NGEnvironment

El proyecto “NGEnvironment”

“NGEnvironment” surge como una contribución relevante a las prioridades horizontales de la UE de mejora de las competencias básicas, transversales pertinentes y de alto nivel de los ciudadanos
europeos, en el ámbito de la educación de adultos y bajo la perspectiva del aprendizaje permanente. Contribuirá a cumplir el objetivo de la EU de capacitar a nuevos líderes para generar cambios significativos, mejorar las capacidades para el emprendimiennto, linguísticas, digitales, y fomentar la empleabilidad y el desarrollo socio-educativo y profesional, a través de la participación en las ONGs. Los ocho socios del proyecto proceden de Alemania, Portugal, Grecia, Malta, Irlanda, España, Italia y Rumanía. El coordinador del proyecto es la Universidad Alemana de Paderborn, Departamento de Educación
Empresarial y de Recursos Humanos II. El proyecto comenzó el 1 de septiembre de 2018 y terminará, tras tres años, el 31 de agosto de 2021.

There is the need to train capable leaders able to express their willingness to engage in the issues and challenges they see around them. NGEnvironment will train such leaders, helping to develop the skills needed to find creative solutions to local/regional problems, though associativism, recognising potential leadership and harnessing such qualities for the benefit of the environment and of others, through job creation, social inclusion and active citizenship, sharing benefits with all – as the true objective and building block of NGO democratic and open participation and of sustainability. The project will demonstrate, as intended by the European Commission, that green entrepreneurship is an effective means to boost employment and the efficient use of natural and social capital.

The project aims at stressing that 1) independent groups of citizens organized in the form of an NGO can have a significant positive impact in their community, boosting change, engaging in new participative models of governance and decision-making led by peers that ultimately may result in more confident, happy, informed and contributively active societies; and that 2) the much needed sustainable and eco-friendly businesses can also promote social inclusion and represent a true social impact. NGEnvironment will provide evidence, and then teach why ‘green objectives’ should be embedded in everyone’s daily lives and attitudes, as the protection of natural resources and the environment directly affects each and every individual citizen anywhere in the world.

NGEnvironment started with focus on Induction programme

The team of NGEnvironment started into 2019 with work on the
“Induction to Pedagogy for NGO staff”.

Existing NGO staff members will have a key role to play if the innovative immersion and mentoring framework proposed in NGEnvironment is to be successful.

It is anticipated that these staff members will not have any training in pedagogical approaches and will need to complete an appropriate induction training process if the quality of learning is to be safeguarded.

Within this induction training, which will mostly be in a format of e-learning, based on electronic resources, existing NGO staff members will improve their pedagogical skills regarding communication, openness to answer questions, pedagogical methods, risk management and conflict resolution, among others

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NGEnvironment envisages that all partners will play a full role in all aspects and elements of the project development process. However the following allocation of responsibility for the key project tasks is proposed:

– University of Paderborn will assume overall responsibility for the management of the project and quality assurance. We will lead the NGO leadership training development process and provide expertise in social engagement and innovative social business models. Accordingly, and as academics, we will lead the pedagogic research process to define the learning outcomes to be achieved by the NGO leadership training course.

– Rightchallenge will lead the summary research project assuring that main findings will properly inform the rest of the project’s guidelines and outcomes. They will also collaborate in the preparation of the training course.

– Society for Environmental Education in Corinthia will lead the development and implementation of the induction to pedagogy for NGO staff and the implementation of the immersion programme and closely collaborate in the training course preparation.

– Acrosslimits will lead the production of the online platform and observatory and develop the project branding strategy.

– Future in Perspective will produce the audiovisual instructive materials that will be used to showcase best practice, NGOs backstage, motivational impact on communities’ cohesion, economy and environment, and in the immersion programme.

– Asociación Cultural y Medioambiental Permacultura Cantabria, as experienced NGO that works in close proximity with many different types of audiences, will lead the preparation of the Survival Guide for Founding and Funding an NGO.

Sinergie Società Consortile a Responsabilità Limitata will develop the policy paper and its relevance matrix, assuring it will result in a useful resource for peer stakeholders across Europe.

Group for European Integration will develop the layman report. They will also lead the production of the project’s engagement toolkit and will disseminate all project’s resources, findings and outputs across Europe.

This delegation of tasks is relevant to the skills and expertise of the individual project partners. Having partners working in areas where they have expertise is an important consideration to ensure value for money and the quality of outputs.

University of Paderborn have endeavoured to bring together partners from countries at different stages of development and different cultural realities relevant to the project target groups and development activities. This diversity within the partnership facilitates policy-learning which is an important added-value. The past achievement of partners in their local settings inspires confidence that the consortium will be able to engage effectively with all target groups. University of Paderborn believes the consortium has all the skills necessary to support the successful development, implementation and dissemination of the project.

NGEnvironment will be a complex project with a large geographical range of action and a strong dissemination strategy that is expected to engage a multitude of participating actors. Thus, indirect beneficiaries and participants will be geographically spread and be several fold the number of direct participants, as described below.

– 30 people representing NGO leaders, trainers, staff and associates will be attending the NGO Leadership Seminars in 8 countries (30×8= 240)

– We estimate that at each of the above-mentioned people will explain the project and its benefits to at least 2 additional colleagues/friends/stakeholders. (240 x 2 = 480)

– 50 local and 7 foreign representatives will attend the final conference (= 57)

– 10 existing NGO staff members will complete the induction to pedagogy training in each partner country (10 x 8 countries = 80)

– 12 potential new NGO leaders from Italy, and 2 from each partner country (Germany, Portugal, Greece, Malta, Ireland, Spain and Romania will complete the NGEnvironment leadership training course (12 +14 countries = 26)

– Each partner staff member will explain the project and its benefits to at least 5 additional colleagues/friends/stakeholders that are not within the consortium (5 x 8 partners = 40)

– We estimate that at least 10 European politicians or policy-makers in each partner country will be engaged with the project, either via its many rich products/events, or at least via the policy paper (10 x 8 countries = 80)

– We estimate that at least 10 NGOs will be founded or relaunched as a result from NGEnvironment’s leadership promotion. Since each NGO shall have an average team of 10 people in the board, 100 people will indirectly benefit from the project.

– In a medium time span we estimate that existing and newly founded NGOs staff will acquire competences in green/social entrepreneurship that will allow for the creation of at least 50 jobs, including people with fewer opportunities.

– We estimate that by the end of the project the number of registered users on the on-line observatory showcasing best practice and role models for NGO in Europe will be of 20 per partner country (8 x 20=160). These users will have access to all project outputs, learning resources and expertise.

For the estimation of the figure above we did not include colleagues of all staff members indirectly involved in the project, high-level stakeholders that will benefit from the project’s findings, inhabitants from the municipalities/communities that will benefit from the project, ) general public and other schools, municipalities, ONGs, scouts, informal groups of citizens, and others throughout Europe who will have access to all information, products, online tools and outputs, and be extensively invited to replicate the project’s actions in their territories, through the dissemination strategy that will be implemented; and all the subscribers, followers and readers of each partner’s institutional communication channels, described in detail ahead in this application.

