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We are active promoters of European values.

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We provide expertise on European policies and programmes.

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We provide consulting and IT solutions for SMARTer cities.

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We are ardent believers in the power of social innovation.

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  • 2024 – 2026 Service Learning in Primary Schools (SLIPS)

    The SLIPS project is a new and creative effort that learns from the success and lessons of the recently finished Erasmus plus project – SLUSIK (Service Learning Upscaling for Social Inclusion in Kids).
    The main aim of this initiative is to leverage the positive impact of service learning, with a specific focus on social inclusion and civic participation, through collaborative efforts between primary schools, experts, academics, and the voluntary sector.
    SLIPS endeavors to equip primary school educators with the requisite skills to engage with students in pioneering ways and establish enduring partnerships with voluntary organizations.
    Service Learning In Primary Schools empowers educators to stimulate civic competencies among their students, developing a profound understanding, knowledge, and sense of responsibility and ownership of fundamental values and rights not only across Europe but also within their local communities..
    Through meticulous training, consciousness elevation, and capacity enhancement, SLIPS endeavors to facilitate this transformation, rejuvenating the classroom ambiance, enhancing student engagement, and nurturing both soft and technical skills in pupils.
    By addressing the stipulated priorities of this initiative, specifically “Enabling transformation and change” and “Addressing common needs in the fields of Education, Training, Youth, and Sport,” SLIPS emerges as a pivotal player in shaping the future of education and fostering empowered, confident, and engaged young individuals.

     

  • 2023-2025 YOUSMILE – YOUth led Sustainable tourisM In ruraL arEas

    Welcome to YOU SMILE – Empowering Youth for Sustainable Tourism!

    YOU SMILE’s main objective is to empower youth (18-29) in sustainable micro and small entrepreneurship in rural tourism.
    We aim to boost the capacities of interested youth, including NEETs, and youth entrepreneurs in sustainable practices, finance, and entrepreneurship through informal education and awareness-raising.

    Horizontal Priority: Environment and Fight Against Climate Change
    Green Deal Alignment: YOU SMILE aligns with the Green Deal, emphasizing sustainable practices in tourism, agro-tourism, and food production.
    Non-formal Education for Sustainability: Providing youth with new skills and knowledge through non-formal education, making sustainability integral to their training.
    Sustainable Mobility: YOU SMILE promotes sustainable mobility, particularly in rural areas, fostering awareness and entrepreneurship in tourism.
    Carbon Footprint Reduction: Actively supporting carbon footprint reduction by promoting sustainable food and practices in rural areas.
    Youth Priorities: Promoting Entrepreneurship and Strengthening Employability
    Promoting Youth Entrepreneurship: YOU SMILE enhances youth competencies in sustainable tourism, recognizing their skills through micro-credentials.
    Strengthening Employability: Broadening youth perspectives in sustainable tourism, particularly targeting those with fewer opportunities and NEETs.

    Together, we make a lasting impact on both the environment and the lives of aspiring youth in sustainable tourism.

  • 2023-2025 Skills4Retail

    Skills4Retail is fully dedicated to accelerating the ‘Triple Transition’ within the retail sector. This transition encapsulates the pivotal shifts towards adopting environmentally friendly practices, embracing digital advancements, and fortifying overall resilience. The project is committed to achieving this by introducing an innovative Retail Skills Strategy and a comprehensive Vocational Education and Training (VET) Program. These initiatives empower retailers to establish sustainable ecommerce models, effectively bridging skill gaps in the domains of Digital transformation, Green practices, and Resilience.

    At its core, the project is motivated by a mission to meet the escalating demand for specialized retail skills. The Retail Skills Strategy, which forms the bedrock of the initiative, serves as a bridge to address skill gaps. It offers pathways for upskilling existing workforce members, promoting diversity within employee pools, and supporting those currently without employment. This effort is a collaborative one, uniting multiple partners within the consortium. Their collective efforts are focused on formulating, implementing, and disseminating the Retail Skills Strategy and the accompanying VET Training Program, ultimately countering skill shortages that the industry faces.

    Central to the Retail Skills Strategy and VET Training Program is the integration of practical skills that pertain to Digital transformation, Green practices, and Resilience within the retail landscape. This integration maintains a strong connection to prevailing market trends and industry prerequisites, rendering the program adaptable and in sync with both present and future industry requirements. This adaptability is pivotal in aiding European Retailers to achieve sustainable growth, elevate competitiveness, and foster resilience through the embrace of digital and green transformations.

    The inaugural Transnational Partners Meeting of the project is scheduled for September 11th and 12th in Brussels. This event holds great importance as it brings together all project partners, fostering cooperative discussions regarding crucial project milestones and strategies for ensuring top quality management.

