"<< Objectives >>With ""Food Connections"", the project partners from Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, North Macedonia and Serbia aim in the long run at combating poverty and - at the same time - at reducing food waste. In this, according adult education offers are indispensable - they are the key to cultural and social participation.<< Implementation >>Project activities are:1. Research - identification of best practise examples with the potential of European transfer, making the re-direction of goods from the shops to people in need possible or to improve it.2. Dialogue - with citizens and relevant stakeholders for finding out the education needs of adults in order to change their purchase behaviour and to improve the processing of food.3. Development of the concept for a follow-up project with which the detected needs will be covered.<< Results >>Apart from concrete plans for follow-up activities, a brochure for the distribution of information on the project and a calendar with recipes for meals that can be prepared with left-overs will be produced during the project."

"""Whe nyo ur eadt hi ste xty ouk no whow itfe elsi fyo uc ann otr eadp rop er ly."" (source of the German text: ""Grundbildung in Europa: Projekte und Perspektiven"", NA BIBB).According to UNESCO, an estimated number of 73 million adult Europeans are considered as functional illiterates. This is equal to 1/5 of the employable population aged 18 to 64 years. In the partner countries of the project this concerns totally 13.8 million adults. According to experts the share of functional illiterates among adult Roma there is 40 to 60 per cent. Comparibly high is the share among the 25 to 40 year old Roma. Thus, often functional illiteracy is the reason for the hindered access of Roma to education and employment. It also hinders the maintenance or increasing of their employability.Alphabetisation measures are mainly offered for the majority population and partially for migrants, but not particularly for Roma. This is necessary to consider their special needs in the improvement of their reading and writing skills. Existing offers lack co-ordination and interdisciplinary co-operation in the planning and implementation. Binding respectively uniform quality standards are completely missing. Therefore, - the elaboration of a Curriculum for raising the literacy grade of adult Roma - the modification of Quality Standards for according alphabetisation courses- the development of a Handbook for leaders of alphabetisation courses and- the designing and implementation of Co-ordination Concepts for alphabetisation measures are in the centre of our project. In an according training, adult education experts will be enabled to use them for the first time already within the test phase of the project. ""RomABC goes Western Balkan"" will be realised by partners from Serbia, North Macedonia, Germany and Hungary and aims particularly at the reduction of the number of functional illiterates among adult Roma, the improvement of their employability and the increasing of their participation in adult education measures. With that, the project contributes in the long run concretely to the increasing of the employment rate and the reduction of the number of Roma concerned by poverty and social exclusion."

"Already in 2008, the EU brought its climate package on the way. With the 20-20-20 targets, as relevant part of the Europe 2020 Strategy, the CO2 emissions shall be reduced by 20 per cent until 2020, the share of renewable energies increased by 20 per cent and the energy efficiency raised by 20 per cent. Apart from the increasing of the efficiency in all energy applications and in the energy transmission as well as the growing replacing of fossil energy sources with regenerative energy sources, the behaviour of the households and other consumer groups needs to change. The Power Saving Check that has been offered all over Germany since 2008 and in Hungary since 2015, consists of the mediation of knowledge for users in households with low income for their conscious dealing with energy in heating, cooking, lighting and the use of electronical devices, media and communication devices and sensitises them for a raised awareness in the purchase of those items in relation to their energy needs. This knowledge and skill mediation is done in form of a free consultation - the Power Saving Check. Through the change in the user behaviour and minor investments the electricity and water consumption of those households can be relevantly reduced. The consultation is assigned to the so-called Power Saving Checkers - unemployed, particularly long-term unemployed and unemployed young people - and requires an according qualification. An adequate adult education course was adapted within the project, transferred into Slovakia and Slovenia and in Slovakia it was also accredited by the Ministry of Education. Project results delivered are: 1. The Curriculum for the qualification as Power Saving Checker and the Handbook for Power Saving Checkers were further developed, transferred into Slovakia and Slovenia and in all partner countries adapted for the local specific needs and translated into partner languages. In Slovakia and Slovenia these represent a completely new educational offer. In Slovakia the Curriculum was successfully accredited by the Ministry of Education. 2. The Curriculum and Handbook were completed and further developed by the contents of ""Power Saving Check in Public buildings. These were successfully then implemented in Slovakia and Slovenia. In Germany and Hungary the Power Saving Checks in Public buildings were not possible due to the local legal regulations of public buildings maintenance. 3. Pilot Training enabled 10 experienced educators from partner organizations to further multiply the Power Saving Check qualification in their partner countries. These individual acted as trainers who subsequently trained the Power Saving Checkers in their countries, thus ensuring multiplication of the skills and competences. According training materials were jointly developed by partners. 4. Completed Curriculum and Handbook were than tested during the Test phases. Altogether 46 unemployed and young individuals and people working in public buildings were trained. Test phases were implemented in Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia. 5. Qualified Power Saving Checkers implemented the Power Saving Checks in low-income households and public buildings in Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia. Altogether 73 low-income households and 29 public buildings were implemented with free Power Saving Check. 6. The completed Curricula and Handbooks were transformed into e-Learning course accessible online at www.powersavingcheck-test.eu. It can be used for further education in all countries, and/or for development of skills and power saving techniques by any person interested. 7. The completed, tested and optimised Curricula for the qualification as Power Saving Checker were recognized and accredited by the Ministry of education in Slovakia. 8. Information on the project and its results were disseminated, the according target groups were reached. Implementation of the Power Saving Check will have a long lasting benefits for the recipients of free consultations. Firstly, by altering their behaviour, installing new technologies they achieve palpable saving of the costs which will have social and economic benefit. Additionally, CO2 emissions were saved and climate protection benefit plays role. Furthermore, trained Power Saving Checkers gained new skills, were motivated to work and helped to integrate in social as well as in labour market sphere."