All partner meetings will be attended by 2 representatives of each partner organisation. UPB will produce event reports and minutes following each partner meeting. These meetings are scheduled at fairly regular intervals to facilitate the ongoing assessment of project development and implementation, to monitor progress toward the project objectives, to promote policy-learning, the exchange of best practice and enhanced awareness between participating organisations and to ensure the development and maintenance of good working relationships within the consortium.

Partner Meeting 1 will be held in Portugal in month 1. At this meeting a framework for quality management will be agreed; guidelines for the engagement with stakeholders will be set down; a research framework will be agreed; the training framework will be agreed that incorporates the learning outcomes matrix and the pedagogic strategy; a valorisation strategy will be agreed that outlines key roles, responsibilities and tasks to be carried out by each partner; a project branding strategy will be agreed; and partners will discuss the development of the proposed audiovisual and learning resources and the observatory. Acrosslimits will present a functioning prototype project website and a draft structure for the observatory to be discussed, and also the project branding solutions to be discussed. Group for European Integration (GIE) will present the communication plan for NGEnvironment.

Partner Meeting 2 will be held in Spain in month 8, hosted by Asociación Cultural y Medioambiental Permacultura Cantabria (ACYMPC). This meeting coincides with the ending of the research phase of the project and the Summary Research Report will be presented for final tuning. The induction programme and the training course structure and contents worked so far will be presented, discussed and tuned according to the research findings to be included. Future in Perspective (FIP) will present the work done on the audiovisual pieces for discussion with partners in order to allow timely adjustments. Acrosslimits (AL) will present the updates on the website and a functional structure for the observatory to be discussed. This meeting will be very important to make final tunings to all outputs before its piloting in the first multiplier event and training course that will take place in months 11 and 13 respectively.

Partner Meeting 3 will be held in Italy in month 13, hosted by Sinergie Società Consortile a Responsabilità Limitata (SINERGIE). This meeting will take place at the same time of the pilot training course. The first multiplier event should have had place earlier in month 11 and partners will discuss lessons learned. The audiovisual engagement package updates will be present for joint discussion on improvement to make regarding further events. The online observatory will be presented already with some cases documented and partner will discuss needed improvements, if there are any.

Partner Meeting 4 will be held in Greece in month 17, hosted by Society for Environmental Education in Corinthia (EPEK). This meeting will coincide with the interim report preparation and will be an important moment for partners to reflect on the projects’ course, work done, quality of all outputs and resources, implementation of event/training and to conduct a more thorough internal evaluation regarding project management and implementation.

Partner Meeting 5 will be held in Malta in month 25 hosted by Acrosslimits (AL) and will coincide with the beginning of the development of the ‘Survival guide for NGO Founding and Funding’ and the policy paper. These outputs will be presented as a draft structure to be discussed among partners and final structure will be agreed on. Also, the final layman report first insights will be presented and discussed so that partners can agree on a structure and contents.

Partner Meeting 6 will be held in Germany, hosted by University of Paderborn (UPB), in month 34. It will coincide with the completion of project activities, the presentation of a well advanced layman final report, reflection and internal evaluation, and the hosting of the Final Conference when the Policy Paper and all other project outputs will be presented. A minimum of 58 representatives of all project target groups will attend. This event will be streamed live by web-cast.

The following quality assurance framework will be used by UPB for monitoring and evaluating the quality of the proposed project and its deliverables, results and outcomes.

(1) Project performance quality – addressing the quality of the activities both planned and undertaken, and how these are anchored in the rationale of the project and the engagement of the project partners and stakeholders. Important questions to consider include the following:
– Did the project achieve its objectives?
– Do the project results match/serve the needs of the target groups?
– Was partners’ contribution in accordance with the project plan and expectations?

(2) Collaboration quality – relating to how the project engages people and organisations, such as project partners, direct and indirect stakeholders, target groups, and users. Important questions to consider include the following:
– Was the collaboration among partners at an acceptable level?
– Did project partners contribute towards the achievement of the project’s objectives?
– Were project meetings organized and managed effectively?
– Was the collaboration among partners, direct and indirect stakeholders, target groups, and users fruitful?

(3) Resource utilization quality – relating to how the monetary and non-monetary contributions, assets, and resources that are made available to a project are utilised. Important questions to consider include the following:
– Were resources used in appropriate ways?
– Were all budget expenses documented?
– Did all budget expenses follow the relevant EU and project regulations?
– Were any resource management tools used (e.g. for financial management)? If so, how were they used?

(4) Information management quality – relating to how a project acquires, handles, documents, shares, and refines the information on which it depends. Important questions to consider include the following:
– Was information shared with all partners?
– Were documents and information shared in a timely manner?
– Was there a system for keeping versions of each document?
– Were documents stored, secured, and accessed appropriately?

(5) Intellectual output quality – assessing the quality of deliverables is often anchored in externally-imposed technical or sector standards, benchmarks, or conventions. Important questions to consider include the following:
– Were deliverables prepared according to the project’s timeframe?
– Were deliverables prepared according to high standards?
– What were the standards used for assessing the quality of deliverables?

(6) Service/product provision quality – relating to the demands, expectations, and needs that are expressed by or interpreted from users and target populations that the project aims to serve.
– Did the service/product provided address the target population’s needs?
– Was the service/product usable and user friendly?
– Was the service/product tested, evaluated, and revised?
– How adaptive and flexible was the service/product to target groups’/stakeholders’ needs?
– Were any guides provided with respect to the service/product? If so, were they effective?

(7) Dissemination & exploitation quality – relating to how a project prepares for, implements, and verifies that the project values, services, and outcomes become known.
– Were dissemination actions implemented as planned?
– How many stakeholders were engaged during the development of the project?
– How many stakeholders were reached throughout the duration of the project?
– How many stakeholders are projected to be impacted after the completion of the project?
– What tools were used for dissemination and exploitation and how were they used?

UPB will conduct internal evaluation exercises every 9 months throughout the project life-cycle. Additionally, to ensure that NGEnvironment’s training programme achieves the desired quality outcome the European Quality Assurance Reference Framework will be used as a benchmark to ensure that appropriate training standards are met in all course development actions.

IO1 Summary research project

NGEnvironment is a complex project which innovation factors will comprise state-of-the-art techniques in fields such as public engagement, leadership, green and social entrepreneurship, nature conservation, communications and knowledge transference, management, and adult pedagogy. Such a comprehensive, multifaceted approach draws expertise and supports from those sciences, and requires the development of a framework complying innovation and vanguard knowledge and means that will set out the key competences to be included in the project. Thus, the project will start with a research exercise to ensure that each partner addresses common issues to an agreed depth and according to groundbreaking techniques and knowledge.

NGEnvironment focuses on skills development and training of new NGO leaders that will foster green entrepreneurship through socially inclusive and sustainable practices. Since the vast majority of such trainees will not have had any prior NGO/entrepreneurship development training partners will work on developing a modular training course to support ab initio entrepreneurship/leadership learning.

Partners are also proposing the development of an induction to pedagogy training resource to facilitate the engagement of existing NGO leaders to become hosts for the immersion programme and a set of audiovisual material to mentor and engage new potential leaders.

