PROJECTS List

The HANGOUT project aims to engage with NEETs in the categories of: long-term unemployed, family responsibilities, illness and disability and discouraged. The HANGOUT approach to re-engaging NEETs and marginalised young adults in education, to provide pathways to progression in economic and educational sectors, is a flexible approach that is not based in the classroom, and so fits perfectly within the sphere of non-formal adult and community education. Through our planned Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programme for educators, what we hope to achieve is to build their digital competence so that they can engage NEETs remotely, overcoming some barriers to participation for NEETs in the Illness, Disability and Family Responsibilities sub-groups. The project is coordinated by ALIANCE LEKTORU a KONZULTANTU, Czech Republic, and brings together organisations from Poland, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France and Cyprus.

Pla(i)n VET aims to support young learners with special needs in the transition period between school and labour market entry. By creating adequate and comprehensive material in Plain Language, a contribution to a more inclusive VET system is made. One key objective of Pla(i)n VET is the use and application of Plain Language for the integration and inclusion of learners with special needs. The project is coordinated by FO-Aarhus, Denmark, and brings together organisations from Portugal, Belgium, Spain, France and Cyprus.

The TRAIN SUSTAIN project aims to enhance the competencies of VET-trainers and volunteers who teach recycling/upcycling, and equip disadvantaged groups with the knowledge, skills, and competencies to thrive in an evolving labor market with emerging green business opportunities. The disadvantaged groups will not just receive training but also improve their employability and gain better access to the job market. The project is coordinated by FO-Aarhus, Denmark, and brings together organisations from Portugal, Belgium, Spain, France and Cyprus.

The project "bye, Polarity" focuses on school education in order to counteract the increasing polarisation in politics and society and therefore enable young people to act as ambassadors for a united Europe.  The project is coordinated by bit Schulungscenter GmbH, Austria, and brings together organisations from Portugal, Romania and Cyprus.

The project DECODE aims to decode European trends and needs in upskilling and reskilling cultural tourism operators, professionals, and volunteers in rural and/or deprived areas. Cultural tourism is gaining ground against other forms of tourism in the EU. In rural areas, tourism comprises of mostly small businesses which suffer from lack of cooperation, and workforce lack of skills and qualifications. 

If you are interested in learning more about how to participate in the DECODE project, please contact: Julia Andreou at julia.a@synthesis-center.com

The project is coordinated by Veksttorget, Norway, and brings together organisations from Germany, Greece, Austria and Cyprus.

The PROTECT project aims at delivering an international desk-top and field research on the topic of "mobbing" or "workplace bullying". The partners aim at bringing non- violent practises and solutions to the labour market through equipping VET professionals, women workers and employers with important skills and tools through capacity building programs, that are crucial for personal and professional life and help establish new work-based routines. Therefore, organisations, peoples' groups and families are expected to become more resilient, connected and all these result in more peaceful and inclusive communities and workplaces, as a whole. All the above lead to the creation of an international European professional network that connects education providers, local businesses, individuals and families, plus all target groups with the labour market. The project is coordinated by CAMARA OFICIAL DE COMERCIO E INDUSTRIA DE BADAJOZ, Spain, and brings together organisations from Romania, Greece, Belgium, Italy and Cyprus.

The HECSOs project aims at improving Universities’ capacities to cooperate with CSOs systematically and continuously on community engagement as an innovative and impactful way for socio-economic inclusion of people in need. The project is coordinated by University of Torino, Italy, and brings together organisations from Romania, Spain, Greece, Austria and Cyprus.

The UNROOT project aims to create inclusive learning and training environments where all target groups will feel safe to voice their concerns regarding Gender Based Violence and take initiative for the prevention of Gender Based Violence at the individual, community, societal, and systemic level. The project is coordinated by Stichting Vrouw en Welzijn, the Netherlands, and brings together organisations from Belgium, Greece, Austria and Cyprus.