„Solidarity is the tenderness of the peoples.“ (Ernesto Che Guevara) About 60 million people are currently refuging all over the world. They flee from war, political, religious and sexual persecution, hunger, nature catastrophes, risks due to climate change … Only after hundreds of thousands of people – particularly war refugees from Syria and the Arabic republics – started their way via the “Balkan route” to Europe, the subject “refugees” has been moving into the entire social focus and needs urgently a European solution. Even more, if we do not want to leave the field to the (right-wing) demagogues. However, a European solution requires transnational co-operation. According to the Geneva Convention for Refugees, each refugee has a free and unhindered access to courts, is free in the choice of his religion, shall receive access to lessons or studies, to medical treatment, social security and a passport and must not be discriminated in searching for a flat and a job. This means nothing else than the right for and the duty of integration, particularly for the refugees who have a perspective to stay in Europe. The challenges in the social integration of refugees are often the same. However, according researches that we did in advance of our project together with our partners showed that the biggest challenge is their integration into the labour market. According to that, the biggest thresholds are:- language barriers- psychological limits due to traumatic refuge experiences- generally difficult labour market situation (BG, ES, IT, TR)- work placement linked with a permanent address (HU)- labour market requirements strongly focussed on formal qualifications (DE, ES)- missing proofs for or non-recognition of Vocational Trainings or University degrees- decreasing employability due to a professional inactivity during the asylum procedure.This is completed by - cultural differences, different religions, diverging understanding of values- expectations, fears, prejudices and nescience – both of refugees and the majority- formalities, bureaucracy, duration of registration and asylum procedures The recording, assessing and recognition of competences relating to the integration of refugees in vocational training and employment is indispensable because with that they obtain tools for their professional orientation, career planning and increasing of their employability. Apart from the validation of competences, there is the need for additional basic integration offers that need to take effect after the recognition of asylum applications latest, such as language, alphabetisation and integration courses.This exactly was the starting point of our project! In the 16 months project duration, the partners from Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Turkey examined which integration offers are provided and successfully used in their countries.Besides, the partners detected what needs to be considered in the validation of the competences of refugees and which instruments are appropriate for the target group in order to make a quick integration in vocational training or employment possible. Last but not least, it was analysed in the frame of the Strategic Partnership how integration offers that are proven in practise depend on each other, which stakeholders need to be involved and in how far the offers obtain a European transfer potential. Refugees WelComB! aimed at: - analysing the actual situation of the social integration, particularly their integration in vocational training and employment through targeted researches, surveys and interviews with refugees in the partner countries- detecting how the competences of refugees are validated, if the French model of Competence Balance meets the special needs of refugees and how it must be modified for this purpose- identifying best practise examples with potential of European transfer- determining together with refugees, refugee organisations, experts and stakeholders the most urgent needs for action that can be covered with existing resources and targeted activities in the frame of European projects The results were recorded in a project booklet.

"""Whe nyo ur eadt hi ste xty ouk no whow itfe elsi fyo uc ann otr eadp rop er ly."" (source of the German text: ""Grundbildung in Europa: Projekte und Perspektiven"", NA BIBB).According to UNESCO, an estimated number of 73 million adult Europeans are considered as functional illiterates. This is equal to 1/5 of the employable population aged 18 to 64 years. In the partner countries of the project this concerns totally 13.8 million adults. According to experts the share of functional illiterates among adult Roma there is 40 to 60 per cent. Comparibly high is the share among the 25 to 40 year old Roma. Thus, often functional illiteracy is the reason for the hindered access of Roma to education and employment. It also hinders the maintenance or increasing of their employability.Before the project, in the partner countries alphabetisation measures are offered nationwide for the majority population and partially for migrants, but not particularly for Roma. However, this is necessary to consider their special needs in the improvement of their reading and writing skills. Existing offers lacked co-ordination and interdisciplinary co-operation in the planning and implementation. Binding respectively uniform quality standards were completely missing. Therefore, the development of Curricula for the increasing of the literacy grade of adult Roma as well as the modification of quality standards applied in the Free State Saxony for alphabetisation measures funded by the ESF and the elaboration and implementation of co-ordination concpets for alphabetisation measures were in the centre of our project. The created products were tested in practise and optimised. In an according training, 24 adult education experts were enabled to use them for the first time already during the project. ""RomABC goes Europe!"" was realised by partners from Germany, Hungary, Romania and Portugal and aimed particularly at the reduction of the number of functional illiterates among adult Roma, the improvement of their employability and the increasing of their participation in adult education measures. With that, the project contributed concretely to the implementation of the EU Framework for national strategies for the integration of Roma until 2020 and the national strategies of the partner countries as part of the Europe 2020 strategy including the European Agenda Adult Learning, particularly the increasing of the employment rate and the reduction of the number of Roma concerned by poverty and social exclusion."