    The Skills4Retail project is the result of collaborative efforts involving a diverse partners. These are JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT EUROPE, JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT-YOUNG ENTERPRISE LATVIJA, PROFESIONALAS IZGLITIBAS KOMPETENCES CENTRAM RIGAS VALSTS TEHNIKUMS, MATRIX INTERNET APPLICATIONS LIMITED, Karlinska obchodni akademie, SCHUMAN ASSOCIATES SCRL, Junior Achievement Austria – Unternehmerische Praxis- und Kompetenzbildung, Scoala Superioara Comerciala Nicolae Kretzulescu, WIRTSCHAFTSKAMMER OSTERREICH, UNIVERSITATEA DIN BUCURESTI, DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY SKILLS LIMITED, Escola Profissional de Vila do Conde Unipessoal Lda, INTEL TECHNOLOGY POLAND SPOLKA Z OGRANICZONA ODPOWIEDZIALNOSCIA, Junior Achievement Magyarország, Aprender a Empreender – Associação de Jovens Empreendedores de Portugal, JMH, SGPS, S.A., ASOCIATIA JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF ROMANIA, SKILLNET IRELAND COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE, VALLALKOZOK ES MUNKALTATOK ORSZAGOSSZOVETSEGE, Szent György Média és Informatikai Szakközépiskola, Junior Achievement, o.p.s., Junior Achievement Young Enterprise Malta Foundation, Junior Achievement Young Enterprise Ireland, EuroCommerce, SZEGEDI TUDOMANYEGYETEM, SPAR Österreichische Warenhandels AG, OTB Europe, ACCENTURE SA, and Svaz obchodu a cestovního ruchu.

  • 2023-2025 ESC Academy Pro

     The ESC Academy Pro project introduces an extensive online platform that seamlessly brings together students, youth workers, and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), fostering efficient management of administrative processes related to mobility. This structured approach significantly streamlines information flow, leading to heightened accessibility and increased student mobility. These efforts are in perfect harmony with the EU’s core objectives, aiming to cultivate a stronger sense of European identity among the youth.

    As a supporting component of this initiative, the ESC Academy PRO project is dedicated to enhancing the digital capabilities of HEIs. By conducting thorough research, the project identifies specific requirements, designs comprehensive training modules, and advances strategic policy goals, including the promotion of the European Education Area and the implementation of the Digital Education Action Plan.

    The inaugural Transnational Partners Meeting of the project took place on February 27th and 28th in Paris, marking an important gathering for all six project partners. The meeting facilitated collaborative discussions on key milestones and quality management strategies for the project. Looking ahead, the second Transnational Partners Meeting is scheduled for November 6th to 10th in Prague, graciously hosted by ISIC.

    The ESC Academy PRO project involves the collaborative efforts of six partners: ESU (European Students’ Union), ISIC (International Student Identity Card), GYSC (Global Youth and Student Community), FESU (Federation of Estonian Students Unions), and SK RVS (Agency of the Council of Higher Education Institutions).

  • 2022-2024 EVI-DEMS: “Enhancing Volunteer Impact – Developing European Management Standards”

    EVI-DEMS: “Enhancing Volunteer Impact – Developing European Management Standards” is a 24 months project, financed by Erasmus+ cooperation partnerships in higher education. The project is being coordinated by Rotterdam School of Management – Erasmus University (Netherlands) and implemented in partnership with the Centre Europeen Du Voluntariat (Belgium), the Vytauto Didziojo Universitetas (Lithuania), the Univerza V Ljubljani (Slovenia), the Hrvatski centar za razvoj volonterstva (Croatia) and OTB Europe (Portugal).

    This group of partners understands that Europe needs to ensure quality standards regarding the training of volunteer managers and that there are big gaps and needs in terms of recognition of volunteer managers as a profession and in general.        

    Thus, EVI-DEMS aims to gain a greater understanding of the current situation regarding the training and the context of volunteer managers around Europe and develop a High Education learning programme for existing and future volunteer managers. Proper training at HE level and a recognized qualification, based on common European standards, will serve to ensure that volunteers across Europe are managed effectively and in a more ethical way, avoiding exploitation, instrumentalization and job substitution.

    Course materials will also include a “European Code of Ethics for Volunteer Managers”, a “Guide to Volunteering, Solidarity and European Values”, a “Guide on the role of volunteer managers in facilitating inclusive volunteering” and a “Guide to managing volunteers contributing to disaster prevention, preparedness and recovery”.