Thus it is imperative that each partner conducts a research in their country that will: 1) diagnose the NGO sector and identify exact needs and opportunities in the NGO leadership context; 2) map legal and bureaucratic constraints in the NGO founding and management; 3) identify NGO role models and case studies to feed the observatory and immersion programme; 4) highlight topics to be addressed with the audiovisual materials; 5) inform the design of the induction to pedagogy programme to ensure that quality assurance standards are respected where the provision of mentoring supports is concerned; (6) inform the structure and design of the training modules to ensure that high-quality standards are achieved in content production.

Responses to all of the above questions will inform the training framework and learning outcomes matrix that will be used to guide all development actions. The training framework will present content and learning outcome guidance notes on a module by module basis to support the development work of partners ensuring that all the areas of required learning identified in each of the local research reports are appropriately considered and addressed. Using this learning outcomes approach allows for the tailoring of learning content to take account of the different cultural patterns in partner countries without compromising the value of the learning resource.

IO1 will thus consist of a multidisciplinary evidence based state-of-the-art presented in a form of a report that will present the guidelines for the project’s framework, but also as transferrable product to any NGO already established or to be founded within any region of the project’s consortium. It will also set a benchmark for the NGO, green and social entrepreneurship sectors in Europe since it will collate a vast international desk and field-based diagnose and showcase of best practice that has currently – to our knowledge – no equivalent in the UE.

Rightchallenge will outline an appropriate research framework and oversee the management of required research. Research will address a number of areas to inform project development actions. Some of the areas to be addressed are as follows: (1) what are the key skill areas that need to be addressed in the proposed NGO leadership training; (2) what are the key skill levels that are appropriate for local target groups; (3) what existing resources could be used or re-designed for use in the proposed NGO leadership training to avoid duplication; (4) what are the most appropriate media formats for learning content for target groups in each partner country; (5) what type of assessment framework would be most appropriate to facilitate the measurement of attainment; (6) what types of pedagogic supports are needed to facilitate the induction of NGO staff into the immersion programme and mentoring framework; (7) what are the most appropriate technology platforms to be developed as observatory; (9) what types of audiovisuals will work better as engagement means. This list of topics is only indicative of the type of questions that the research will address. The final research framework will outline all the topics and issues to be examined.

Desk-based research will be conducted by all partners. Each partner will draft an individual research report by month 5 and Rightchallenge will collate the results of partner research in a Summary Research Report by month 8. Acrosslimits will design and layout the document as a pdf for download and present it on the project web platforms. Group for European Integration will disseminate it widely through a European network of stakeholders.

The Summary Research Report will be available in month 9 for download in English. This document will represent the evidence base of the project and the benchmark for all development work of the consortium.

Rightchallenge have been allocated 48 days for developing the research framework, conducting local research, preparing the complete Summary Research Report, and 6 days of technical work for collating all local research reports and organize the document. All other partners have been allocated 15 days to conduct the desk based research and to draft local research reports and 2 days of technical work to prepare the document.

This document will be available in English only.

IO2  Induction to Pedagogy for NGO staff

Existing NGO staff members will have a key role to play if the innovative immersion and mentoring framework proposed is to be successful. It is anticipated that these staff members will not have any training in pedagogical approaches and will need to complete an appropriate induction training process if the quality of learning is to be safeguarded. Within this induction training, which will mostly be in a format of e-learning, based on electronic resources, existing NGO staff members will improve their pedagogical skills regarding communication, openness to answer questions, pedagogical methods, risk management and conflict resolution, among others.

The proposed immersion model, where new NGO leaders/staff members can develop their entrepreneurship ideas in a real working environment, is potentially challenging and rewarding. Through the NGEnvironment immersion model, new NGO leaders will be provided with a short-term opportunity to experience NGO ‘ownership’ first hand. Being immersed in this environment will support them in gaining an understanding of the many facets and challenges of running an NGO; the multiple skill-sets required; and the different roles that NGO leaders need to play on a daily basis. The immersion programme will also help them identify the personal and inter-personal skills that they need if they are to acquire an understanding of life as a green or social entrepreneur in n NGO.

Taking part in the immersion programme will elucidate potential new leaders in many aspects of managing an NGO, and this real-life experience will boost the understanding and perception this new leaders will have when attended the training course.

This model is easily replicated in many other fields of knowledge, entrepreneurship or businesses.

Society for Environmental Education in Corinthia will lead the development of the induction to pedagogy training programme and will be supported by Rightchallenge and University of Paderborn. All partners in the consortium will work closely with the NGOs to test the training materials and elicit feed-back from end-users. Once the final version of the induction to pedagogy training programme has been proof-read, edited and signed-off, all partners will translate it into their local language. It will be available for download on the project website and disseminated via Facebook page.

The content for the induction to pedagogy training programme will be developed between months 3 and 8 and will be signed-off by partners at the 2nd partner meeting in Spain. The training-ware will be designed by Society for Environmental Education in Corinthia and prepared for dissemination in all partner languages between months 8 and 12 by Acrosslimits and Future in Perspective, in the case of videos, and disseminated by all partners but especially Group for European Integration. The first iteration of the induction to pedagogy training programme will take place in each partner country between months 12 and 28. The induction programmes will run after the local NGO Seminars take place. As part of this training, participants will be gain access to the on-line observatory of NGOs which will comprise a showcase of successful cases of green and social NGO entrepreneurs to be presented as role models. In total, 10 NGO leaders will complete the induction to pedagogy training in each partner country.

Society for Environmental Education in Corinthia have been allocated 32 research and 6 technical days for leading the development of the induction to pedagogy training programme. Rightchallenge, Asociación Cultural y Medioambiental Permacultura Cantabria and Group for European Integration have been allocated 18 research and 5 technical days for supporting the development of the induction to pedagogy training programme.
The remaining partners are each allocated 10 days for producing the media based elements of the induction training resource and 4 days for design and layout of the induction to pedagogy training programme in all partner languages.

Costs associated with the implementation of the induction to pedagogy training, after the seminars occur, are covered by the grant for project management and implementation.

IO3  Training package for social and green NGO leadership

A bespoke, modular leadership training course that specifically addresses the development of management and entrepreneurial skills for the NGO sector will be developed to support the acquisition of key high-value competences necessary for the establishing of green and social civic action. The development of this new training course will require an ‘ab initio’ approach as there is little in terms of available coherent educational resources addressing leadership/entrepreneurship for the specific NGO target group in any of the partner countries.

It is accepted that considerable differences in civic perceptions, acceptance to NGO action, green and social opportunities and external supports for the development of associativism will exist in partner countries, therefore, the range of modules required to address the topic area will necessarily be comprehensive to ensure the training course has a practical value in all partner countries. The agreed learning outcomes outlined in the Summary Research Report will be the constant benchmark for partner work and this will allow partners to tailor content to suit local cultural and societal values. Demonstrating the flexibility of the proposed curriculum will also aid further transferability beyond the project consortium. The training course developed will specifically address the needs of NGO leaders/staff members in terms of appropriateness of learning environments, structure and relevance of learning content and accessibility of learning platforms – especially because this course will be inclusive to all kind of audiences, including disadvantaged groups.