 The Business 2030 project aims to develop simple to use and effective tools aimed at upskilling staff members of BSOs and SMEs so that in turn they will actively engage in the sustainable transition. By tackling environmental sustainability from different perspectives (energy efficiency, mobility, management efficiency, circular economy, waste management, etc.) the proposal intends to address current gaps in the staff members of BSO and SMEs in order to successfully manage labour market transitions. The project is coordinated by People of 2050, Denmark, and brings together organisations from Italy, Cyprus and France.

The New Hera project aims to improve the knowledge of VET teachers and trainers in the  curricula planning, assessment methods, content mediatization and  design, of their training plans in the online mode. Improve the quality standards and effectiveness of the VET online plans and courses. Enrich  the learning experience of VET trainees and students offering them  attractive content, real assessments, and real-life experiences in their online training curricula. Improve the VET organisation’s management providing them tools for a better internal organisation and resources management. The project is coordinated by GIP FORMATION ET INSERTION PROFESSIONNELLE DE L' ACADEMIE DE NICE, France, and brings together organisations from Italy, Cyprus and Belgium.

The VAE INTERNATIONAL project aims to disseminate a method for the implementation of VAE (validation of acquired experience) courses aimed at obtaining a certification, a statement or a diploma through a procedure of recognition and validation of competences learned in the partner countries. VAE is a procedure for the recognition of prior learning that enables any French educational institution to give diplomas partially or completely based on work experience. The project is coordinated by GIP FORMATION ET INSERTION PROFESSIONNELLE DE L' ACADEMIE DE NICE, France, and brings together organisations from Italy, Cyprus and Belgium.

The INTEgreat project aims to build a stronger integration strategy and ecosystem for migrants and asylum seekers (women, men, families, LGBTQ+) in Europe through: 1. Analysis of the local contexts; development of an innovative Integration Strategy Framework (ISF); 2. Implementation of 5 pilots in 5 different partnering countries IT, ES, EL, CY, IE to test the framework; 3. Development of a methodology to measure the impact of the pilots and creation of exploitable materials; 4. Dissemination of results through a newly created web-based platform and social media.  

The project is coordinated by BALLAFON SOCIETA’ COOPERATIVA SOCIALE, Italy, and brings together organisations from Ireland, Cyprus, Greece and Spain.

The BoostDigiCulture project aims to lay the groundwork for a long-term and inclusive professional development framework of open educational resources and practices for cultural professionals with limited digital skills, particularly those working in small and medium-sized cultural institutions in the partner countries and beyond. The BoostDigiCulture project adheres to the Digital Education Action Plan for 2021-2027 as well as NEMO's recommendations in the Final Report 2021 for the development and support of digital services. 

The project is coordinated by STIFTUNG DIGITALE CHANCEN, Germany, and brings together organisations from Cyprus, Portugal, Italy and Greece, Croatia.

Christie et al. (2017) discovered that the same factors that prevented women from applying for STEM courses twenty years ago still exist today. The authors recommend actions that can help increase female STEM recruitment as well as retention and graduation in the areas of tertiary education addressed by this project.

The STEM Gap is difficult to address and necessitates long-term strategies. The goal of WESTEM is to set the tone for such a path by providing meaningful support and services. The following concrete goals are planned:

• Provide opportunities for girls and women to develop the skills and confidence needed to succeed in STEM.

• Create a self-assessment tool for assessing HEI faculty readiness to promote women's participation in STEM fields of study. - Create and implement appropriate professional development and training for faculty to promote inclusive STEM education and support for women from marginalized backgrounds.

• Through a dedicated role model mentoring scheme, attract, recruit, and retain women in STEM majors and fields in colleges and universities.

The project's main output is the release of a climate resilient forest management platform for preventing and suppressing forest fires. SILVANUS relies on experts in environmental, technical, and social sciences to assist regional and national authorities in charge of wildfire management in their respective countries. Through awareness campaigns, SILVANUS scientists and research engineers will assist civil protection authorities in efficiently monitoring forest resources, evaluating biodiversity, developing more accurate fire risk indicators, and promoting safety regulations among the local population affected by wildfire.