    The 1st Transnational Partners Meeting of the project took place on the 18th and 19th of May 2022, at Rotterdam. All 6 project partners were present and could start discussing collectively the general milestones and quality management of the project.

    The 2nd TPM will take place in Faro on the 14th and 15th of December, hosted by OTB Europe.

    The EVI-DEMS project will be implemented by 6 partners from 6 countries: Erasmus University Rotterdam (COO), CEV (Belgium), Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania), OTB Europe (Portugal), Ljubljana University(Slovenia), Croatian Volunteer Development Center (Croatia).

    The project is co-financed by the Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnerships in Higher Education of the European Commission.

     

  • Young Financial Influencers – Positive influence on the financial literacy and entrepreneurial potential of young people

    Financial literacy is a core life skill for participating in modern society. While young people are generally in a more vulnerable situation regarding the economic and financial crisis, the COVID-19 situation has added new challenges for youth.

    The FinFluencers project will seek to assist in improving the financial well-being of young people by designing, developing, and offering them an online training provision, motivational content and networking opportunities to support making informed and confident financial decisions as economic actors, producers, consumers, professionals, entrepreneurs, employees, etc.

    Regarding direct outputs, the project will develop an integrated approach toward improving the financial literacy of young people. FinFluencers will merge well-documented needs with highly customised training material available freely online, to design small-scale pilot and networking activities to further support the youth when dealing effectively with financial issues.

    The FinFluencers project will be implemented by 6 partners from 5 countries: Bulgaria (Yambol Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Business Information and Consulting Centre Sandanski Association), Greece (Militos Symvouleutiki A.E.), Portugal (OTB Europe), The Republic of North Macedonia (Association centre for development and promotion, Promo Idea-Strumica), and Cyprus (R&DO Limited).

     

    The FinFluencers project has been co-financed by the Erasmus+ KA2 Programme of the European Commission

  • 2022-2024 “Production and marketing of Organic Olives and Olive oil: EcoOlives”

    The EU is the largest producer of olive oil at the global level, accounting for 69% of the world’s output. Almost the entirety of the production is obtained in 4 Member States: Spain (63%), Italy (17%), Greece (14%), and  Portugal (5%). Together, these countries cover around 99% of the production in the EU.

    On the other side, on a bigger scale, the organic food market has been thriving with sales of organic foods. In the EU, the sector has continued to grow, with revenues above €40 billion. The need for this shift responds to the increasing market demand for qualitative and chemicals-free olives and olive oil. Realizing its strong potential, many olive producers have been switching to organic olive farming. However, organic olives and olive oil (OO&OO) are both high-quality products with high value compared to other types and should therefore be certified by competent quality bodies in each Member State.

    EcoOlives aims to enhance the competitiveness of the EU olive farmers and olive oil producers through the development of their potential for production and promotion of organic olives and olive oil. As a result, the trainees will be able to create or discover new possibilities for the promotion of their organic olives and olive oil and the expansion of their market share.

    The main target groups are, therefore, (a) olive growers and olive oil producing companies wishing to shift to organic farming, (b) new olive and olive oil entrepreneurs who do not come from the agricultural world, and (c) multi-skilled farmers who can make an interesting supplementary production if they allow the reuse of the traditional (old) olive groves.

    EcoOlives will provide specific guidance to all traditional olive oil producers on how they can differentiate their business by turning to the production of organic olives and olive oil. At the same time, the project aims to contribute to a better understanding of the importance of olive and olive groves as part of the cultural, gastronomic, and landscape heritage of the southern regions of Europe.

    As a result, the EcoOlives project shall envisage the development of a thorough and interactive course in OO&OO with the following intellectual outputs: (IO1) a didactic methodology, (IO2) a training course on production and marketing of OO&OO, (IO3) a manual for trainers, (IO4) a platform with interactive repository section; and (IO5) a guide on certification of organic olives and olive oil and utilization of olive groves’ potential.

    The EcoOlives project will be implemented by 6 partners from 6 countries: Germany (ITALCAM), Italy (GAL MOLISE), Portugal (OTB Europe), Cyprus (EUROSC), Bulgaria (AVA), and Spain (Municipality of La Palma del Condado).

     The project is co-financed by the Erasmus+ KA2 Programme of the European Commission.

  • 2022-2023 “Diffability: HE Curricula & Transition Programme Empowering Students with Different Abilities”

    There are substantial differences in the proportion of students with disabilities among university students. Inclusion of students with disabilities in higher education appears to be more successful in countries with better welfare systems and more inclusive education systems. The European Union launched the Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030, which intends to tackle the diverse challenges that persons with disabilities face. It aims to progress in all areas of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, both at EU and Member State level.