While the full list of topics to be addressed will emerge from the research conducted it is anticipated that, at a very minimum, the proposed new training course will include all the normal leadership and entrepreneurship development modules like; (1) introducing leadership; (2) introducing green and social entrepreneurship; (3) creative thinking, initiative, self-confidence; (4) idea generation and evaluation; (5) testing and prototyping the idea; (6) communications and outreach; (7) funding mechanisms.

The training course will have 5 days of face-to-face learning actions that will be complemented with the online resources available in the project’s website. The exact structure of the course will be decided when the research is completed and the learning levels to be achieved are agreed. Sinergie will make all efforts to get national accreditation for the training, but at least Europass and attendance certificates will be issued.

An additional element of the training course will be a one-week NGO immersion programme (O2) where the trainees will be placed in existing NGOs to develop a clear understanding of what is involved in running and managing an NGO. This immersion programme will be the first stage in a long term mentoring programme designed to support the new NGO leaders through the early stages of the foundation of their organisations.

The course-ware and pedagogical instructions will be fully available in all partner’s languages, allowing any public or private body (including existing NGOs) to implement the training independently, training and capacitating NGO leaders throughout Europe and abroad. Attending to the lack of such resources, despite its urgent need, partners expect it will be highly appreciated and used.

In response to learning outcomes identified during the research phase University of Paderborn will lead the development of the new NGO leadership curriculum in close collaboration with Rightchallenge and Society for Environmental Education in Corinthia. All partners in the consortium will work to support their development work and validate the course content and incorporate end-user feed-back. Once the final version of the course-ware has been proof-read, edited and signed-off, all partners will translate it into their local language. All course materials will be accessible on the project’s website.

A first draft of the structure of the curriculum will be presented in the 2nd partner meeting and discussed. Final course-ware will be ready in English by month 13 and signed-off in the 3rd partners meeting. The course will be piloted and tested in month 13 in Italy and after final tuning and adjustments will be translated to all partners’ languages.

A minimum of 20 NGO new leaders or existing staff member will complete the course in each partner country.

University of Paderborn has been allocated 45 research days for leading the development of the training course and 10 technician days.
Rightchallenge, Asociación Cultural y Medioambiental Permacultura Cantabria, Society for Environmental Education in Corinthia and Group for European Integration have been allocated 20 research and 6 technical days for supporting the development of the training course.
The remaining partners are each allocated 10 research days for development work, testing the curriculum, providing feedback and localizing content where necessary, and 4 technical days for translations.

Partners will use a full range of media forms to present the new green and social NGO leadership training including video, audio and on-line texts.

Costs associated with the implementation of the trainings in each country are covered by the grant for project management and implementation.

IO4 Online platform and observatory

Acrosslimits will develop the project’s website which includes an online observatory of NGOs as a showcase for successful cases of green and social entrepreneurship in each partner country. There is no similar resource/network in Europe and any interested green or social NGO may enlist, optimizing their network and the show case power of the observatory.

The objectives of this observatory are:
(1) to present role models for NGO leadership to inspire NGO new leaders to develop their ideas and take action;
(2) to provide instant access to a library of information resources identified by partners during the research process that might be useful to new or existing NGOs in the green and social fields;
(3) to provide a range of on-line environments and forums where NGO leaders/staff members can exchange ideas and practices with their peers in partner countries, collaborate on potential joint ventures and support each other. These environments will also support transnational networking between the existing NGOs engaged in the project in each partner country;
(4) to demonstrate the powerful impact that civic action may present in contributing locally or regionally for solving major environmental issues, while at the same time alleviating social issues by promoting integration, inclusion and providing opportunities and competences for all. This way, the observatory will feed powerful evidence-based content for the Policy Paper (O8).

The on-line observatory will be an on-line hosted environment running on a web server tailored for the purpose. It will be built on iCMS Content Management System, based on the Managers Framework developed by Acrosslimits’ technical experts. This Managers Framework is a scalable, object-based programming framework including features such as language versioning, object relations and ownership models, all with a flexible connection interface. The core technologies behind the Framework are Open-Source and include PHP, MySQL Database, Apache Web service and RED5 Media Server. The object-based and modular nature of the framework and the services built on it allow for flexible combining of the available modules as well as cost-efficient creation of new ones should the need for special purpose-built extensions arise.

The observatory will be Web 2.0 enabled and cater for all mainstream social networking activities and will be developed in all partner languages. The portal will be optimized for mobile access and will function equally well on laptop, tablet or smartphone. The proposed technology infrastructure will be developed to accessibility compliance standards. The observatory will also include features like rss feeds from appropriate organisations to ensure that the information available through the portal is always up to date.

Technical requirements to support all project activities will be discussed at all partner meetings. All partners will test the suitability of the on-line platform and provide feedback to Acrosslimits to inform further development. All technology infrastructures will be developed to accessibility (inclusion) compliance standards. Acrosslimits will develop and update all on-line infrastructures throughout the project life-cycle and transfer administration rights and hosting rights to University of Paderborn at the end of the project life-cycle to asure its continuity and sustainability by a public body.

The first prototypes of the online platform and observatory will be available in month 6 for testing while fully functioning and populated versions will be available in month 8 for presentation and validation at the 2nd partners meeting. Acrosslimits have been allocated a total of 46 research and 20 technical days to develop, test and populate the on-line observatory and the e-learning environment complementary to O2 and O3. All the remaining partner have been allocated 20 research and 6 technical days each to profile a minimum of 10 NGOs in their country that can be presented on the observatory as best practice role models in green and social entrepreneurship, and test the on-line facilities with end-users and providing feedback.

IO5 Engagement toolkit

As stated by the European Commission: «dissemination is essential for take-up, and take-up is crucial for the success of the project and for the sustainability of outputs in the long term». Acknowledging the fundamental importance of communications and dissemination, from the start of the project, a communication strategy will be developed and implemented.
Information on the concept, objectives and progress of the project will be available and actively distributed on a regular basis. The distribution will not be limited to the partners or the partners’ countries, it will have no frontiers and be accessible and promoted throughout Europe, being possible that at the end of the project period, NGEnvironment will have participants from a much wider geographical distribution.

However, the project is very complex, has many different outputs, and seeks at engaging different types of audiences related to the NGO sector, including disadvantaged citizens. Therefore, and despite all the efforts the partners will make to produce user-friendly interfaces and contents, the regular dissemination channels may be difficult to follow by some members of the target groups, either because they are less literate or because they are not regular end-users of such channels. Engaging a wide range of audiences, including talented citizens but with fewer social opportunities, will need dedicated field work and face-to-face approaches made by the consortium partners and the local working groups. Such approaches will need to be supported by engaging and explanatory materials that will have to be portable, easy to show, very visual and appealing, in order to explain the whole project’s scope and objectives but mostly the benefits that end-users may acquire from it.