The importance of the project is to consider the expertise and experience of firefighters and local residents who face the dangers of devastating wildfires every year. SILVANUS will launch a broad stakeholder engagement program in forest regions to assess fire risk indicators, develop firefighter training methodology, use VR and AR training toolkits, and simulate real-world environments and life-saving scenarios. The implementation of a mobile application for citizen engagement, as well as automated notifications on safety practices, will be part of the awareness campaigns.

Business intelligence (BI) is a collection of useful technological tools and practices that aid in making informed decisions. Businesses that use "scientific" management techniques, such as data-driven management, improve operational efficiency and drive innovation. However, according to the EU Report "Accelerating the digital transformation of European industry and enterprises," micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) continue to lag behind in digital technologies, with issues such as an excessively large volume of data, a lack of information, and a lack of knowledge. This is primarily because BI systems are complex and difficult to manage, they require significant funding, and most SMEs lack a specialized IT department with adequate skills to operate them and are run by owners who may lack advanced technological knowledge. Taking all of this into account, BI4SME arose from the desire to contribute to these emerging challenges by developing an integrated training strategy for SMEs to acquire Business Intelligence skills. This project will improve skills and introduce new tools for non-IT professionals in order to provide an innovative learning experience on Business Intelligence skills tailored specifically to SMEs staff.

TOCL's goals are to increase migrants' knowledge and participation in the host country's community by learning the host culture and, as a result, to facilitate social inclusion. It also intends to use 'Translating Culture' (TC) as a novel approach to educate migrants in host countries on cultural issues. The project aims to support and develop the competences/knowledge of professionals working with migrants by training them in the "Translating Culture" methodology, as well as to develop a training methodology/curriculum and practical translated material (in English, French, and Arabic) to be used by professionals (during their educational action, as a supplement to existing language education) with migrants to convey cultural education.

The key to achieving these objectives is to develop an innovative educational approach that practitioners can use to convey the host country's culture through the translation of literature, song lyrics, jokes, proverbs, idioms, newspapers, recipes, pieces of legislation, national calendar celebrations, and anthems.

Rural areas throughout Europe face similar challenges, such as demographic change, connectivity, low income, and limited access to services, while also offering numerous opportunities in terms of the environment, food production, and unique cultures.

This is a research and training project aimed at increasing the number of qualified Community Development personnel in rural areas across Europe. Training will focus on assisting disadvantaged and vulnerable groups across the territories of the partners.

This project aims to have a long-term impact in local communities by increasing environmental awareness, just transition, and the transition to a green, digitalized, and sustainable Europe.

The objective of FoWoSE is to increase the integration of gender at structural and program level for entrepreneurial ecosystem structures. To do so, the project will develop methodological and training contents which fit women's needs and will allow organisations supporting entrepreneurs to run tailored support programmes.

• The “creation phase” aims to create different tools. First, a method for organisations to integrate gender equality issues at a structural level. Then, training tools to increase the skills of that staff of the structures and enable them to better train and support women social entrepreneurs. Last, a manual of good practices for gender integration at structure and program level, designed to help ecosystem structures to be more inclusive towards women social entrepreneurs;

• The “testing phase” of training tools to adjust and improve the tools before deploying them more widely;

• The “dissemination phase” to spread the training tools with an open-source approach and to raise awareness among the ecosystem structures.

Steve Jobs introduced the term intrapreneurship in 1985. Since then, it has gained traction and importance as the entrepreneurial mindset is needed within companies and corporations as much as outside to set new vision, disrupt ways of doing things, anticipate change, and solve problems that will improve business culture. Intrapreneurship is when entrepreneurs work for companies. Intrapreneurs contribute to the big picture and are business-minded, unlike normal employees. Intrapreneurs inspire creativity, lead, and motivate others. SEAL promotes intrapreneurial skills and mindsets in European SMEs' employees to help employers and employees respond to challenges that today's innovation models and the "Entrepreneurial Economy" bring to human resources and SMEs' competitiveness. SMEs can use in-house innovation and entrepreneurship to meet these challenges. These strategies involve developing entrepreneurial skills and mindsets to turn opportunities into value. SEAL's main goal is to help SMEs and VET organizations/trainers assess and develop employees' intrapreneurial skills and mindsets.