    The project will offer innovative new service for remote curricula and study to WBL transition in the HEI that uses best practices of already existing curricula, ICT tools and remote learning programs in order to build a suite of embedded learning educational resources to build key transversal skills of Differently Abled Students in Entrepreneurship. It will address the needs, empower and raise the capacity and competences of Differently Abled Students and practitioners through the introduction of the accessible remote learning curricula dedicated to HEI students with hearing / vision impairments.

    One of the goals is to develop and engage a community of practice from HEI, Entrepreneurship and CSO sectors to facilitate and offer a better transition for from school to WBL. The project will serve as starting point to advocate for the recognition and sustainability of remote accessible HEI curricula in entrepreneurship on local, regional, national and international level.

    The project will last 18 months and will be implemented by 7 partners: VYTAUTO DIDZIOJO UNIVERSITETAS (Lithuania); UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI (Slovenia); OTB Europe (Portugal); Italienische Handelskammer München-Stuttgart Camera di Commercio Italo – Tedesca (Germany); CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE BELGO-ITALIENNEASBL (Belgium); Egitimde Gorme Engelliler Dernegi (Turkey); TURKIYE GENCLIK BIRLIGI DERNEGI (Turkey).

    The project is co-financed by the Erasmus+ KA2 Programme of the European Commission.

     

  • 2020-2022: “Social Radio 2.0: The European School Radio and Podcasting Community for Active Citizenship Education”

    The project “Social Radio 2.0: The European School Radio and Podcasting Community for Active Citizenship Education” aims to introduce a holistic educational approach that will support schools and teachers foster citizenship education combining innovative pedagogies (project-based and experiential learning, design-thinking) with the extensive use of new media and technology. Particularly, leveraging on the power of radio broadcasting and podcasting, our project envisions to integrate citizenship education in school curricula in an effective and engaging way and create an interactive space where young students become agents of change. More specifically our project envisages to:

    • Offer an innovative school radio and podcasting curriculum that will guide students throughout an exciting and engaging journey on how to discuss, reflect upon and advocate for
      community issues they care about. Following a design-thinking approach, students from the 5 partner countries (Poland, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Portugal) will be empowered to
      become changemakers, research on community problems, collaborate with media and community actors and work on their own projects as community roving reporters.
    • Develop a holistic and flexible teachers’ training programme and provide a practical resource bank that will improve teachers’ competences in teaching citizenship education, increase
      their confidence in using innovative methodologies and digital tools such as radio and podcasts and support students on how to reflect upon their community engagement.
    • Develop the Social Radio 2.0 online platform and application (web and mobile) aiming to become a transnational point of reference and a huge repository in terms of learning resources and best practices of school radio and podcasting as engaging tools for active citizenship. We also aspire to foster the first-ever European-wide online community of teachers, students and schools who use school radio and podcasting to promote civic engagement among adolescents.

    Furthermore, with this project we want to contribute to the enforcement of an emergent Pan European student’s and schools community that advocate and fight for a better society.

    Project Website: http://socialradio.europeanschoolradio.eu/

    The coordinating partner in the project is the Polish school Szkoła Podstawowa nr 5 im.Janusza Kusocińskiego w Świdniku and other partners are the European School Radio (Greece), Stimmuli for Social Change (Greece), the Pedagogical Institute of Cyprus (Cyprus), the OT (Portugal) and CEIP LOS ALBARES (Spain).

    The project is co-financed by the Erasmus+ KA2 Programme of the European Commission.

  • 2020-21: The InterMEDs – Fostering ‘Intercultural MEDiators’

    Description: TheInterMEDs – Fostering ‘Intercultural MEDiators’ as a practice for establishing communities coalition and mutual understanding is built on the special training of members of both communities, either local ones or migrant communities to be these InterMEDs, the individuals who will act as specific intermediators between the exchange of different cultures, with the key-skills of social responsibility and intercultural understanding and the skills to use all forms of promotion, such as arts, culture, media, training for the enhancement of respect, tolerance, cooperation, and communities coalition. The project includes 8 partners (PESHKAR, OTB EUROPE, PANTEION, CAMINOS, Mindshift, CSI, XPCSA, CID) from 6 countries (UK, Portugal, Greece, Spain, Cyprus, North Macedonia).

  • 2017 – Staff Training: Developing ICT Skills and European Dimension of work plan

    The aim of the course is to develop competences of the staff to manage Internet educational platforms, and develop educational courses online. It will also support our organisation to fully engage within the digital era, and provide online educational programme for adult learners. Participating staff will learn how to develop webinars and online courses within their education programmes/centres and organisations.

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