This output will then be a comprehensive engagement toolkit that will mostly support and inform field work to engage potential new NGO leaders to take part of the immersion programme and the training course; existing NGO leaders and staff members to enlist to the project’s online platform and observatory and to be willing to host the immersion programme; and social and green activists that may not have the necessary competences to effectively implement their ideas or defend their causes. The engagement toolkit will comprise a variety of means specifically tailored to different and very specific audiences identified during the research phase, and may include short videos (for portable devices), specific brochures, booklets or leaflets, scrapbooks and photographs, info graphics, audiovisual testimonials, among others; being different in approach, design and contents from the products generated for the general dissemination of the project.

The project’s dissemination plan shall define principles to be followed by the engagement toolkit in order to avoid confusion and misconceptions and to foster the quality of project’s outreach and impact. All engagement activities resulting from the use of this toolkit shall be monitored and recorded during the project execution.

We must highlight that the engagement toolkit should also be understood as a set of audience specific communication pieces that can be downloaded and used by any interested parties across Europe (and potentially other countries) in addition to other outputs to engage in the project’s philosophy and gather participants elsewhere.

Group for European Integration will lead the development of the engagement toolkit in close collaboration with Acrosslimits in what respects electronic contents, and with strong support, and through regular discussion, with all partners. All partners will provide informed results and suggestions.

The engagement toolkit will be generally outlined in the kick-off meeting and draft contents will be presented in the 2nd partner meeting in month 8. Results from the research phase will feed specific tunings for the engagement toolkits after month 9 and final versions in English will be ready to use after month 10. Before the Seminar taking place in month 11, partners will translate the products to all their local languages. However this toolkit will be dynamic and allow for specific adjustments according to needs related to partners’ cultural and societal realities through the entire project lyfe-cycle.

Group for European Integration has been allocated 30 research and 12 technical days to compile information resulting from all partner’s research, develop the products and adjust them throughout the project life-cycle. The remaining partners have been allocated 10 research and 2 technical days to conduct research, discuss and test final products and translate contents.

IO6  Audiovisual instructive package

To complement the Induction to Pedagogy for NGO staff, the NGO immersion program and the training course a set of 5 audiovisual products will be developed, mainly in the form of 3 minutes videos and animations. These instructive materials will allow viral dissemination and facilitate a true international outreach of the pedagogical and training activities.

Audiovisual appealing contents will also be developed to feature the engagement toolkit.

Additionally, a set of 3 videos will be created throughout the project lifecycle:
(1) a 10 minutes video documenting the project’s progress and implementation in the various partners’ countries and also documenting the success cases that resulted from the project’s action;
(2) two 5 minutes videos showcasing selected high performance (role models) NGOs that are contributing to solving environmental issues (e.g. acting in biodiversity conservation, sustainable forest management, water quality, renewable energy) while at the same time fostering social inclusion through the creation of green jobs and social empowerment of disadvantaged persons or groups (e.g. elderly people, ethnic minorities, migrants, long-term unemployed persons, sexually discriminated/repressed people, illiterate, etc).

The audiovisual materials will feature the project’s website, a YouTube channel and all other project’s social media, allowing to monitor visualizations, downloads, feedback and interaction among users.

Future in Perspective will lead the development of the audiovisual materials with the support of all partners. For each video or animation Future in Perspective will write a script that will be discussed among the consortium. For the development of the videos, Future in Perspective will capture image in chroma environment using 3 DSLR cameras. A dynamic non-linear editing will be done and a 3D virtual scenery will be created, as well as a unique graphical image and an original sound design. The videos will be subtitled in partners’ languages and finalized in FULL HD format (1920×1080). Future in Perspective has been allocated 30 research and 30 technical days for developing such tasks. The remaining partners have been allocated 10 research days to perform research and inform best practice on instructive videos in each country, to develop scripts according to identified needs, and 3 technical days for reviewing and translating subtitles.

Draft ideas for the videos’ scripts will be presented and discussed in the kick-off meeting and further versions discussed and improved in all meetings in a constant and dynamic process. All videos except the ‘project documentary’ will be completed and fully disseminated by month 27. The project documentary will cover the final conference and any necessary event deriving from the project’s actions by the end of the project.

IO7 Survival guide for NGO Founding and Funding 

The European Commission recognizes «NGOs have become essential actors in the social field, particularly in the fight against poverty and social exclusion» and the 5 targets for the EU in 2020 (employment, innovation, climate change, education and poverty/social exclusion), being interrelated and mutually reinforcing, set a framework that allows multiple ways of promoting active citizenship and sustainability through an inclusive and intelligent method.

There are many programmes that teach ‘how to become an entrepreneur’ but most focus on the profit business approach, or are highly paid, leaving people with fewer opportunities out.

To our knowledge there isn’t a project that specifically addresses NGO leadership as a way to promote EU citizenship and the environmental and societal change towards sustainability, open and available for all. In this context, NGEnvironment is per se innovative, by developing skills and competences in EU citizens specifically towards leading civic action (in the form of NGOs).

However, starting an NGO usually is a lengthy, time consuming process that arises many doubts and uncertainties, leading potential leaders to give up or to join any other entity that already exists, even if it does not fulfil entirely the person’s view or goals. The difficulties of the process can be minimized by following a consistent series of steps and seeking advice. Traditionally, the sort of information needed is spread among many services, documents or websites, and often the information between media is not coherent or is outdated.

This output will specifically provide aid to citizens willing to create their own NGOs or to take part of an existing one in an educated way. It will consist of a step-by-step guide explaining all legal and practical requirements needed to found and manage an NGO that has no parallel in the partners’ countries. It will also suggest funding mechanisms and provide important ‘surviving’ tips provided from experienced leaders. In brief, it will provide an excellent up-to-date starting point providing tailored support to new NGO leaders.

Contents will be adapted to the reality and legal context of each country and the document will be available in all partners’ languages.

The development of the ‘Survival guide for NGO Founding and Funding’ will be led by Asociación Cultural y Medioambiental Permacultura Cantabria. Being a recent NGO themselves, they know exactly what kind of difficulties new NGO leaders face and what kind of precise practical and legal advice is needed. However Asociación Cultural y Medioambiental Permacultura Cantabria will conduct field research with their local working group to verify current information available and difficulties sensed. Asociación Cultural y Medioambiental Permacultura Cantabria will provide a research framework that will similarly be addressed by all other partners in their countries. According to results found, the actual guide will be designed, produced, adapted to each partner country and translated to all partners’ languages.

Asociación Cultural y Medioambiental Permacultura Cantabria will start working on the research framework by month 28 and provide to partners in month 29. Research will be conducted in each partner country by month 30. Asociación Cultural y Medioambiental Permacultura Cantabria will collate information and present a final version in English at the final conference. Adjustments to each country’s reality and translations will be made between months 34 and 36 and the output will be made available as a project’s result in the website and through social media.

Asociación Cultural y Medioambiental Permacultura Cantabria has been allocated 32 research and 8 technical days to prepare research framework, conduct research, collate data from the various countries and contribute to Spain translation. The remaining partners have each been allocated 8 research days and 4 technical days to conduct research, adjust contents to country’s reality an d translate contents.

