform for non-formal OOL curriculum development with learning validation and recognition instruments in place. 2. Trained teachers and trainers (T&T) at C-VET organizations, companies, higher education (HE) institutions and adult learning organizations to design validated non-formal OOL curriculum, to apply digital badges as a new form of digital credentialisation and tracking one’s learning path in non-formal OOL and to recognize non-formal OOL results in formal curricular. 3. Designed 5 non-formal OOL courses for continuous professional staff developing (CPD) applying learning recognition instruments for validated non-formal OOL. 4. Established partnership for future collaboration for non-formal OOL recognition. The project target groups involved C-VET, LLL, HE institutions and companies, establishing their collaboration to enhance access to OOL and qualifications for all through C-VET. The project results reached 123574 people (instead of 3820 planned) through multiplier events (ME), dissemination and thematic events, including 213 participants (instead of 59 planned) (see Annex 4) with fewer opportunities facing economic, social and disability obstacles. They benefited from awareness of what non-formal OOL is, on new learning and teaching possibilities and innovative solutions for teaching and learning. 6 Intellectual outputs (IO) were developed for them: IO1. ICT platform. IO2. Training material (TM) on non-formal OOL curriculum designing.IO3. TM on application of digital badges. IO4. TM on recognition of non-formal OOL results in formal curricular. IO5. 5 non-formal OOL CPD courses.IO6. Case - scenario collection on recognition of validated non-formal OOL course. Continuous feedback was requested from HE, VET, adult learning and school representatives, which proved high interest from project target groups for ReOPEN platform solutions at user institutions, and rated IO with strong positive statements. More than 120 organizations were involved in ME and dissemination events. 6 agreements have been signed with the third - party organizations for product exploitation (see Annex 6). ReOPEN results will have long-term impact to these organizations, as responses from events’ participants proved that organizations need to prepare and create non-formal OOL possibilities and that TM, ICT platform and methodological and technological help is most useful to them. Project partnership consisted of 3 HE institutions (VMU, ESCP Europe and SRCE), 2 companies (ONECO and Q21) providing training services for adults, VET and company employees, as well as 1 European association (EDEN). Consortium directly benefited from the results in adapting ICT portal for their use, using TM for their training programs for all project target groups in their countries, creating open non-formal OOL courses, application of digital badges in their institutional online platforms, tracking learning paths of their learners. ReOPEN project results already increased the sense of initiative, entrepreneurship, and professional collaboration among partner organizations and their collaboration channels with networks of education providers and employers by involvement of all stakeholders (teachers, administration, employer organizations and HE institutions) to work on CPD courses (IO5). The project increased the level of digital and other competences of T&T and better understanding of practices, policies and systems in education and training. ReOPEN contributed to better understanding and recognition of skills and qualifications in European and beyond, as well as interconnections between formal, formal education, vocational training and other forms of learning and labor market respectively by establishing three – party engagement case scenarios (IO6) on recognition of learning results and credits in formal curriculum (IO5), linking non-formal and formal curricular and employer needs. ReOPEN improves the use of EU reference tools for recognition, validation and transparency of competences and qualifications through description of parts of competences, qualifications and curricular, supporting teaching and learning progress and assessment in the new form of digital OOL."

The applicant and the project partners all work with adult people in different countries and strongly perceive that people in municipalities, regional administrations and other public bodies (being it professionals, elected representatives or employees) don’t pay sufficient attention to these opportunities. There is sufficient knowledge about the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), which are promoted by national bodies, but there is significant lack of knowledge about other opportunities, especially Financial Instruments financed Directly by the European Commission or its Agencies and providing money for international cooperation projects. The aim of the TICTAC project is to raise awareness about the European programmes and tools among people working in the municipalities and regional administrations (clercks, professionals and elected representatives) and in other public institutions (such as the personnel from schools, universities, agencies chambers, social centres, orphanages ). Therefore the objective of TICTAC is also to raise interest of adult people in the solution of problems related to local community. We believe that by raising awareness and competences of adult workers there is a wide perspective of influencing public institutions performance in this area.TICTAC project focuses on all kinds of financial instruments suitable for municipalities, regional administrations and other public institutions apart from the national operational programmes financed by the ESIF.The project's target groups are: adult people working in municipalities, regional administrations and public institutions who are losing opportunities of participating to European initiatives.Two Intellectual Outputs will be developed: TICTAC Guide and TICTAC e-learning. Both Intellectual Outputs will be available in 7 languages: English, Czech, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Hungarian and Swedish. There are seven partners involved in the project: Evropska rozvojova agentura, s.r.o. (Czech Republic), Stenungsunds kommun sektor utbildning (Sweeden), FIN PROJECT (Italy), ONECO CONSULTING SL (Spain), MACDAC ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY BUREAU LTD - MECB (Malta), Municipality of Alba Iulia (Romania) and DIOSD VAROS ONKORMANYZAT (Hungary). We expect that the TICTAC project will provide significant beneficial impacts for people working in municipalities, regional administrations and other public institutions, in order to contribute to more effective and integrated development of European towns and regions, by enriching their knowledge about funding opportunities through an innovative educational program.