IO8  Policy paper

The policy paper, titled “Unlocking the potential of associativism for social action and change” will consider 3 key issues:
– the importance of high quality training to ensure that NGOs can effectively respond to the local/regional and help achieve the EU 2020 goals;
– the need to focus on supporting the development of the high-value sector of NGOs to foster sustainability in its 3 axis;
– the importance of developing working partnerships between NGOs and other operating agents/sectors (education, business, governance, environment, social protection, etc) to achieve common frameworks towards sustainability.

Unlike the other outputs, directly aimed at the primary actors of the NGO sector, the proposed policy paper will be aimed at a higher, decision-making level. Due to its relevance to inform and instigate effective changes in policy, the proposed policy paper will be translated to each partners’ language and will be printed to assure in-hand delivery to relevant policy stakeholders, like public bodies, government agencies, and entities with the ability to support or fund civic action and NGOs.

The policy paper will address the main findings of the project, provide evidence and discuss why a change of NGO policy approach might be relevant – at least in the green and social fields; the policy options available; the pros and cons of each option; and the impact and value for money resulting from NGO action. Finally the policy paper will recommend a course of action based on the experiences and lessons learned in the course of the NGEnvironment project.

The policy paper will be developed mainly by SINERGIE. They will draft the policy paper based on the responses to a policy questionnaire they will develop. This questionnaire will be completed by all partners with appropriate stakeholders. The policy paper will also be informed by a series of discussions and Skype interviews with project partners and stakeholders over the lifetime of the project.
A draft structure will be present at partners meeting 5, in month 25, for discussion with partners. The policy paper will be completed by month 34 to present in the Final Conference and to allow time for translation by all partners.

Acrosslimits will design and layout the document. It will be printed in all partner languages and also available for download from the project website.

SINERGIE have been allocated 30 research and 6 technical days for researching and drafting the policy paper. The remaining partners have been allocated 8 research days and 4 technical days for documental preparation and translations.

IO9  Laymen report

At the end of the project, a final laymen report will be prepared, aimed at a large scale distribution within NGOs and NGO-sector related entities but also to non specialized NGO public, such as informal groups of citizens, schools, environmental activists, social workers, municipalities, etc. The report will summarize the project’s rationale, objectives, methods, and main results achieved, and provide evidence-based critical discussion on the role and potential that NGOs and civic action have in promoting change engagement for achieving collective sustainability (environmental, social and economic). The aim of the laymen report is to inform, promote awareness and prompt participatory citizenship. The entire report will be written in very simple terms, using infographics and very intuitive informative contents, and will be available in all partners’ languages so that it can be understood by any interested person or entity.

The laymen report shall also include the main conclusions of the final conference of the project, and from articles or scientific papers that may result from the implementation of this model, namely papers published in specialized peer-reviewed scientific journals with international circulation – but “translated” into very simple terms and information.

It will also direct readers to the projects’ platforms, web-based tools, course-ware, documents and audiovisuals, contributing to the sustainability of the project after its funding period – and reinforcing the replicative potential of the project.

The laymen report will be available in the project’s website for download; will be disseminated via partners’ networks, and advertised through social media. It will be available in all partners’ languages enabling its wide distribution throughout Europe and even other continents.

Group for European Integration will lead the realization of the report, collating and summarizing all important information produced during the project’s lifecycle and transform it into very simple accessible language. Besides exploring data of the online observatory, Group for European Integration will also conduct research on the state-of-the-art regarding the NGO sector consulting EU statistics and other official and relevant databases. Specific research needed to be done in the consortium’s countries will be supported by the partners and their working groups.

Group for European Integration has been allocated 34 research days and 12 technical days for research, document preparation, English and Romanian writings. All remaining partners have been allocated 8 research days and 4 technical days to that they can contribute to the report’s content, review, validate and translate final contents to their local languages.

Group for European Integration will start working on the laymen report by month 24 and present a draft og the structure and contents to be addressed in the 5th partner meeting, happening in month 25 in Malta for discussion with partners. Regular online meeting will occur after this meeting and the final version will be available in month 34 to be presented in the Final Conference.

C1  Training course for green and social NGO leadership

The training activity of the project will be held in Reggio Emilia, Italy, in month 13, and will have 31 participants:
– 5 trainers (1 from UPB, 1 from EPEK, 1 from ACYMPC, 1 from SINERGIE and 1 from RC),
– 26 trainees (12 locals and 2 from each foreign partner country),

Trainees will be potential or existing NGO leaders or staff members. Potential new leaders will acquire a set of new competences and basic skills; existing NGO staff members will refresh/update their knowledge from a lifelong learning process perspective.

The course will be modular and use all materials and toolkits fully developed within the Project (Intellectual Outputs 1 to 6), and its delivery will be based on IO3, the training package that will be fully available for any person or entity interested in replicating the training independently.

The objective of the course is to activate talent from citizens that may become excellent role models as NGO leaders for change and sustainability. The course will then train NGO leaders on topics such as entrepreneurship, sustainability, valuation of natural and social capital, management, leadership and motivation, financial administration, funding, among others. Indirectly, trainees will also acquire a set of basic skills and competences. Trainees will have their entrepreneurship talents activated and be motivated and capacitated to take action in their communities.

The training will be taking place two months after the 1st NGO Leadership Seminar, so that engaged trainees and NGO staff may attend the training already after having participated in the seminar and the immersion programme. This way, and after ‘job shadowing’ existing NGOS, trainees will have a clearer idea of what it means and what it takes to run an NGO.

Course contents will be available in the project’s website in all partners languages, allowing its broad outreach and replication. However, the course itself will be delivered in English, with the support of local translators and of the accompanying persons, if applicable, allowing a common understanding of all participants.

A participatory society can only work when citizens are well informed, actively engaged in civic activity, and equipped with the skills of advocacy, debate, compromise, and leadership.

Many obstacles have been shown to affect people’s willingness and ability to be civically participative. Experts list the 5 most relevant as the lack of: 1) civility, 2) attention to public affairs, 3) role models, 4) civic and political skills, 5) awareness. NGEnvironment will work to understand and overcome such obstacles and train capable and skilled civic leaders, generating a true impact on primary target groups, which will have all the 5 listed obstacles overruled and will feel propelled to take action and promote change towards sustainability, creating an enduring impact across Europe.

However, such empowerment would quickly vanish if appropriate means of action weren’t suggested. Therefore, the project will encourage NGO leadership as a valid and powerful approach to promote civic participation and change towards sustainability. Through education, training and engagement, the project will provide opportunities for EU citizens to advance their skills, increase their knowledge, and engage in the difficult issues of environment and social discrimination. Through high quality pedagogical resources, NGEnvironment will stimulate new thinking and new advances in promoting civic engagement.

NGEnvironment will also surpass the long existing problem of the lack of appropriate educational resources to support a sustainable and intelligent NGO sector. Lack of civic action is not a problem specific to any one region in Europe but rather a problem common to all areas where the potential for the social capital in the sector is untapped. Throughout Europe the ability of training providers to respond to very specific needs like green and entrepreneurship training to help develop the NGO sector is very limited. The vast majority of those who design and deliver training have little or no experience of entrepreneurial mind-sets or green or social businesses. They are, first and foremost educationalists and it is unrealistic to expect that training providers could single-handedly conceive and design appropriate training without inputs and guidance from stakeholders outside of formal training provision, particularly in the much intricate world of NGOs. Speaking at the Greek EU Presidency’s flagship conference on vocational training in March 2014, Cedefop Director James Calleja concluded that «Countries need to identify their growth potential and skills needs and develop training schemes to suit their specific contexts. This requires comprehensive strategies, which include competence development…and commitment of all actors…partnerships between education and training and social partners are not an option but inevitable.» Therefore, NGEnvironment’s consortium gathers experts from several areas.

For existing and potential NGO leaders the immersion programme, the training course and the resources provided will significantly increase their chances of NGO action success. Providing training with this type of focus generates additional impacts that are not directly training related. For example, the assembling of a group of persons who are individually developing civic participation ideas presents considerable opportunities for information sharing, networking and the development of new partnerships between such entrepreneurs. This can help stimulate a clustering effect where a cluster of NGOs come together in a particular area or region resulting in significant benefits to both the NGOs and the area or region.

The NGEnvironment project presents clear and tangible benefits for all stakeholders involved. Improved basic skills and competences on leadership, citizenship and NGO action; support for green and social action, with demonstrated benefits for the environment, the region and local communities; and the promotion of social cohesion, integration and inclusion, with benefits and more opportunities for all is a win:win:win for all parties involved.

If Europe is to become a smart, inclusive and sustainable economy, a number of key challenges urge to be addressed and NGEnvironment tackles some of the more persistent problems:
(1) Europe natural values are still being degraded and lost, despite some major campaigns trying to halt biodiversity loss. The same happens in other environmental issues, such as water quality, climate change, deforestation, among others. The general public senses a certain disconnection between ‘global environmental issues’ and ‘local’ issues, sometimes lacking knowledge and motivation to positively act at their geographical range.
(2) Green economy is one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities – this definition sums up what Europe aspires to achieve in a short period of time, but society, in general, still is waiting for effective training, information and opportunities to embrace green growth.
(3) Europe is still working in social cohesion, namely after recent political events that rise question about the societal meaning of a European Union. A cohesive society is one that works toward the well being of all its members, fights exclusion and marginalisation, creates a sense of belonging, promotes trust and offers its members the opportunity of upward mobility (rising from a lower to a higher social class or status), and the EU is still making its way to fully achieve cohesion.
(4) The reluctance of the public in embracing new technologies has to be addressed through the appropriate engagement schemes and digital powerful show cases. Our ever-changing society is embedding IT technologies in almost every aspect of our daily lives so it is urgent to engage public into user and environmental-friendly IT scenarios.

These issues are not specific to a given country in Europe but rather are relevant in all Member States. In order to find ways of seeding positive attitudes among NGEnvironment’s main target groups (potential and existing NGO leaders), it makes sense both in educative and environmental terms to bring together a consortium of partners who have considerable knowledge and experience on nature management, training and motivation, entrepreneurship and leadership and who have been working to address these issues for many years.

The proposed outputs will offer tailored key competences and the opportunity to develop entrepreneurship, leadership, environmental and digital skills across Europe, acting as facilitators on these fields. NGEnvironment will promote participatory citizenship, in the form of NGO’s action, through training and empowerment of NGO leaders. These NGOs will preferably relate to green entrepreneurship and to solving/alleviating environmental problems, since NGO’s ability to effectively help in such affairs is widely recognized. At the same time, the project will promote social inclusion in two dimensions: 1) by providing equal opportunities to all citizens, including marginalized or repressed groups in trainings and empowerment actions, and 2) by encouraging – though demonstration and role models – NGOs to engage in new business models creating green jobs for such marginalized/discriminated persons.

Also, the resources used will be inclusive (usable by all types of audiences) and NGEnvironment will promote digital competences among all target group members, even those that are still not used to using IT tools in their daily lives, mostly due to social or economic conditions.

The notion that environment, education and economy, and thus overall human and social well being, are all integrated and share the same roots is the key impact that NGEnvironment project aims at achieving at all levels: local, regional, national and international. To do so, we will engage a strong driving force for social behavior changes and perception: NGOs. Ultimately, direct and indirect participants will gain key competences to embrace sustainability and civic action and align their individual expectations with major benefits for nature conservation, economy and inclusion. NGOs action may start locally but their cumulative impact is very wide and significant. Also, the issues the consortium are trying to address are not regional or national, but global, the cumulative impact of NGEnvironment will help creating a more generalized (and international) will to shift Europe and its communities towards true sustainability.

There are a number of key considerations to be addressed if successful dissemination and exploitation of the NGEnvironment project outputs is to be achieved as follows:
(a) Output quality: To achieve a high degree of valorisation all outputs produced need to be of a very high quality, up to date and appealing to the target groups otherwise dissemination and further use cannot be expected;
(b) Adaptability of outputs to country and organisation specific circumstances; results and outputs of the project must be adaptable and localised to suit the circumstances and meet the needs of different countries;
(c) Clear definition of advantages for users: Successful valorisation is very much dependent on the capacity of the partners to clearly show the advantages of using the instruments and outputs for the final target groups. In particular the project website, Facebook page and all printed or electronic media content produced should explicitly state their added value and benefit to the target group;
(d) Early identification of stakeholders and potential users: all relevant stakeholders and target group members must be clearly identified early in the project life-cycle, be contacted and kept informed throughout the project development process so as to ensure the sustainable use of results after the project ends.
All of these considerations will be addressed by the partners.
The project’s dissemination concept will be built on 2 dimensions: horizontal and vertical. The horizontal dimension will comprise the activities designed to strengthen the communication and dissemination between/within the consortium partner. This includes all internal activities to provide information and instruments developed locally for the dissemination by each partner. The vertical dimension concentrates on all activities designed to actually reach the target groups and final users from individuals on the ground to NGO support organisations, right up to policy makers. This includes all activities that will be carried out individually by each partner such as the involvement of their own networks and stakeholders and the implementation of local and national dissemination actions. Both the horizontal and vertical dimension will be achieved using different approaches, methods and instruments of dissemination that depend on what is appropriate/feasible for each partner. Dissemination actions will include 3 categories: (1) face-to-face activities such as presentations, round-tables, workshops, seminars, conferences, etc.; (2) media-based activities which include Internet campaigns, newsletters, online networks, brochures, flyers, articles in journals, newsletters, TV or radio interviews, etc.; (3) performance based activities which comprise actions related to project work such as conducting research surveys, evaluations, testing and piloting outputs, etc.
The dissemination strategy will run parallel to the phases of the work program and will be specifically adjusted to suit the main activities of each phase. Group for European Integration will produce a dissemination plan in month 1 to address both dissemination and exploitation actions. The plan will set out required actions to (1) promote and raise awareness of the NGEnvironment project and the tools and resources developed; (2) provide information on the quality, relevance and effectiveness of the results achieved; (3) successfully transfer the results to appropriate decision-makers in order to achieve their sustainable promotion and support; (4) convince individual end-users to adopt and/or apply the results after the project and support by the project partnership has ended.
The primary target audience for the dissemination and exploitation of the NGEnvironment project are potential and existing leaders and staff members of NGOs dealing with environmental and social issues. This target group will benefit directly through the provision of the immersion programme and delivery of training course.
Initial local dissemination will be achieved through the partners’ local actions and their own dissemination channels. Local actions such as the seminars will play an important role in creating awareness and sense of ownership of project outputs, cultivating positive attitudes within the target groups.
Beyond the local NGO sectors the NGEnvironment project will address its valorisation activities at practitioners and policy makers nationally and internationally, contacting with public bodies, major NGOs, municipalities, regional/national authorities, and relevant corporations. This will be achieved in particular with the promotion/delivery of the Policy Paper.
The project will build an evidence base of successful NGO leadership and entrepreneurship training in the environmental and social fields: research identifying specific needs of the sector, innovative immersion and mentoring possibilities for NGO leaders and case studies and testimonials to support the further uptake

Specific networks will be targeted for dissemination actions. Training events and resources will be disseminated though EPALE.

Derived from the consortium’s international experience, there is no doubt the project results will be efficiently and broadly shared well beyond the partnership. Some dissemination activities envisaged include (but are not limited to):

1. Social media. A Facebook page will be established for the NGEnvironment project and all partners will sign up. It will be used to spread news about the project, the partners and the funding agency. This Facebook page will be maintained as a communication channel throughout the project life-cycle for sharing news about key developments, photographs of events, case studies, etc.
2. A project website will be on-line and functioning by the end of month 2. This will be the main on-line communication portal for the project and will be provided in all partner languages. The website will introduce the project, the consortium and the funding agency and will integrate all the projects products, results and engagement tools.
3. An On-line Observatory that showcases existing NGOs identified as role models and best practice will be developed as a micro-social network providing users with a wide range of networking, information sharing and collaboration opportunities. The observatory will be used to present case studies of successful green and social NGOs in all partner countries to stimulate and inspire potential new leaders or to motivate existing ones. The peer support and engagement opportunities provided will be of particular interest and benefit to both the emerging leaders and the existing NGOs participating in the immersion programme.
4. A media strategy will be outlined and press releases, photographs, audio interviews, short video clips will be produced at key stages to coincide with stakeholder events and partner meetings. A minimum of 4 press releases will be produced by each partner and distributed to relevant local media. Partners will ‘scrapbook’ all media cuttings onto the project website and facebook page.
5. An on-line newsletter will be distributed in 4 moments of the project, according to key development. Copies of all newsletters will be uploaded to the project website. It is expected that the newsletter will achieve a distribution level of at least 2000 recipients during the project life-cycle.
6. Printed project information material (also the policy paper and survival guide) will be produced coinciding with the planned seminars and final conference, for which invitations will be sent to relevant stakeholders.
7. Audiovisual materials such as videos showing the backstage of NGOs, motivational videos showing the social, environmental and economic impact of NGO’s actions and a short video-documentary tracing the development of the project will be produced. Some videos will be designed by Future in Perspective specifically to become viral on social media. The video materials will clearly articulate the need for the new resources developed and the benefits to be derived for individuals, institutions and communities from a quality and quantity growth in the NGO sector. All audiovisual materials will be uploaded to all the web and social media platforms developed.
8. Local Seminars and final conference.

The NGEnvironment consortium includes partners with significant networks that will be exploited locally, nationally and internationally. Newsletters, outcomes and outputs will be shared through:

All partners will:
– display the project standardized description (title, acronym, objectives, partnership, objectives, activities, expected results) on the institutional webpage;
– post information on a Facebook Twitter, Linkedin, Youtube about main events and activities of the project’s implementation;
– organize information meetings about the project with the staff of their own organisations;
– organize information meetings about the project with representatives of local and regional NGOs;
– distribute project dissemination materials (poster, flyer, brochure, etc.) stakeholders and to large public;
– publish two scientific paper on social inclusion and about the project.
– present project’s outcomes in national and international scientific events (seminars, workshops, conferences, round tables, etc.).

Group for European Integration will lead the dissemination activities in close cooperation with the entire project partnership. Beside a clear structured dissemination concept Group for European Integration approach to dissemination is running through the entire project period and follows a clear structured dissemination plan aiming at building a solid basis for a successful exploitation of the project results with impact and added value on a long term perspective.

The dissemination plan is set up on two levels – the horizontal and vertical level. The horizontal level includes activities within the project partnership and will be supported by a communication plan that is set-up in the very beginning of the project. It is of crucial importance that all project partners are continuously up-to-date with regards to project activities, developments and processes. On the other hand the horizontal level focuses on dissemination activities reaching outside the project partnership such as involving stakeholders and attracting the target group and beneficiaries. This level is supported by a dissemination action plan to be followed by all partners but according to their opportunities, dissemination channels and marketing conditions /traditions in the home country.

An integrated branding concept for the project will be developed by Acrosslimits and agreed at the first partner meeting and designs for all web based, paper based and promotional materials will be included. Dissemination activities of all partners will focus on 3 key engagement levels: local, national and trans-national. This will be achieved using project outputs and all partners’ networks and dissemination channels, including local authorities, associated partners and stakeholders, existing NGOs, informal groups of citizens, training centers, VET professionals, policy-makers and politicians, academics and experts, among others. Multiplier events, the engagement toolkit, and online and audiovisual tools will allow broad outreach and lobbying.

It is of crucial importance that all partners take over the responsibility of dissemination activities even if one partner will lead the overall approach. Monitoring and reporting/documentation of dissemination activities is seen as important task. Thereby a qualitative as well as quantitative approach is selected by Group for European Integration at different measuring points. In the dissemination plan it is important to keep a good balance between face-to-face, internet and paper based activities. Beside general dissemination instruments to be used by all partners the individual dissemination channels and instruments will be taken into account by collecting national dissemination plans that have already been done for the application process.

Group for European Integration will:
a) elaborate the projects’ dissemination and exploitation strategy together with all partners and related to the main target group defined above
b) develop the projects’ core dissemination tools (namely O5)
c) support all project partners with their defined dissemination activities
d) lead all dissemination activities defined with every project output
e) monitor all partners with their dissemination activities
f) document all dissemination activities as part of the project documentation
g) elaborate the core message of the project as basis of the whole dissemination actions

Thereby it is important to consider reaching the target audience at the best time and with the most appropriate format in order to raise their interest. The dissemination activities will therefore be closely linked with the timetable of individual project activities.

All products, resources and course-ware produced by the NGEnvironment consortium will be available as Open Educational Resources to any interested party who registers with the project website. Registration will be free of charge and is only intended as a mechanism to trace and measure usage and engagement levels. All training courses, multiplier events and activities will be attended by participants free of charge.

All products, resources and course-ware produced by the NGEnvironment consortium will be available as Open Educational Resources to any interested party who registers with the project website. Registration will be free of charge and is only intended as a mechanism to trace and measure usage and engagement levels. All training courses, multiplier events and activities will be attended by participants free of charge.